Page 31 of Seduced

“Pomegranate seeds,” her voice said above his head—barely recognizable. It was soulless, as if she had forced herself to close off her humanity in order to respond. Alexei’s stomach dropped.What?“And rice, next to it.”

“What the bloody—”

“I knelt on it for days. That’s why I can’t get it out of my skin now.”

He lifted her skirt and saw her knees. There were seeds embedded on her skin, as if she, as if...He was nearly sick then and there.

She whimpered, struggling against his hands.

That was when he realized that he was touching her, everywhere. He had moved her until she was almost sitting on his lap, and was lifting her skirt up around her waist, as if he were accosting her more aggressively than he ever had any of his whores.

‘I don’t like to be touched.’

But he was touching her. A lot.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and his voice broke, because he had never said it before. “I apologize, I’m sorry.”

He covered her legs again and took a blanket from underneath the seat to bundle her up in it. She didn’t move while he was doing all this, just sat there, like a doll.

He wanted to die.

He turned his face away, closing his eyes, and the image of her ruined knees swam before him.

“Who did this to you?” he asked, and his voice was shaking. His entire body was shaking.

“I did,” she replied.

He froze. Then he opened his lips to ask, but they were trembling so much, he couldn’t form the words.

“What the bloody hell did you say,” he pronounced, as soon as he could, teeth bared.

“I did it. Willingly. To atone.”

Was he mad? Was that what was happening? He could not possibly be hearing these things. Nothing made any bloody sense anymore.

“My God.” the words burst from him.

“I had to,” Poppy went on, for once speaking unprompted. He wished she would stop, but hehadto know. He had to. “I had to kneel on the seeds, to atone for all my sins.”

He turned his entire body to face her.

“I know little of religion,” he said, trying to tame the feral emotion that was spilling out of him, “less still of God. But I know one thing:Thisis the sin,” he motioned towards her knees.

She withdrew her legs, her little hand hovering, trembling over her skirt, as if she were afraid that he would draw back her stocking again, and he felt like an absolute monster.

“Don’t…” she started saying, and he wasn’t sure if she would continue or not, but he couldn’t stand to let her.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I’m sorry for what I did. Please forgive me.”

“You are? For the abduction as well?”

Alexei clamped his lips shut.

He swallowed his words, completely taken aback.

The little minx!

She had completely cornered him into that one, and he, fool that he was, had been duped into feeling sorry for her. Where was that pitiful, submissive creature of the last half hour? He was glad to see her gone, of course, but now, the lady seemed to have somehow gotten her spirit back, undetected, and had unleashed it all on him.

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