Page 13 of Desire and Revenge

“If you’re going to nibble at your food, perhaps you’d be better off not sitting at the table,” Sebastian remarks, his voice cool.

My head shoots up at Sebastian’s sharp words and I swallow. “I’m sorry, I don’t have much of an appetite.”

“Fascinating,” he replies, his sarcasm barely veiled. “It seems you have a talent for not enjoying things.”

“Excuse me?”

“You seem to lack enthusiasm for almost everything,” he observes, his tone almost clinical. “Can you tell me what truly excites you?”

I blink at him, wondering what his point is. “I enjoy a lot of things.”

He chews and swallows. “Alright, well, mention a few of them.”

I’m still trying to think of something appropriate and coming up short. He cocks his head at me and then shakes it, looking both smug and pitiful at the same time. I can’t help but feel a pang of irritation.

“Face it, Sofia,” he says, a smirk tugging at his lips. “You’re like a statue, unmoved by anything. I wondered if it was an act, but it seems this is truly who you are.”

Tension stretches taut in the breakfast room, and from the corner of my eye, I catch the maid shooting me pitying looks. Even my father had been careful not to pick me and my mother apart in front of the staff.

Nothing brings down a house faster than gossip among the staff, he used to say. My husband has no such compunction.

“I noticed that Eduardo and his men were missing at the wedding,” Nero’s voice cuts in just as I opened my mouth to stammer my way through a response. “Are they no longer part of our alliance?”

Blue eyes take their time to crawl away from me. “Not anymore. That bastard got too greedy and tried to get his paws on every slice of the pie.”

I tune out the rest of the conversation, keeping my head down and wishing to disappear from the room.This is my duty, I remind myself. I’m not special in any way. Hundreds of women have done it before me, and hundreds more will do it after me.

“Haven’t you finished yet?” Sebastian’s voice snaps me back to attention.

He’s staring at my empty plate like I’ve committed a grievous sin, and my head spins. What does he want from me? I nibble at my food and he has something to say, but when I clear my plate, it’s also a problem. I’m starting to see that my new husband is just an asshole, and I’ll never be able to do anything right in his eyes.

“Does Donatello still run that place near the docks?” Again, Nero’s voice cuts in.

When I glance over at him, I find him staring at me with a strange expression. But before I can decipher it, he has turned away.

Sebastian lets out a laugh. “Delightful place. I haven’t been there in a while, but the men tell me she’s still as fiery as ever.”

I mumble an excuse and hurry away from the room, unable to stand another second near him.

Which of them?,a small voice in my head asks, and I ignore it.

I’m dialing my mother before the bedroom door even shuts behind me.

“Hello.”

“Sofia?” her low voice asks from over the phone. “Is there a problem?”

I crawl into the middle of the bed, feeling like a needy child. “I-I miss you and Papa. And home.”

She makes an unimpressed sound. “Don’t let your father hear you say things like this. Or your husband. You’re not a child.”

I wince. “I know. I just—I didn’t think it would be like this. He’s different from what I thought, and?—”

“You have to grow up, girl,” she spits into the phone. “Didn’t I warn you to get your head out of the clouds? Every man in our world is the same, and if you don’t still know that, then you’re going to have your heart broken.”

Tears leak from my eyes, and I bury my head in between my knees. “He’s nothing like I imagined,” I confess. “And the marriage bed is not even?—”

The words stick in my throat, refusing to come out. After a moment of silence, she finally sighs and continues: “All powerful men are cruel,” she chides. “Suck it up and do your duty. And don’t call me with your silly complaints anymore. I won’t let you get me in trouble with your father.”

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