Page 98 of Deadwood
“I don’t think so.” I was messing with her, but fuck, it was the only thing getting my mind off the impulse to turn around and obliterate them.
“You didn’t have to hurt them for me. I put myself in that situation,” she blurted, like even saying the words left a bad taste in her mouth.
I stepped toward her, causing her to grip the top of her dress tighter. “You would have rather stripped naked for them?”
Her throat worked on a swallow as her eyes fell to the ground. “No. But you could have been nicer.”
I couldn’t help it. I chuckled, the act sounding a little insane. “You think they were showing you that same respect? Being nice?”
Her gaze hardened as she held back her answer. But she didn’t have to. I saw her response clear in her gaze. The look alone fueled my desire to rip their eyes from their heads.
Fuck, I wanted to hurt them a hundred times over again. This feral response to seeing her like that… It was uncontrollable.
I took another step so there was barely any space between us, my silhouette casting a shadow over her. She looked up at the same time I grabbed the thin fabric of her gown.
“Tell me, was he nice when he tore your clothing? Exposed you in a room full of men that would have done anything to see you completely bare, had I not shown up?”
“Bowen,” she whispered, the word barely audible with her silent plea to make me stop.
I didn’t realize my knuckles had turned pure white from how hard I gripped her dress. I needed to get some of this out.
I let the fabric go and turned, continuing in the direction of the forest.
Her footsteps quickly followed. “Where are you taking me?” she asked again. The slight waver in her voice made me stop in my tracks, my fists clenched. I didn’t want her scared.
“To the woods,” I answered.
“What’s in the woods?”
I looked over my shoulder to find her staring at my back, the town behind her. Her beauty was a shining light in this drab place. “An explanation.”
She hesitated, not moving any closer, and I fucking hated the sight of her standing there looking so defeated.
“I will not hurt you, Auria. That much I can assure you.”
“Why not?”
My brows furrowed.
“You may have protected me, but how do I know you don’t want the pleasure of killing me yourself? Everyone else in this world seems to want to, so what makes you any different?”
Turning on my heel, I closed the distance between us until the hand holding her dress brushed my chest. “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d have bled the moment I saw you in your pretty little castle. If I wanted you dead, you’d be six feet under. Does that answer your question?”
She gave the barest tilt of her chin before stepping around me to continue in the direction we were headed. I easily caught up to her, walking alongside her. Our boots crunched in the dry leaves as we entered the tree line.
“You have magic,” Auria said, stepping over a rock.
“Yes.”
“Lander lied, then,” she surmised. “He said we don’t have magic.”
I let out a sigh. She knew less than I thought, which only made me want to direct my indignation toward her father. “If what your father has told you is true, then why does he use you for yours? Why not anyone else in Amosite?”
Her steps faltered. “No one else can do what I can. At least, that’s what he’s told me. When did you figure it out?”
“I put the pieces together after our first dinner when he practically controlled you like one of his aimless guards.” The memory of that night alone grated every inch of my being, sending my power thrashing through my body like a caged animal.
“Like his very own puppet,” she murmured.
