He tilts his head. “Is that not better than being a king’s fuck toy? I like you, Bellamy. I liked you the instant I saw you. You have spirit and fire. Don’t waste that on him. You’d have so much more with me. That I can promise you.”
“Samil, you don’t evenknowme.” I stare at him incredulously.
“I know enough. I see enough.” He blusters out a breath, arching back and bowing his head. “I can help your father. I can save you. Before it’s too late for both of you.”
“Listen, while I appreciate on some level what you’re saying—actually, that’s a lie. I don’t appreciateanythingyou’re saying or doing. I don’t appreciate you cornering me in the palace against my will while trying to interject yourself into my life. So you taking pictures and wanting to use me as your shitty form of revenge isn’t going to work. I’m staying here. This is where I belong. Simple as that.”
He laughs mirthlessly, standing back up to his full height and peering down at me over the point of his nose and through thick eyelashes. “Simple as that? You think he loves you? Ha!He loves how you look. He loves how your cunt feels. He does not love you. He is incapable. A monster with a cold, dead heart. A cursed man.”
“I don’t believe in the curse,” I hiss at him.
He laughs harder now, his expression taking on a new form. Darker. Sinister. A bit unhinged. He gets right up in my face, his black eyes wild. “Nora wasn’t even supposed to be on that helicopter,” he bites out, practically spitting the venom-coated words at me. “She should never have been there. She was always supposed to be mine. Not his. Never his! She wouldn’t leave him, and she wouldn’t betray him. Not for anything. She wouldn’t listen to me. Then she got on that fucking helicopter when she wasn’t supposed to. He was supposed to go to her, not the other way around. I lost her twice when he never cared about her. Be careful, Bellamy, for you’re sure to be next.”
With that, he taps at the bruise on my neck and pushes himself away from me.
For a moment, all I can do is stand here frozen, watching him walk toward the guest side of the palace unruffled as if nothing just happened. I’m shaken. Stirred and utterly out of sorts.
Was that a warning or a threat?
His words spin around and around in my head, something sticking in the back of my mind. There is something there, but I can’t quite reach it. Too much has already happened today, and Phaedra hasn’t even left for school yet.
Phaedra. The children.
Sucking in a deep breath, I force myself away from the wall and up the stairs, each step faster than the last as if I can outrun the thoughts racing through my mind. I fly into my room, immediately going for my dresser and tearing through it, searching for a turtleneck. Something. Anything to cover the mark Sebastian gave me.
Everything inside me feels like it’s unraveling.
Finally locating my black turtleneck, I clutch it in my fist. My hands fall to the top of my dresser, and reluctantly I look straight into the mirror at my own reflection. The bruise isn’t bad. It’s a one-inch red line on the right side of my neck with a small purple mark beneath it. I had pictured the worst sort of thoughts in my head about it, but when I think about it, he never made it so I couldn’t fully breathe. He never hurt me or did something I didn’t want.
He was careful with me even when he was wild and out of control.
Samil is wrong about Sebastian. I will always be his and he will always be mine. Didn’t I say it earlier? No one on the outside will understand. And Samil’s hatred of Sebastian runs deep. So deep he’d do anything to strike him down.
Strike him down… Strike him down…
She wouldn’t leave him, and she wouldn’t betray him. Not for anything. She wouldn’t listen to me. Then she got on that fucking helicopter when she wasn’t supposed to. He was supposed to go to her, not the other way around.
Ripping off my yoga clothes, I shower at light speed and change into my usual skirt and the turtleneck sweater. Once I’m dressed, I already feel better. More secure. More like me. But still no less rattled. This man is staying in the palace. He’s the prime minster of this country.
It almost sounds as if he was there with Nora the morning she died.He was supposed to go to her, not the other way around.Strange how he knows that…
No. It was ruled a mechanical failure and a gas leak. He was just distressed at losing her, wishing it were Sebastian who died and not Nora. Right?
I grip the edge of the dresser. That has to be it.
I sigh, giving myself one last furtive glance in the mirror.
Do I tell Sebastian about my encounter with Samil? He was already fired up about him coming, about him seeking me out.He told me he didn’t want me near him. That was half the reason the man marked me yesterday. He wanted Samil to know I’d never be his, only ever Sebastian’s.
I’m not sure what to do.
Because I know, no matter what, there will be consequences for this. And they’ll be violent.
26
SEBASTIAN
Samil enters the boardroom late, looking…off. Normally he’s all smiles and charm, but not this morning. This morning he’s glaring balefully at me, openly, a sheen of sweat on his brow. It makes me smile and laugh a little. Something that only seems to unravel him further.
