I nodded in agreement.
Orion cracked his knuckles as he stared down at her.
She looked bored by Scorpius’s harsh words.
“You’re just an object,” I echoed more forcefully to get a reaction out of her.
She laughed like I’d made a joke.
Anger shot through me as she lazily lay back on the marble and stared at her pipe like it held the secrets to the universe.
The bruises under her eyes were so dark they seemed to glow against her pale flesh. On the wall above her, the stained-glass window depicted a crying woman on her knees. Her position was subservient. Broken.
Arabella held her fingers up to the chandelier light and made a shadow puppet on the wall.
Her attitude was a harsh contrast to the woman in the window.
It rubbed me raw.
Scorpius laughed louder like he was also trying to get her attention, and the sound was gritty and harsh in the quiet hall. He walked in a circle around her like a predator circling its prey.
“You know,” Scorpius drawled. “I’ve always thought of you as an object, but this just makes it so much sweeter. A little deceitful, slutty fae. Ours to hurt. Punish.”
Scorpius cocked his head and listened for her reaction.
She silently mocked him, then rolled her eyes.
Pointed her pipe at him like it was a gun and pretended to shoot him in the face.
Scorpius scowled.
Arabella stuck her tongue out between her teeth like she was concentrating and pretended to shoot him again.
My Protector cracked his knuckles. Loudly.
The feeling of wrongness, the quiet, and the ache in my chest intensified the longer we stood leering over her pathetic, prone form.
I wanted her on her knees but not like this.
This wasn’t obedience.
She’d basically fucked that pathetic nymph on the dance floor, but she wouldn’t even look at us. We had over a foot and a hundred pounds of muscles on the man, yet she’d give him her full attention and ignored us.
I wanted to kill the nymph again.
Everything was spiraling out of control.
Arabella made a pouting face at Scorpius and rubbed at imaginary tears. “Just want to let you know.” She smacked her lips and said in an exaggerated girly voice, “I’m sobbing. I’m super sad.” She popped the P and drawled, “Like, I’m completely devastated.”
She made a dramatic wailing noise, then burst into laughter.
Scorpius lunged for her.
Orion was quicker. He muscled himself in front of Scorpius and stood protectively over the girl.
None of us breathed.
My Revered was chest to chest with my Protector.