Page 79 of Seduced

“You should have refused the bet,” Poppy said, pain making her voice harsh.

“I almost did,” Alexei replied at once. “But…There were five men in the room, all eagerly awaiting for me to step down so that they could win the vicar’s sister for themselves. It seemed to hold a certain appeal to them, as a vicar’s sister is generally considered pure and—”

He took one look at her face and thought it wise to stop.

“What did he do?” Poppy asked. “What did my brother say to them?”

“Nothing,” Alexei replied. “He waited for the best offer.”

Poppy was shuddering so violently her teeth were chattering.

“Hey hey…” Alexei said, helplessly, and then she was crying.

It was not like before.

Her body folded in on itself and she slipped from her chair to the floor, weeping in great, heart-wrenching sobs, as if her heart was breaking. Alexei completely lost his self-control then. This was unendurable. He leapt up from his chair, and ran to the mantelpiece, suppressing sobs of his own.

He put his hand over his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

But it was too late. His father’s voice was already in his head.

‘Do not cry, you little fool. Don’t you dare cry, whore’s son. You will never be a true man.’

He had been five years old at the time, and right now he felt as if not a day had passed since. He fought with himself, fought against his own, ugly emotions, while Poppy weptbehind him on the rug, left alone. It would be impossible to find a man who loathed himself more than Alexei did at that moment.

And he hated himself with a passion.

It took him several moments to compose himself, and even then, his throat hurt as if he had been screaming at the top of his lungs and his eyes felt swollen and aching, even though he had not shed one tear.

He went next to Poppy, who, spent with weeping, was crouched in a little ball, whimpering. He touched her back and she tried to straighten up, but she was too weak. Alexei bent at the knee and supported her waist with an arm around her, trying to help her lift herself back onto the chair opposite him.

He brushed the wet, matted hair from her brow.

“Shall I continue?” he murmured, lost inside her eyes.

“Is there more?” she asked in a broken voice. His hand was still in her hair; he hadn’t realized. He reached out and wiped the wetness from her eyes with his thumb.

“I would rather die than hurt you,” he breathed.

She nodded. “I know.”

She did? It had been news to him until right now, when it came blurting out of his mouth.

“Well, the only thing that’s left to say is that I decided to stage it as a cruel kidnapping,” he said, “in order to spare your feelings. I thought…I thought it would be more believable—more preferable.”

“To be kidnapped by a man known as ‘Hades’, rather than sold like a piece of furniture by my brother, the righteous vicar,” Poppy said.

Her vehemence jarred him.

“Precisely,” he replied. “Did I succeed?”

“Failed,” Poppy answered, without needing to think about her answer for a moment, “quite miserably.” Alexei found himself blinking rapidly, for there was that damned wetness behind his eyes again. “You see, my lord Hades, my brother has presented himself to the community as quite the saint, both in the parish and at home. He regularly starves, punishes and hurts me, in word, look and deed, at the slightest provocation. If there is any misdemeanor, real or perceived, it is unacceptable, and I have to pay the price. Sin appears to be whatever does not suit him at the time, like for instance, me laughing or having an opinion. And all this time, while he was pressuring me to be a saint, he himself was nothing but a liar, a gambler and a lout.”

Alexei opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it.

“And an abuser,” Poppy added, possibly reading his mind. “A bully, at the very least.”

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