Page 36 of Trapped By Vengeance

“Well, I don’t want to drag her along on my dangerous missions. But I also don’t feel comfortable leaving her at home—”

Reaching up, I smooth back a wayward lock of hair. Even his dreamscape self is deliciously disheveled. “I wish you weren’t so sweet.” It would make my life a lot easier if he were cruel and exacting like captors are supposed to be.

Once again, Konrad’s hand follows mine, this time trapping it to his face. “I wish you weren’t so pretty.”

I’m startled by his directness. Of course, I know he knows I’m pretty, but to be so blatant—

That’s right. We’re in his dreamscape, where normal inhibitions are not in place. He might think it’s reality, but there’s apart of him that knows he is supposed to be alone in his head. This is where he can be free.

Konrad curses by the sun or maybe the moon. I don’t notice as he abandons my hand to grip both sides of my face.

“I hate that you’re prettysomuch.”

Oh, yes, I’m driving him mad after all.

To prove my point, Konrad pulls my face to his.

His lips are rough, demanding, and unrestrained in their passion. Like him, there’s a part of me that knows this isn’t happening— not really. But my memory can fill in the feeling of his kiss easily enough, and my mind is dark enough to fill in the gaps.

Let’s see how darkhismind is.

Even though it serves no purpose, since my power over men doesn’t work when it is not my body he is truly kissing, I want to find out.

Fisting his shirt, I pull myself higher to kiss him more firmly in return. Then I kiss him deeper than I dared before when we were real and there were consequences greater than him possibly being affected by my magic. Because I have suspected for a long time that I was the one more affected. That doesn’t matter now.

I can’t fall in love with him in a dream.

Konrad moans and staggers backward, taking me with him. Then, suddenly, we’re in the pool beneath the waterfall. The transition is too smooth to have happened in reality, but the warm water flowing up to my waist is convincing.

His mouth strays from mine, desperately trying to map out my entire face. He pushes away the damp strands of my hair that are sticking to my face. And my gown, which has become the chemise that he tore, is drenched and clinging to my body. His figment’s garments are completely untouched by the water we stand in.

Despite myself, a laugh escapes me. This is definitelyhisdream.

Konrad chuckles in reply, though I’m not sure what about. He’s quickly distracted by my throat, which he kisses like he’s the estrie, not me.

Standing here in his dream where he can control all the elements, I still somehow feel like I have all the power.

“Do you still hate that I’m pretty?” I ask with a happy chirp.

Konrad’s hands on my hip tighten their grip and drag me closer against him. “Iloatheit.”

“Do you wish you didn’t want me?”

Twisting his head, he kisses the bottom of my chin. “With every fiber of my being.”

I’m not sure if he’s confessing to hating wanting me desperately— or admitting he desperately wants me. Either way, my body grows hotter than a corpse ought to, and the warm water has nothing to do with it.

Not that I feel undead just now. I’ve never felt soalive.

Konrad straightens, reaching behind me. He grabs hold of my chemise and tears it as deeply as he cut it last night. But there is a completely different intention churning in his gaze now.

I decide to be helpful for once in my life and tug the torn garment over my head. Tossing it aside, I glance down . . . And find that I’m still wearing it.

Confused, I continue to stare as Konrad pulls me back to himself, his hands playing with the bare skin on my back. The rest of me is covered, though, even as he pulls me directly under the waterfall.

Is this . . . is this as undressed as he can imagine me?

“I wish . . . I wish I could be the man you want me to be.” Konrad buries his face in my hair, his fingers still clutching my back and holding me in a tight embrace. This hug doesn’t feellike passion, though; it is a desperation of a different sort. One tinged with regret.

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