Fucker. This, as everything with him, was a test.
With a small exhale, I crossed the last few steps into his house, following him into the light. As he turned and faced me, I barely caught the gasp that tried to escape. It had been so long since I’d seen him, and in that time, if anything, he seemed even more striking.
Uriel always reminded me of a fallen angel, and despite the fact that he was in his early forties, had a youthful appearance. White-blond hair, long and tied back in a thick braid, piercing golden eyes, that could stab with their intensity, and dark golden skin, that added to his overall "God-like" appearance.
The man who taught me how to defend and save myself. The man I tried to never think about more than I had to.
The man who’d stolen my innocence, even if I’d thought I was giving it freely to him at the time.
That was why I never came back to him. This was what I’d come to terms with over the past two years: I had been groomed by a predator. But I was quickly coming to the realization that he hadn’t only been grooming me for sex, but for something much bigger. Something much more political. Apparently, I was finally about to find out his long-held secret.
What did Uriel have planned for me?
Chapter 4
Silence reigned supreme as I sat on the edge of the chaise lounge with my back ramrod straight. Uriel was content to wait it out, though. He knew I'd break first, Ialwaysbroke first. Such was the impatience of youth.
After some moments, he gave an unspoken command to the black uniformed guards with machine guns standing inside the doors. They nodded and wordlessly left. The click of an old fashioned metal key turning in a lock echoed through the room in their wake, and then it was just the two of us.
Uriel and me.
He raked his gaze over me in a way that spoke volumes about how we'd left our last encounter. But still, he didn't speak. Just stared.
Eventually the tension got to me, like it always did, and I let out a growl of frustration.
"What am I doing here, Uriel?" I snapped the words with annoyance because I couldn't ask what I really wanted to ask.Where are Rafe and Jordan? Are they okay, or have you already executed them like Claudette?
Seeing him,here, that mess at Arbon made more sense. I should have known my sensei was a member of the Society. He hated the monarchies to the point of weakness, and never missed an opportunity to remind me of the injustices they inflicted on us. Which was hypocrisy at its finest considering the wealth both he and the Red East leader seemed to come from.
His eyes narrowed at me in silent reprimand, but I was done taking his shit. I wasn't that naive, love-struck teenager any more. I wasn't in awe of his strength and control, and I sure as shit wasn't blinded by my foolish, misguided, and utterly manipulated infatuation.
I sneered. "I think I earned the right to use your name the night you took my virginity. Now, answer my damn question. What the fuck am I doing here?"
He sucked in a deep breath, his mouth tight and his nostrils flaring. Once upon a time, that would have instilled deep, bone trembling fear in me. Not anymore.
"I see the years of absence have done no favors for your discipline and respect, disciple." His voice was smooth and low, hypnotic, but I knew him better than that. He was pissed as hell at my brash manner toward him. "However they certainly made up for it in how nicely you matured as a woman." Again with that leering gaze.
I shivered, and not with desire.
"Are we just going to sit here and chat on old times, or did you have a reason to kidnap my friends, capture me then try and break me for three weeks? Spoiler alert, I'm not broken, Uriel. Try harder next time. Or, you know, just man up and tell me what you want." I kept my gaze flat and hard, my hands loose in my lap. I'd spent too many years under his often cruel training to forget everything so fast. Besides, much of what he'd taught me was invaluable to my place in the world now.
He let the silence stretch between us again, predictably, but then leaned forward with his fingers steepled. His golden eyes studied me in his piercing, intuitive way, but I wasn't afraid anymore. I stared right back.
"The Society would like to offer you a position within our ranks, Rose." He studied me for a reaction to this, and I couldn't help myself. I flinched.
It had nothing to do with his "offer" to join the people's army, but his use of my middle name. He'd only done that on rare occasions, usually after a particularly brutal or cruel training session that had left me a broken, hollow shell. Most of the time we’d been sensei and disciple, but there had been these moments that he showed rare displays of kindness, holding me tenderly and whispering everything I wanted to hear. He always called me by my middle name then, like a term of endearment.
I knew better, now. He was manipulating me, essentially brainwashing me to become his loyal, adoring soldier. As beautiful as a rose, with deadly, poison-tipped thorns.
"You had to know you were always destined for a higher purpose, my beautiful girl," he continued, sensing my moment of hesitation like a shark on blood. "A strength like yours couldn't be wasted in the slums of America, thrown away on cheap underground fights for paltry bets. No, Rose, you've been trained by the best." He meant himself, arrogant prick. "And now it's time you fulfill your duty to us all. To your people. To me."
My lip curled with disgust. "I don't owe youanything, Uriel. I paid my debt in full the last time we met."
His mouth curved in a lascivious smile, and he dragged his tongue across his lower lip like he could still taste me there after two years. "Suddenly, I’ve found the need to charge interest."
It took all of my willpower not to react. Not to leap out of my chair and wrap my hands around his throat, choking him into unconsciousness like he'd done to me a thousand times before. Then maybe not let go.
"This is your opportunity for greatness, Rose." He continued speaking like he was oblivious to my murderous thoughts, but I knew he wasn't. Uriel could read me better than anyone. Better, even, than either of my stolen princes. "We, in the Society, have done our part. We've trained you, disciplined you, educated you. Our people have placed you in the perfect position, it's now your privilege to carry us into a new age. Starting with the death of the monarchies."
