Page 66 of Lord of Dance and Desire

“I know what the fuck it is.” He lifted a brow, probably at my language. I stepped towards him. “I want to know why you’ve brought me here?”

I knew, of course. This was the equivalent of, “don't let the door kick you on the way out.” I hadn't thought he would do that to me.

“You wanted your freedom,” he said with quiet hauteur. “Didn't you? I'm giving you what you want.”

“What kind of passive aggressive Cluster B b.s. is this? You know what I want. I never once said I wanted to go back to Earth.”

“But you don't want to remain with me.” His mouth firmed.

“I never said that either.”

“Actions speak louder than words, Hasannah.”

“And an asshole always shows his true colors at the end.” I raked him with my most contemptuous look. “I should have known you were just like?—”

“Finish that sentence, and I will strangle you.” His eyes began to glow.

I shut up.

Andrei closed his eyes and took a careful step back, loosening his arms so they fell to his side. “Forgive me. I. . .wouldn't hurt you. Like that. I have a strong visceral dislike of being compared to any of the males who have.” He opened his eyes. “And this is as difficult as I thought it would be.”

“Where are Con and Math?”

A strange expression crossed his face, and after a moment I realized it wasguilt.

“They don’t know you’re pulling this stunt, do they? They’d kick your ass into the next century.”

Andrei’s lip pulled up over a fang. “What do youwant, Anah? To remain here in Casakraine alone, without my protection? You can't. You're known as mine, and you're known as a developing threat or at the least, a very interesting new toy for whoever claims you. If I took away my protection, if I set you loose here in the city, you’d learn how gentle and tolerant a Lord I am. Why I have a reputation for softness, and a meek manner.”

I snorted. He believed all of that crap, and his Court coddled him and let him think they believed it too. Fine, maybe compared to some of the others he was a darling little kitten, but then none of the others lived with him.

“What I want, Andrei, is to have choice. To have power over my own life. To know if you go all High Lord on my ass?—”

“Your language has deteriorated the last several days. I don’t think I approve.”

“You’re the reason,” I retorted. “You drive me to swearing. At least I haven’t become an alcoholic.”

He sneered. “No, you just do your best to reenact some macabre version of Black Swan.”

“You saw that movie?”

Stony silence.

“You didn’t watch it with me.” That pissed me off almost as much as anything. “Who did you watch it with? I wanted to watch it with you. That was going to be one of our firsts.” When I could afford to take a mini vacation.

I strode towards him, balled my fist up, and shoved it in his gut. He didn't have the courtesy to flinch.

“Was that supposed to hurt?” he asked, looking down his nose at me.

I inhaled, struggling to be the better person. Since letting my succubus out, it was becoming increasingly more complicated. Or maybe the Cassanians were rubbing off on me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have hit you. Leli taught me.”

“You don't have to hit me to hurt me, Hasannah,” Andrei said, voice still a soft, silken whip. “You've already ripped my heart out.”

I froze. The bond was open between us so I understood those words were a rare thing for a Fae Lord. The absolute truth, not just a creative version of it that skated by their rules.

Would I ever not feel this frustration, this maw of hungry emptiness I filled with ambition? I’d thought there was a rainbow at the end of the tunnel, but it was slipping through my fingers with the elusiveness of. . .well. . .light.

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