Page 77 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

She nodded once.

“But you tried to leave him?”

“Many times, over the years. I left the house, planning to live on the streets if I had to. I tried to find my mother. I even tried leaving the city and running to the countryside. But I always ended up back with him. I suppose I lost the willpower to keep fighting, eventually. Didn’t you stop trying to escape the prison after a while?”

“Yes.” He stroked his fingers lightly over her thigh.

There was a spark of something foreign, something from outside himself, reaching into his mind, just for an instant. He was beginning to recognize the sensation for what it was, now that it had happened several times.

Crow’s empathy worked both ways. It let her touch his mind—but in the process, his also touched hers. And sometimes, her feelings and thoughts leaked through their connection without her meaning for them to.

This time, the shred of feeling he caught had been a flicker of excitement.

Don’t stop now,a voice whispered in his head, very softly.

He stopped in surprise, looking down at her. Had she meant to say that to him? Or was it another accidental leak?

Or was it a message for him that she hoped he’d think was accidental?

He decided that he didn’t care either way. His fingers grazed soft, supple skin, pushing a little higher up her thigh. Her eyes glazed.

“How many times did you try?” she asked.

It took him a moment to remember what they’d been talking about. “I lost count,” he said. “It was about three months in when I gave up.”

“It’s lucky that we found each other,” she said.

He arched an eyebrow. “Why?”

“No one else would have helped you,” she said. “And no one else would have helped me.”

Almost imperceptibly, her legs parted, giving him access to her inner thigh. Vaara obliged the silent request, rotating his hand to skim his palm midway up her thigh. The hitch in her breath and the slightly dazed look on her face sent a jolt to his groin.

“What made you stop?” she asked, still pretending to be unaware of what was happening beneath the water.

He stifled a sigh. This was not what he wanted to be talking about. “They started cutting out body parts.”

There was another flash of that foreign emotion coming in from the outside. This time, it felt like anger.

She tilted her head to look up at him, and he grew lost in her gaze. She always looked at him like he didn’t disgust her. Like she didn’t see how pathetic and broken he was. Like she didn’t fear nor pity him. She looked at him in a way no one had in a long, long time.

He brushed farther up the inside of her leg, inches from the meeting of her thighs, his nails scraping soft lines over her skin. She closed her eyes, her breaths slow and deliberate. His cock strained against his stomach, eager to push inside her again.

He knew this was all a sick power game to show him just how much dominion she had over him. She could take his soul, and his mind and body as well, if she wished. He could have her—all he had to do was give up his dignity, his privacy, and his self-respect.

He shouldn’t want this. He should be repulsed. He was her slave, and she was using him.

But was it so wrong to use her in return? It was only sex. It could be as simple as that. It wasn’t truly giving her any more power over him. It wasn’t as if he truly cared for her. Why should he deny himself her body if she was willing to give it to him?

His fingers slid up, running along the muscles and tendons connecting her thigh to her body. As he neared her heated core, her lips parted, taking in a small breath.

There was a knock at the door. They both jumped. The door handle moved.

“Get under!” Crow hissed.

“What?”

The door started to open. He barely had time to take in a lungful of air before Crow took his shoulders and shoved him underwater.

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