“Neither did I.”
I reach out without thinking and touch her wrist. She doesn’t pull away, and I feel her pulse jump under my thumb, fast and uneven.
“You’ll never trust me,” she murmurs. “Ever.”
“As you can see from past and current transgressions, princess, I can’t afford to.”
Her eyes flick up to meet mine. “But you want to.”
That one lands too close to home, and I don’t confirm it, but I also don’t deny it.
Sienna is testing the waters to see where she’s at with me, but I won’t give her that power. This woman needs to prove she’s on my side. That she won’t side with anyone but me.
“What you did was unforgivable,” I say. “Trust is the last thing on my mind when it comes to you.”
“You can hate me?—”
“Don’t play victim, princess,” I seethe through clenched teeth. “I didn’t ask you to patch me up. If you want to play doting wife, shut up and do it. Otherwise, go to bed and leave me alone.”
Sienna’s gaze drops, focusing on my wound and the consequences I’m reaping for her taking my kingdom away.
“That was the point,” she mutters. “I didn’t want to beyour wife.”
I could strangle her right now.
She’s a debt.
She’s the woman who will carry my heir.
She made this arrangement with me and then tried to get out of it.
She cost me my kingdom and tonight, almost my life.
And, most importantly, she made me believe that she was coming around.
That she might have felt something for me.
“Would you rather be my prisoner instead?” I solicit evenly, catching her eye again and holding her stare. “I could lock you up, princess, fuck you, and make you give me what I want. You broke our deal, and you’re still walking around freely and without punishment, but I’d love to give you some. Just opening your mouth reminds me of what you’ve done and taken from me.”
“Ben, I?—”
“Remember when we sealed our deal? From now on, the only time I want you to open your mouth is for my cock—” Sienna presses the cloth that’s cleaning my wound harder into my open flesh, and I let out a sharp hiss.
“You might as well forceyourself on me, Ben,” she grinds out with malice. “I’ve made my stance. You’re cruel to believe an innocent woman should suffer at another’s hands for crimes they didn’t commit.”
My patience finally snaps, and I grab her wrist before she can pull away. “Innocent? Your father sold you to me like property, Sienna. And instead of hating him, you take it out on me. You’re alive because I accepted the deal.”
“Alive?” she spits, wrenching her hand back, but I don’t let go. “You call this living? You think a gilded cage makes it better because it’s lined with marble and a bakery you boughtme?”
“You’d prefer the alternative?” I bite out. “He would’ve let the world tear you apart with whomever else he might have owed, and you know it.”
“I would’ve figured something out.”
“You didn’t even know he owed me money.”
She goes still. I can tell that landed, but not in the way I want. Her jaw tightens, and when she looks up again, her eyes are glassy.
“You think that makes it right?” she asks softly. “That my father sold me and you just… collected? You became no better than him the second you said yes.”
