Page 10 of A Deal For a Kiss

I can feel her everywhere around me, that sweet, tight sense of home.

“Ivy,” I growl into her neck, unable to stop myself, unable to hold back. It’s the only word that means anything to me. “My heaven.”

IVY

Idon’t know what came over me. As I lie alone in the bed, with satin sheets and lush pillows, I stare at each brick on the wall wondering where the hell I am. I’ve never seen such a place. Not in all my life, in any text…except for those of fantasies.

What happened? Where am I? And why can’t I wake up?

I never should have acted like that. I never should have touched him like I wanted him. I shouldn’t have looked at him like he could ever be anything to me other than the man who stole me off the street.

There is no pain and hardly any fear here, and I don’t understand.

The man who followed me around Edinburgh. The man who said I wasn’t safe in the city, then stole me away and brought me here, only to keep me in the same room, never allowing me to leave… I kissed him. And I loved it. Something inside of me stirred in a way I can’t understand or justify.

Questions race in my mind and all the while I stare at the luxury around me wondering what drug I’ve taken.

The sheets are the softest I’ve ever felt. The pillows are filled with down, firm but plush at the same time. Even the sheets andblankets that cover me to the waist feel silky, far nicer than any blankets I’ve ever had on my own bed. If I went back to my room now, I’d probably be surprised at how rough those sheets are in comparison.

But they would be my sheets, and it would be my bed, not this stranger’s in this odd place that doesn’t feel real.

I roll over to face the window and sigh.

It can’t be real, can it? This whole place, and the world outside, can’t be real. And yet I touch my chest and can feel my heartbeat. I pinch my skin and feel the sharp pain, and yet I do not wake.

Because the world outside looks like something out of a story. A fairy princess type of story, where a girl is taken out of her life and brought to a magical land, or at least a land she’s never seen before. It’s like something preserved from the past, but not the past of any city I’ve visited. It’s different, and I don’t recognize it. The tower of the castle we’re in must be high because for as far as the eye can see, I see lights and cities. The bright white gates and pillars of onyx and amethyst. Roads of gold and pristine pyrite. It’s all unreal. A mist and smog of fire covers a place in the distance, and I vaguely remember myths of the underworld.

I slide my hand under the cool pillow and let my eyes blur the world outside. There’s no point in looking. I can’t get out. The door to this room is locked. I’ve tried it three times, and it never opens.

I should say—itonlyopens when he comes in. It’s like he’s read my mind, because the door swings open almost silently as I think of him. I hear thewhooshas he steps inside because there’s no other sound in this place.

Chills run over my skin like they did before, and yet it’s different. It’s nearly like foreplay. What has he done to me?

“My heaven,” he murmurs and then says my name clearly. “Ivy?” I pick myself up, pulling the sheet with me to cover myself and meet his eyes.

He appears in my line of sight with something in his hand.

A necklace.

I still feel naked when he looks at me, his eyes slipping from my face to the curves of my body, and I look back at him, pretending my heart isn’t racing.

With the necklace in one hand, he offers the other to me.

I resist a moment, a blush rising to my cheeks. “I’m not decent.”

Without a word he opens a cupboard and my jaw nearly drops, it’s filled with beautiful dresses. Simple and floor length, almost like nightgowns but far too luxurious. He chooses one and again without a word he helps me slip it on. It fits perfectly, hugging my waist and hanging so beautifully. The deep burgundy is beautiful against my pale skin.

“Now?” he questions and holds out his hand again.

I take it and let him help me out of the bed. No point in fighting.

“Where are we going?”

He doesn’t answer. He just leads me across the room to a large, ornate mirror leaning on the opposite wall. The mirror is so tall that he can see all of himself in it.

I look small next to him. This beast of a man. He’s beautiful. His eyes especially. They say you can see someone’s soul in their eyes and I swear I can in his. And when I look at him, tears prick my eyes although I don’t know why.

I rip my gaze away before the feeling turns too heavy.

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