Page 29 of Seduced

His words, meant as a simple order, one he would give his own men any day, took on an ugly color as she put her head down and obeyed at once. It made him feel like a monster. As if he had spoken to an animal; as if he was obeyed by a pet.

She could barely walk as it was.

She took one step and inhaled sharply, as if she were in pain. She stopped. Took another step. Stopped again. At this rate, it would take the rest of this godforsaken winter for her to walk to his barouche. Whenever she moved, her body was stiff, reluctant and awkward, as if in the grip of immeasurable pain.

Alexei had had enough. Disgusted with himself, with her, with everything, he snapped his fingers, and two of his men advanced towards her, picked her up, and put her inside the carriage. She did not once resist or speak, except to ask, most politely:

“Why are you abducting me?”, in a voice timid like a small animal’s, but with a certain spark to it, as if the fire inside of her was fighting not to go out entirely.

Fight, damn you.

“Do not talk to me,” he said sternly.

She stopped talking.

Talk to me, he thought, wishing he could unspeak the words.

He had not expected her to obey him.

She pursed her lips, as if she were afraid that they would open without her permission.

Talk, dammit.

But she didn’t. She stayed silent, as he had commanded. Alexei was going crazy—or possibly was already demented and only now finding out.

Did I ever think I liked obedience?

I think I might never have loathed anything more.

The girl was quiet—he did not even know her name, but there would be time enough to find out everything once they were safely inside the club. At present, Alexei was drowning in self-loathing and anger. There was nothing more to say.

In utter silence and frustration, they made their way to hell.

ten

Alexei

“What is wrong with you?” Alexei murmured, but got no response.

It was just as well. Alexei didn’t know who ‘you’ in his question was: the girl or himself? They rode on, in silence.

The girl barely moved. It was as if someone had sucked the soul right out of her. Alexei observed her profile. Her features were soft, delicate, feminine. Her lips were a little bit too large for her face’s slender, heart-shaped frame, but her eyes made up for any asymmetry, being wide and unbearably green.

And to think, I had thought her a man.

“You know my name,” he said at length, “may I know yours?”

She did not speak; seemed incapable of it.

“You do know it, don’t you?” he pressed her. He didn’t know why her silence and general docility made him want to exert himself thus, but he couldn’t stop himself. “Do you remember me?”

Finally, she stirred.

“You…you…” Her tongue rolled painfully over the words, her voice a shadow of a ghost of what it had been when she had chatted incessantly in a much similar situation, a week ago.

Well, she had been dressed as a man then. Still, it was the same person—or it should be. A sudden fury seized him.

What on earth happened to her between then and now?

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