Page 147 of Taken By Touch and Torment

“I know, sweetheart,” he said, his handsome features flickering from adoration to irritation. “Listen to me carefully.”

Something inside me bristled at his tone.

“Do not tell a single soul about the tunnels. I’ll clean up the mess with Evangeline and, presumably, Liza?”

I nodded in confirmation that Liza had been involved.

“But if you wish to be free, you mustn’t tell anyone how I saved you. Not yet. Not even Durian. Is that understood?”

Confusion turned over in my gut, as well as more prickling at his vague threat. I was missing something. I nodded anyway, gazing at Brennan like he was my sole authority in this world, and I was blind in my subservience.

I could sense his ego expanding.

“There’s power in accomplishing things with mysterious ease, you see,” Brennan said. “You have no idea what plays I have up my sleeve.”

I searched his web of desire with rising suspicion. I noticed that the seed I’d planted had not only grown and bloomed—but it had also shed new seeds, a whole new forest of ambitions rising in its wake.

Brennan was no longer courting his desire with treason, with assuming power.

It had become his greatest desire of all. I’d somehow misread his intentions through our letters, falsely assuming he was still loyal to Durian.

Not a single part of him was loyal. He was just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And I was at the center of his plan, through means I didn’t entirely understand.

My heart missed a beat, remembering all the times Rune and Sadie had chastised me for jumping to conclusions.

He must’ve read the real trepidation in my features.

“Trust in me, Scarlett. Just as we discussed,” Brennan said. “You’re safe. So long as you play your part, for only a little bit longer.”

“I trust you,” I lied, offering a demure smile.

His mind was all over the place, not even bothering to ask how in the hell I made it to the palace by myself. My dubious explanations remained tucked away.

“Durian is away for the night,” Brennan said. “I would love nothing more than to sleep by your side, but we can’t risk anything. Aunt Carol prepared your usual chambers before she left. You’ll reside there until I present you to Durian. By the time he returns, the whole castle will have scented you in these halls. It’ll be the most glorious of spectacles.”

Doll. Toy. Pawn. Spectacle.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Actually, I was a murderous, vengeful sex demon.

“You promise to stay put and lay low, and to keep everything that has happened between us from here on out?”

Brennan’s paranoia had grown alongside his ambitions, as a natural consequence. I didn’t show my instinctive fear at the erratic look in his eyes.

I only nodded and affirmed him again.

“It’s late, but we’ll take the private staircase,” he murmured to himself. “I’ll tell Kole. The silly fool thinks you’re coming back for him.”

He grinned, and I shook my head as if in pity, displaying a soft smile.

“He’s been a huge help. I have a feeling he will only continue to be helpful in the days to come,” I said softly.

Brennan sighed. “I love that you’re not only pretty. You have intelligence, too. You’re worthy of a great man, Scarlett.”

58

SCARLETT

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