Page 8 of Crowned In Venom

VARKOS

Obedience is a fragile thing. It can be forced, crushed into submission with the right amount of pressure. But true obedience—the kind that lasts—is something else entirely.

And Anya does not break.

She bends, just enough to give the illusion of compliance, but I see what she does not want me to see—the glint in her eyes, the way she watches me when she thinks I am not watching her.

She is playing a role, carefully constructed and dangerously convincing.

And I?

I am going to tear it apart.

I summon her just before midnight.

The palace is quiet at this hour, the halls empty save for the occasional patrol of my guards. The fire in my chambers burns low, casting flickering shadows over the dark stone walls. A place of secrets. A place of temptation.

She enters without hesitation.

A human girl wrapped in silk, delicate and sharp all at once.

The deep red fabric they dressed her in clings to her body, the neckline dipping just enough to be intentional. A weapon disguised as an offering.

I lean back in my chair, watching her as if she is already kneeling.

She does not kneel.

Of course she doesn’t.

I smirk. “Come closer.”

She obeys, stepping forward with that same quiet grace. The firelight plays against her skin, turning her into something almost otherworldly, a ghost of a girl who should not exist in my world yet refuses to disappear.

I let the silence stretch, watching her. Waiting.

She does not shift under my gaze.

A lesser slave would fidget, cast their eyes downward, try to make themselves smaller.

Anya?

She holds herself still, poised, controlled.

This is a dance. And she knows the steps well.

Finally, I rise from my chair and cross the space between us.

Slowly. Deliberately.

She does not step back.

Good.

I reach out, brushing the back of my fingers along her jaw. A test. The first press against the edges of her defiance.

She does not recoil. But she does not lean in, either.

Instead, she tilts her head ever so slightly, allowing my touch but offering nothing in return.

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