Page 255 of The Throne Seeker
“I’m not letting you leave this room,” he warned with perilous eyes. “So I suggest you get back on that bed before I make you.”
“No.” She grabbed one of the books scattered on the floor and chucked it at him.
With ease, he dodged it, continuing his steps.
She picked up another, hurling it at him again. He dodged that one, too, unfazed by her failed attempts, holding the sword lazily at his side.
Rose raised her hand to throw another at him, but he caught her wrist with his free hand. “I wouldn’t,” he warned, his eyes taunting her mercilessly.
She dropped the book.
He grabbed her dress roughly by the skirt as his sword went down to the hem. With lethal precision, he sliced upward.
Rose flinched as her dress dropped uselessly at her feet, exposing her thin slip.
“Tristan, please,” she pleaded with him a final time, knowing she was about to lose this internal battle. “I don’t want this.”
“I’m sorry, Rose,” he breathed between her lips, his deep, lustful voice speaking to her very core. “I just don’t believe you anymore.”
He was just about to claim her when the door burst open.
To her utter relief and shame, it was Roman.
It took Roman only moments to piece together what was happening. His eyes darted throughout the wrecked room, bulging out of their sockets at the sight of her shredded dress on the floor.
Then he saw the sword in Tristan’s hand.
The pit of hell itself formed in Roman’s pupils, ready to swallow Tristan into oblivion.
Roman paused as his savage eyes went to Rose first. “Did he hurt you?” he asked in a frighteningly calm tone.
Tristan scoffed, rolling his eyes.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Did he touch you?”
Rose hesitated, shooting Tristan a fearful side glance.
“Did. He. Touch. You?” Roman hounded, louder this time.
She gulped, afraid to answer.
“Yes, I did,” Tristan replied for her, unapologetic as his hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. “And she liked it.”
Rose didn’t know how Tristan could be both so brave and foolish.
Roman’s murderous gaze sliced to Tristan, then returned to Rose. He prowled towards her, his hands shaking with barely contained rage. “Do you want him?”
She still wasn’t breathing, living on borrowed breath. “What?”
“Do youwanthim?” he asked again, his merciless gaze bearing down into hers. “Do you want him like you want me?”
She knew the answer immediately. “No.”
“Do you need him like you need me?”
“No.”
