Page 45 of Her Cruel Empire
That’s fair. It stings, but it’s fair. “What about Leon? The staff? Your relatives?”
“Yes,” she says. “Them, I trust. Which is why I looked even more closely at all of them. And still I found nothing. So I’m back where I—” She stops abruptly.
I realize then that the most dangerous thing in this castle isn’t Eva Novak. It’s the secret she hasn’t uncovered yet. The unknown enemy who’s still out there, somewhere in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike again.
And in turn, I see Eva considering how much she’s just revealed. How much trust she’s already placed in me simply by letting me stay in this room.
How vulnerable she’s made herself, almost without thinking.
Chapter 16
Eva
Ineed control. I need distance. I need Robin to stop looking at me like I’ve just ripped my heart from my chest and handed it to her on a silver platter.
“We’ll discuss this elsewhere.” My voice comes out calm and unreadable. Exactly how I want it.
Robin’s eyes search my face, but I’ve already pulled my mask back into place. I rise and gesture for Robin to follow me, and she does at once.
Yes, she’s a naive little thing. But strangely, I find her softness endearing rather than irritating. In my world, naivety gets you killed. With Robin, it makes me want to shelter her from every ugly truth.
And that is dangerous thinking. I know myself, am reminded of it every time I visit my father, that sometimes, bad things just happen, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.
I lead Robin back to the Great Hall while I assess exactly how much of myself I’ve already let slip. Too much. Far too much.
Mrs. Kovacs is straightening up a few items in the Great Hall when we arrive and pauses to give a quick bow of the head. “Tea,” I tell her, “and then privacy.”
She vanishes like a ghost, knowing better than to linger when I use that tone.
I settle into my favorite armchair, the same one I sat in only a few nights ago, here with Robin. It gives me the best view of the room, all the exits, every angle. Robin stands uncertainly on the same rug where she stripped naked at my command.
I notice the way she tenses. The way her breath catches. The memory of it is playing over her, and something in my chest responds without permission. A flutter of want that has nothing to do with control.
Dangerous, I remind myself yet again.
And yet, so seductive.
She remembers every detail. The way I made her touch herself while I watched. The way she came apart under my gaze. But also the way she looked at me afterwards…
Mrs. Kovacs reappears with the tea on a silver service, and I pour it out carefully as she retreats from the room and shuts the enormous doors, a signal that none may enter. Robin finally takes a seat and accepts her cup with trembling fingers. I note the slight tremor, the way her legs shift restlessly.
She’s wet again, just thinking about it.
Perfect. Exactly the distraction I need, after the difficult emotions of the morning so far.
Robin fidgets with her teacup, then asks quietly, “Those girls from the village...whatdidhappen to them?”
I raise an eyebrow, then laugh. “You’re very curious about those poor girls.”
“Why ‘poor’?” she asks stubbornly.
“They were closeted lesbians in a village where being even slightly different is seen as a vice.” I sip my tea, watching her face carefully. “I offered them an out. A little companionship, a lot of discretion, and enough money to disappear afterwards.”
Robin’s brow furrows. “Disappear?”
“New identities. New lives in cities where they could be themselves. They didn’t want to return to weighing fish on ice or rising early to bake bread every morning—and certainly not to pretending to love men for the rest of their lives.” I set down my cup and watch Robin closely. “I gave them the same thing I offered you, little bird. Enough money to make a better life.”
I see it—the flicker of jealousy in those blue eyes, but there’s curiosity there, too. And a grudging understanding.
