Page 36 of The Crownless King
After bidding her cousin goodbye and promising more lunch dates, Amaya went back to work. She pushed the thoughtsof her current situation to the back of her mind. It took all of her concentration when she was in the sacred garden. The moment she shucked herself out of her clean suit, though, all of them rushed back to the forefront.
Fighting to leave her current situation had been her mission and every morning she woke up trapped in that mansion had made her feel like a failure. But confronting the way her life had been outside of the Bayi compound brought everything into a new light. Defeat lowered her shoulders and Amaya was reevaluating her whole life. Levi claimed that he had no plans of letting her go. A week ago, that would’ve felt threatening, but now…
How did she feel?
That would take more than a cursory examination, that was for sure. On the ride back to the compound, Amaya asked Bronx to drive through her old neighborhood. Seeing the unkempt yards and ramshackle houses that dotted the streets had a shudder going through her body. Everywhere she looked was proof that they had not been doing as well as she’d thought.
The rest of the drive back to the compound was quiet, with Amaya stuck in her head. What Levi proposed was so dangerous, even more so than being held hostage by a vampire. A Bayi and Chawi mating would bring the whole of the Collective down on them. That was more trouble than her uncle could’ve ever gotten them into. There would be no saving her mother from that.
Amaya trudged upstairs, no closer to a conclusion. Her steps slowed when she got to her room and saw Sebastian posted up at her door.
“Whatever it is that Levi is asking for, the answer is no.” She opened the door to her room and pushed inside.
Bas followed behind her without saying anything. Curious, she turned to face him. He was studying her, his dark eyes focused on figuring her out.
“You really don’t know what all this is about, huh?” Sebastian said finally.
Dropping her bag on the desk in the corner of her room, Amaya sighed. “What do you mean?”
“Let me ask you a question. What purpose would you serve Levi in your current capacity?”
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“As a prisoner to the King of the Bayi. Why do you think he’s keeping you here and not in the basement, for instance?”
Her brows furrowed, her heart racing. There really was a basement? “I asked. He won’t let me go.”
He scoffed.
“I…” She paused because she didn’t know what he wanted her to say. “He kidnapped me.”
“You gave yourself to Levi,” he reminded her.
She got frustrated. “I won’t sleep with him just because he’s not making me stay in a dank basement.”
Bas shook his head. “Shawty, if he was just trying to fuck, his glamour is capable of bypassing your inhibitions.”
She sucked in a surprised breath. “Does he do that regularly?”
“Hell no. That’s not the point I’m making. He could’ve come in here leading with charm, but that’s not him. He’s coming to you with his authentic self so that you accept him. Why do you think he would do that?”
She clenched her jaw because she understood what he was trying to say. “He’s holding me hostage.”
Falling back on that flimsy excuse was her only defense to the emotions threatening to swamp her. Sebastian had caught her at a vulnerable time. Looking critically at her current situation, left her feeling exposed and raw. Him holding her shit up to the light had her shuffling her feet, uncomfortable in her own skin.
He nodded. “Some missteps have been made.”
She sucked her teeth at that bit of understatement. “You and your boss got a weird relationship with the truth.”
“And another thing, shawty. Your mouth reckless than a motherfucker.”
“Let me go and it won’t be a problem.” She was absolutely bluffing at this point because where the fuck would she go?
“I feel like you be goading that man, and it’s aggravating as fuck.”
Amaya shrugged because she couldn’t deny it.
Sebastian sighed. “Look. For the sake of all of us who have to live on the compound with the two of you, can you please tone that shit down?”
