Page 80 of Marked By the Dark Lord
The excitement I’d felt upon first seeing Korr’ok was rapidly fading as we were escorted down a small hallway and into a room. From the moment he’d shown up, he hadn’t given me any familiar response.
He’d cut himself off from me. The final piece had been him telling the Dark Lady that he didn’t care for me. That he was there because I was in his charge. I was a package for him to collect, nothing more.
Aurr’av closed the door behind us, locking it, ostensibly to give us privacy. Somehow, I doubted that.
“They’re probably listening to us,” I said, trying to break the ice.
“Probably,” he said gruffly. “I would in their place. Ensure we aren’t planning any sort of escape or further trouble. Which is easy enough to do since we aren’t.”
“Korr’ok,” I said, reaching out to touch him.
He pulled away, my hand falling through open space instead. That flinch hurt more than anything else he’d done so far.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Why are you acting like this?”
I thought I would never see him again. Now I wondered which was worse—not seeing him or his flinch. His rejection wasn’t easy to handle.
“You can stop with the bullshit, Mila,” he growled, “and just tell me the truth.”
“What are you talking about?” I hissed, hands on my hips, moving to stand right in front of him, glaring up at him. “You’re the one acting all weird. Why are you pretending like you hate me?”
“Pretending?” he scoffed. “Pretending? How could I not hate you, Mila? Even now, you won’t drop the act. Just rubbing it in further, are you? Enjoying the pain you caused, is that it?”
He snarled and spun away, stalking to the far side of the room, moving around the circular desk and its chairs before resting a forearm on the wall.
“What act?” I managed to splutter, astonished by the outburst. “What are you talking about?”
“You!” he bellowed, bouncing his fist off the wall, his voice pained. “I’m talking aboutyou, Mila. You lied to me!”
I stared at him. “I did?”
The red in his eyes blazed further, his jaw muscles standing out in stark relief. “You’re doing it even now! You hid yourself from me. On purpose. Lied to me about who you were. About what you were. This is all your fault. I’m not here to win you back. I’m here because I took responsibility for you, and I intend to see it through until your punishment is complete.”
My jaw refused to work in the wake of his accusations. He had it allwrong. Everything was so twisted, and I just wanted to sort it out, but Korr’ok clearly had no interest in doing so. He just wanted to be mad.
“You don’t understand,” I whispered.
“Oh, I understand perfectly,” he growled. “I know why you did it. I know why you tricked me. And it worked. So, there you go. I hope you’re happy. Because once the Dark Lady releases you into my custody, you’re going back to jail instead of staying with me. I’ll take my brand back, and you can rot.”
Blinking furiously, trying to keep my tears from falling, I shook my head at him. “You’re wrong, Korr’ok,” I said in a pained whisper. “I didn’t lie to you.”
He scoffed.
“I didn’t. I told you everything. I showed you everything. Igaveyou everything I had,” I said, reminding him of how I’d given my body to him in full trust. “I let you in, in ways I haven’t letanyonein. Ever. Do you understand?”
Korr’ok shook his head. “I trusted you,” he said as if he hadn’t heard a word I said.
“And I trusted you!” I shouted back.
“You took advantage of that trust, and you hid from me.”
“Men,” I spat. “You’re all the same, human or not. Stubborn, pigheaded, unable to realize the truth even when it slaps you in the goddamn face!”
Korr’ok snarled at me angrily.
“Yeah, go on, be all big and tough,” I said, shaking my head. “‘Cause that’s been so much help so far. You idiot. I didn’t know. Get that through your head.I. Didn’t. Know.I thought I wasdyingin your arms in the marketplace. And you know what was the last thought going through my head? Do you want to know?”
He glared sullenly but didn’t turn away.
