I was confused, not knowing what she wanted from me, what game were we playing? My confusion must have been clear, and I noticed the way her smile faded.
“I’m sorry,” I apologised, though I wasn’t sure what I was apologising for.
“I thought you would be excited,” she said, waving her hand around, “by this.”
I looked around. The room held only a bed. “The bed is an unusual shape?” I tried.
She smiled before laughing, “Yes, it is,” she agreed.
“This is the Tower Rooms,” she continued. “I thought it would remind you of your horrible romances and—"
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it!” I interrupted her, realisation sparked by her words. “We’re in one of the pointed towers, like the fair maiden and the knight, Selene!”
I ran to one of the windows. “There’s no way a knight in armour is fitting through one of these windows. I don’t think I could,” I commented excitedly.
“I can’t believe rooms like this really exist.”
Selene was beside me when I turned to her. “No, these windows are thin—a design to help prevent attacks by arrows, or to hide archers. Ardens Estate was first constructed some two centuries ago when such warfare was to be expected,” she explained.
“No knight will be climbing through the windows of your tower. I’d see them pinned on the outer walls with arrows for daring to try. But you can be the fair maiden trapped in my tower—you’d play the part well,” she mused, reaching out to trace her fingertips lightly along my jaw.
“You’re not my captor,” I told her and tried not to pout when she pulled her hand away.
“You think you are free?” she asked me, tilting her head slightly, and a spark of anxiety flared within me.
I knew that technically, I wasn’t free—not as such—but I wasn’t a captive either. I mean, sure, I couldn’t leave, but I didn’t want to.
“I’m not your captive,” I replied and looked out the window, the feeling within me fleeting but worryingly unsure.
“You sound so certain, pet,” she said, wrapping her arm around my waist and pulling me away from the window and against her.
“I am sure,” I replied, steeling my gaze.
“Wilfully ignorant,” she responded. Her eyes glowed briefly, a flash of sadness passing over her features that confused me. “I want to keep you all to myself. I want to lock you away, where there is no escape—no one who could ever rescue you from me.”
“Then why don’t you?” I challenged.
“Have I not done so already?” she asked in return, a smug smile playing on her lips.
“Stop,” I demanded and tried to push myself away from her. I didn’t like the way our conversation was going, but her hold held me in place.
“You’re being dramatic,” I accused, frustrated. Selene was never, could never be a villain, not to me. We were soul-matched. Bonded irrevocably. I didn’t care what Dylan thought, or Ana for that matter, even if she didn’t come right out and say what she thought. Selene was no monster. She never had been.
“I stole you away from your life, your family, your home. You are willingly my captive,” she told me.
“Selene, that’s not true. I mean, I am willingly yours,” I winked at her playfully, trying to change the mood, and felt immediately mortified by my gesture, but she didn’t howl with laughter, so I steadied myself and continued.
“You are more than my soul match,” I whispered the words, unsure if it was safe to utter them, but Selene did not reprimand me, so it must have been safe to do so.
“I loved you before there was a bond. I loved you because I saw you. I saw your kindness, your care, your strength. I sawyou, Selene. And I loved the person I saw you to be. I was willing to risk my life for the woman I knew you to be before there was any bond. And yes, selfishly, I hoped you saw me too. I hoped you loved who I was. But I knew it might never happen. I knew you might never choose me. But I chose you.”
Was she always this unsure? Did she always doubt my feelings towards her? Was that why she was blocking the full effects of our bond even now? Was she testing me? Testing if I would love her regardless of the soul match bond?
I gripped the woollen jumper she wore—so thin, it couldn’t have provided much relief from the cold, but she didn’t need it—and pulled myself tighter to her, pressing my face against her collar.
Her arms tightened around me. “I apologise for my weakness,” she said softly, more a mumble into my hair, before pressing her lips against my head. “Let’s continue with a tour of the tower rooms,” she said, releasing me from her hold and taking my hand in hers.
She walked us to the only door, other than the one we had entered the room by. The door had a lock, the key left inside and Selene opened it with a soft click.
