Page 23 of Bound in Violet Ink
“Care to answer me?” I ask, completely tossing myownmask. “What happened?”
“You were given a sedative,” he smoothly replies.
My first reaction disappoints me. I’m not even mad, or surprised. Silas has used things like this on me many times, and I’m used to it as a form of communication. But how deranged is that? That this is okay to me? “Silas did that to me many times, you know.”
His eyes flare, and dare I say something personal crosses his face with the way he juts his jaw forward slightly. “Were you hurt during those times?” he slowly asks.
“Not that I know of.” It’s so quiet in here that my voice almost sounds funny.“I’m just saying this feels exactly likehome.”
His eyes flare even more, adjusting slightly in his chair, reminding me of how broad his body is. “It willneverbe like that.”
“Yes, because sedating me is such a romantic gesture,” I quip, looking out the window next to me to see where I am. I’m trying my damndest to completely ignore the intoxicating scent of Kane, or the way his voice is like pouring honeyed wine into my ears.
“That was theleastof my concerns. The scenes that followed were shocking and I didn’t want you to see that. Carrying you off had the added benefit that kept others away.”
“And why’s that?” I ask, only seeing a dirt pathway and some trees outside this window.
“I don’t think I’veevercarried someone like that in front of my people.”
I toss the quilt off, the coarse wool falling into a heap beside me as if shedding a second skin. That guzzle of water seems to have given me new life. “I’mnotto be used like how that castle used me,” I snap, swinging my legs over the edge as my feet meet the cold, wooden floor. “I’m not to be used atall.” I glare up at him. If he expected me pliant, he’s about ten years too late. “I want to leave. Right now. I already know exactly where I want to go to get as far away from these court politics as possible.”
He studies me with something that borders on amusement. “No.”He inhales through his nose, his shoulders rising with the action as he shrugs. “Or fine, go ahead. You’ll find that I follow you.”
Perhaps years with Silashavebeen good for me, teaching me how to live under pressure. How tobreathewithin it. So I don’t get angry. I don’t even scowl. I justthink. “Where are we?” I ask, needing the lay of the land.
My impassive attitude does not speak for my motives. I simply am aware that being a hot head is not the best way to leadin a conversation, nor to assess. I search around this space with my gaze, examining the typical stonework, a hearth with old ash, fading rugs, heavy beams, and a table coated with dust.
“An Unseelie Lord has granted us into his piers, and we are currently in an unoccupied dwelling.”
“Why is it unoccupied?”
“The family relocated.”
My gaze flits back to him, my body stiffening when I’m firmly reminded he is definitely still in this room. “Where to?”
His lips spread into a crooked grin—his presence is just as distracting as his letters. “They relocated tomylands, seeing as how he owes fealty to me. There are quite a lot of people coming to me right now, even while I was in the Carrows.”
And just like that, the metaphorical wings of mine that Silas believes he clipped are spread wide by Kane. One thing is probably certain—I don’t think I’m going back to that castle. “Why are you in here with me?” I ask, looking him over. No weapons. He has a belt but no holsters.
“You know why.”
That sends the most unpleasantly wonderful chills down my spine, the burning desire from when we exchanged letters nearly scalding hot. “At some point, you have to leave,” I say, trying to figure out how I get a chance alone. Silas could keep an eye on me because I was in hiscastle. But here? There’s a chance to flee. A chance to disappear among the trees.
I’m so close to the woods, it’s almost mocking me.
Kane’s fingers wrap around the armrest of his chair, gripping it as he rises. I have been alone for far too long, because the image of his veined hands and arms flexing should never, under any circumstances, bethistantalizing. It’s as if the things I feel never even bother passing through my brain. They merelyexist.
The bastard even takes a step near me, and I scoot back onto the bed, propped on my knees so I can spring away if necessary.Silvery eyes bore into mine as he tucks his chin down to look at me. “It has not gone unnoticed that you are currently completely unclaimed and outside Silas’s purview. It isalreadyan issue.”
The animal within purrs at the idea of him staking a claim, which furthers my belief that something is wrong with me. That scent—that damn smell—makes it worse. “I do not have to be claimed,” I say, shocked at how wrong that statement feels.
He tilts his head. “Unfortunately for your sense of freedom, you do. You aretheway into Silas’s perceived protection. Unless you have an army hiding in the woods to defend you, you need to use someone else’s.”
I know exactly what he means, as I’ve considered it so many times. I’m painfully aware that without another castle to hide within, Silaswillcome for me. “I didn’t ask foranyof this,” I grind out, slightly baring my teeth. “How am I supposed to know what’s the best decision to make?”
He quirks a brow. “You’re in luck that your mate happens to have an army.”
Oh, I don’t like what those words do for me. I rise to my feet on the bed, just barely avoiding touching the ceiling with my head, lookingdownat him now. “You’re socertainof this declaration.”
