Page 66 of Caged By Dance and Desire

I gave up, staring at the gold comforter as a single tear fell down my cheek, followed by another.

Andrei inhaled, burst out of the chair and stalked to the door, opened and slammed it behind him. It rattled.

I shuddered, swiping at my face as I heard muffled male voices.

“She's weeping!” Andrei snarled, from about halfway down the hall. “She has no right! How am I supposed to do what I must when she’sweeping?”

“Did you expect backflips, faeling? Go. . .look over the evening gown designs. I’ll handle Anah.”

Constin opened the bedroom door and shut it behind him. The warrior clucked and approached, kneeling at the side of the bed. “None of that, darling. It's not fair.”

I hadn’t liked Constin much at first. He was a hard man, and could be cold and unflinching. But he was also the den mother of the house, the only one who could force Andrei to back down and give me space. He wouldn’t disobey a direct order, but he walked circles around one if he disagreed, and lately those circles were the only thing keeping me sane from Andrei’s obsessive micro-managing.

“I don't understand,” I said.

Sardonic amusement warmed his voice. “He has no defense against your tears, but it's his duty to discipline you. If you don't allow it now, Anah, it will fester.”

I looked up, angry. “You want me to consent to being punished? What’s the punishment? A beating?”

Constin jerked his head back as if slapped. “Is that what you think of us?”

“How should I think? I'm an adult woman and you've all basically stolen me, rearranged my life, and now for the infraction of taking a late-night walk to clear my head, I'm supposed to accept being punished—after enduring torture. Thisisn’t a mafia romance, Constin.”

His silence was mostly mild confusion. “You knew the rules and risks when you came to Casakraine, Hasannah. This is not Earth. I. . .don’t know what a mafia romance is, but I’ll look it up.”

“I know it's not Earth!” I stopped, took a deep breath and lowered my voice. “I know it's not Earth. But I don't want to live like this.”

Constin regarded me steadily. “You don't want to dance for the Sahakian company? You don't want to rest every night in thearms of a male who adores you? Who would kill for you, who would die for you? And once you allow him into your bed, will have you screaming his name as often as you want, as long as you want, for the rest of your lives? You don't want to be protected, adored, spoiled, provided for? You don't want a safe place to develop your talent?”

“Except it's not safe, is it?”

His gray eyes sharpened to twin blades. “All right then, darling. I'm going to slip the gloves off a bit. You are, as you say, an adult. Nowhere is fucking safe, Hasannah. I don't know what fairy circle you’re frolicking in—it must be a wild high—but remind me what the sexual assault and murder rates are for women in America? Oh, and let’s add in the prosecution rates while we’re at it, in case you want to whine about how the High Fae get away with anything they want. We endure enough of that shit from the Low Fae. All they do is fucking bitch.”

I stared at him, a little taken aback.

Constin gave a feral smile. He was really too pretty to smile like that.

“The High Lords are predators. They're bullies. Most of them have the conscience of a natural disaster. But this sounds like the average human man, doesn't it? And most of those don't know where to find a clit, much less how to lick it, so you don't even have that to compensate you. Some mortals would prefer to cut it off so they needn’t be bothered.”

I cleared my throat.

There was nothing I could say.

It was true.

Constin continued watching me, waited until he was certain I still had nothing to say, then continued.

“Nothing is ever perfect. But here, with Andrei. . .with us. . .we'll make it as perfect for you as we can. There are just a few little rules needed to make it work. The most important rule is you don't go anywhere without your guards.” He bared his teeth at me. “Surely that's not too difficult to acquiesce to?”

“No.” I lowered my gaze to the bedspread, frowning. “You don’t have to sound so reasonable. What are the other rules?”

“Let's perfect one at a time, since your ability to focus on anything but dance is lacking. That's the most important rule for the immediate future anyway. Do you agree to this rule?”

“Yes. I won’t slip away again.” It couldn’t be any worse than being a celebrity, or British royalty.

“Good girl.”

I hesitated. “So Andrei isn’t going to break up with me?”

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