Page 23 of Lured By the Dus
“Oren.” I used his name in a half-hearted attempt to soothe him. “It’s not what you think.”
17Tanith
Oren’s gaze smoldered with an inner fire. His mouth pressed into a firm line and his nostrils flared as he glared at me. “You attempt to try my patience at every turn when I’m only protecting you from what could happen. But you don’t care, do you? As long as you get your way, as long as you escape. Let me tell you what happens to those who don’t heed my warning.”
He lunged, snatching my wrist, and pulled me down the hall. I let myself be hurried along, aware I had nothing left to say. He knew my secret. He’d caught me, and saying I was sorry was inefficient when my blatant actions displayed my lack of repentance.
“What are you going to do with me?” I begged as we climbed the spires into the heights of the castle.
He did not answer, only kept moving until I was breathless, almost running behind him. Finally, we reached a gloomy hall, thick with layers of dust, cobwebs almost concealing the flickering candlelight. Oren swung open a door and pushed me inside.
The slanted roof of the attic let in sunlight, clearly displaying layers of dust and dirt. A rocking chair, crisscrossed with spiderwebs, sat in the center of the room, and in it sat a corpse wearing a faded yellow dress. All the flesh was gone, leaving only bone with a grinning skull, and eyes sockets staring into endless blackness. Terror seized me.
I spun, intending to run, but Oren caught me, trapping my arms as he forced me to stare at death. His free hand squeezed my jaw and his lips feathered my ear as he whispered. “Look. This could be you.”
“What did you do?” I arched my back, panic screaming in my mind: Fight. Escape. Run. “Who is she?”
“My wife.”
Those two words drilled through me, and my legs buckled. He’d had a wife. He had been married before. An irritating sort of envy turned my panic into fury. “What are you going to do? Kill me like you killed her?” I struggled in his grip, but I wasn’t getting away, he was deceptively strong.
“I’d always been fond of my wife, but she refused to listen to me, too stubborn to let me protect her. She died by her own hand.”
“You mean you murdered her?” I spat. “Why keep her here, locked up in the attic?”
Oren let go of me so swiftly, I almost fell down. Instead of letting me escape, he backed me up against the wall, his body pressing against mine, so close I felt the heat pouring off him in waves. Dizzy, I struggled to breathe. I couldn’t let him affect me like this, but his hard expression taunted me. He bared his sharp teeth, searching my face for what? A sign of contriteness?
“I did not keep her locked up because I wanted to. She made herself a toxic potion and drank it. It killed her, and then they captured me and buried me alive.”
Oh. That was not what I expected. “Did you love her?”
“Love.” He snorted. “Our marriage was arranged. I took those vows seriously, but love? Nay. I was rather fond of her, just like I’m fond of you.”
“Really?” I lashed out, spitting his words back in his face. “If you’re so fond of me, why keep me here? Force me to do your bidding? Why don’t you let me go free?”
“Because you committed a crime and there are consequences for such actions,” he snarled. “You can’t do something wrong and then walk away as if it didn’t happen. You reap the benefits of what you sow in life.”
“I’m not a gardener,” I quipped at his analogy. “And who made you the judge of me?”
“You did the moment you walked into the crypt and took what did not belong to you.”
My pulse raced and tension coiled deep within my belly. With each word, he moved closer until our noses were mere inches apart.
I glared up at him, jaw set, unable to miss the flecks of gold dust that flashed in his eyes. “Men cannot judge me,” I protested weakly.
“I’m inhuman, you know this,” he growled in return.
I took a shuddering breath, unable to get enough air with him pressing against me. I was furious. He’d caught me escaping, found the journal, assumed I meant to betray him, showed me his dead wife, told me he didn’t love me, and continued to punish me for my actions. But there was something else mounting between us, and I knew, as my gaze flickered to his lips, it was that undeniable attraction. He lured me in. The feelings that surged through me were confusing and dark, and so to keep my guard up and protect myself, I responded with unkindness. “True, but I’m your new wife, and you don’t act like you’re fond of me.”
His jaw tightened and his hands moved quickly, threading through my curls with surprising gentleness for the speed at which he moved. He tilted my head until it was impossible to move away, the fever of heat between us rising to a new level. Warning blazed in his amber eyes as he searched my face.
I swallowed hard, a small gasp escaping my throat. I was sure he could hear my heart thudding like a drum in my chest, booming against his. The juncture between my legs ached as the tension in my belly coiled even tighter.
And then his lips were on mine. Liquid heat spiked between us, turning molten. My eyes closed of their own accord and my lips parted. This was what I’d been waiting for.
My fingers gripped the back of his shirt, pulling him closer to me as I turned my head to taste him and opened my mouth for more. He devoured me with his kiss, his serpentine tongue thrusting into my mouth, possessing me, stealing my breath. I pushed against him but he pushed back, fingers tightening in my hair as the kissed turned urgent. My core fluttered with the need for release, and I moaned into him.
Keeping me pinned to the wall, he pressed his knee between my legs, and shamelessly, I thrust myself against him, resentful of the fabric that blocked me from feeling too much. I could drown in this kiss, I could live in it, for I had no doubt it was the kind of hot kiss that had power over life or death.
