Page 57 of Born in Depravity

Nothing.

He showed nothing—no smile, no coldness, not an ounce of emotion.

I should be more scared of Damien’s coldness or Nikolay’s quick temper. I should have found comfort in the silence Mikhail and I were both so fond of, but now, I was terrified.

I looked away and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see what he was going to do. I just wanted the ground to open and swallow me whole. Get me out of here.

Anywhere but here.

I flinched when he climbed on the bed with me. My eyes sprung open and met his before I could think better of it. He cocked his head to the side, as if he couldn’t understand my reaction.

He reached over to me and I held very still.

“Don’t be scared,” he said, his voice gruff. If I wasn’t so scared right now, I would have looked at him with incredulity.Don’t be scared?

He said it like it was easy.

How could I not be scared?

“Be a good girl for me, and I promise I’ll give you a reward.”

Like Damien’s promise of reward, I didn’t fucking want it. He must have seen the flash of anger in my eyes at those words, because the corners of his lips tilted up in a small smile.

He moved behind me then, and he …

He brushed my hair.

My back went as straight as a ramrod and I clutched the towel tighter against my body, my skin sensitive with the awareness that I was naked underneath.

I wished he would let me dress.

I would even settle for Damien’s clothes.

But he didn’t do anything more than brush my hair—for now, lulling me into a sense of security, and like the gullible girl I was, I was completely and utterly lulled.

I could feel my shoulders relaxing just a fraction, and my eyelids growing heavy. I had spent the majority of the day in this room, doing nothing but staring at the wall and waiting for someone to come in with my meal.

I shouldn’t be this tired, but I was, and I wondered if he would just let me sleep.

I closed my eyes just as tears dripped down. The last time someone had brushed my hair, I was nine. It was the night Father killed Mother in cold blood, accusing her of being a whore and unable to produce an heir.

I had been a disappointment since the day I was born a girl. It hadn’t been my fault. I didn’t ask to be born.

I quickly wiped the tears away with the extra fabric of the towel as Mikhail moved the brush down my long hair gently.

I didn’t even realize he had set the brush down until he cupped my shoulders with both hands, pulling me back and angling my head so I was looking at him.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t show any reaction toward my tears. He simply wiped them away and moved toward me slowly.

We didn’t say anything for the span of three heartbeats that thudded heavily in my chest, his lips no more than two inches away from mine.

I could feel the warmth of him emanating toward me.

How odd.

I had imagined coldness.

Not this.

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