Page 2 of The Seducer
“Finn, take Athena to your room and make sure she is safe and comfortable tonight. I’ll see you both tomorrow morning,” Khan instructed.
“This way,” I said and signaled for her to go first up the stairs. She didn’t move.
“You heard Lord Khan, I’m your appointed protector so you have to come with me,” I explained.
The young girl opened her mouth and spoke in a voice much deeper and firmer than I would’ve expected. “You’re mistaken if you think I’m going with you into your room,” she said and crossed her arms as if she had authority.
A discussion about this would have been redundant, and although I would’ve preferred for her to walk up the stairs by herself, I had no problem carrying her to my room.
“Stop wriggling,” I warned her, and when she didn’t I smacked her butt.
“Let me down,” she demanded and I did – once we were inside my room.
“Forget it,” I told her when she tried to get out the door again. “This country isn’t suited for a female to walk around by herself. If I were you I would stay in here where you’re safe.”
“Safe?” The way she spoke the word sounded like an accusation. “Don’t think I haven’t heard about you men of the North and what you do to women. You are brutal savages.”
“Yeah, that’s true, but mostly on Tuesdays and since it’s already past midnight it’s technically Wednesday.”
Her green eyes narrowed into slits. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?”
“Me?” I shrugged. “Mostly I’m just tired; it’s pretty late and I was sleeping when you arrived.” After making sure the door was securely locked, I walked back to the bed and stepped out of my pants. “Do you want to tell me what happened to you?” I asked and left my briefs and t-shirt on so as not to frighten her.
“No, and I refuse to stay in this room with you.”
“Look, you can refuse all you want to but my job is to keep you safe, and right now the biggest danger to you is me waking up grumpier than ever tomorrow because I haven’t slept. If you don’t want to talk about what happened to you, then I suggest we go to bed.” I was already arranging myself in my soft sheets.
Her eyes widened and she took a step back. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
“Of course you are, I’m your protector and the bed is plenty big for two people.”
From the way her eyes were darting around the room to every window and every door, it wasn’t hard to figure out she was trying to find a way to escape.
“Ana,” I said in my softest voice. “Calm down.”
“It’s Athena,” she corrected me distractedly while walking to the window, where she fumbled to open it.
“We’re on the third floor, so unless you have some wings underneath those clothes of yours, I wouldn’t recommend climbing out that way,” I said calmly.
She returned to the door, searching for a way to unlock it. When that didn’t work she started hammering on it, shouting for help.
“Now you’re just being rude,” I grumped. “People are trying to sleep here. Don’t tell me I have to gag you to keep you quiet.”
Her angry glance over her shoulder, accused me of being a primitive beast.
A nerve close to my eye gave a tic from irritation. This woman might be the prettiest I had ever seen. Her long auburn red hair and green eyes made her look like an elf Queen from a fantasy book. But she was snooty as hell and clearly thought she was a lot better than me and my people.
“I wouldn’t say we are all primitive beasts. I mean cannibalism was banned more than a hundred years ago; and some of us have even advanced to using forks and knives,” I joked in a last attempt to calm her down.
“Leave me alone,” she ordered and clamped her arms around her midsection. “I know what you have on your plates. You’re carnivores killing innocent animals. It’s disgusting!”
My patience ran out. “Tell me, are you being obnoxious because you’re scared or are you always like this?”
She ignored me.
“I asked you a fucking question.” My tone was a bit harsher than I’d intended.
“If you must know, I’m known to be balanced and kind, but I doubt that someone like you would have the emotional range to even begin to understand what I’m going through right now.”
