“No,” she said too quickly to be believable. Orelia stayed half hidden underwater, wishing for the heat in her cheeks to subside.
Vade tossed the bottle he’d fetched onto the rock shelf and prowled toward her, cutting fluidly through the water like the knives he coveted. “The color in those round, rosy cheeks says otherwise.”
Orelia retreated until her back found a boulder and she stood waist deep in the river, arms covering her breasts. The water lapped at the flare of her hips just below her navel as Vade continued to come for her. It was either run naked up the bank or swim into the middle of the river to avoid him. She froze instead, feeling too much like prey.
The tips of his dark hair dripped water that ran in lines down his body, getting caught in the bed of chest hair that made him appear more masculine and older than a man of twenty-six. “What’s the matter, little lamb? You look frightened.” The deep timbre of his voice skittered down her spine, pebbling her skin.
They were alone in the middle of the woods, and no one would hear her scream. He could easily take her against the rocks, hand over her mouth. There was no way his cock would fit inside anywoman without there being pain. Because nothing about him was gentle, Orelia knew if he took her that she wouldn’t survive him. She trembled, wishing her cowardly legs had the strength to do something. Anything.
He stopped when he was towering over her. “If I wanted to hurt you, I’d do it when you least expect it. After all, the meat spoils if the lamb sees the blade coming.” His eyes drifted to her crossed arms. “I’ve seen plenty of tits. Though not as many as large as yours, I admit. You don’t have to hide them from me.”
She lifted her chin, not wanting to come off as meek and feeble, despite feeling so. “You don’t deserve to see mine.”
He chuckled. “If I paid enough for you, I could get whatever I want.”
Defiance roared in her veins. “That’s what all men think when they take pleasure girls. As if the woman’s say in the matter means nothing.”
He barked a laugh. “Pleasure girls? Is that what you call the whores? How sweet.”
His mocking tone steeled her spine. “Don’t call them whores. They’re just doing what they can to survive. You wouldn’t know anything about what that’s like.”
His eyes narrowed. “You know nothing about what I’ve had to do to survive.”
Call it courage, call it stupidity, Orelia drummed up the nerve to tell him off. “I’ve seen enough already to know you kill without remorse or a second thought. I don’t even want to know how manymen’s lives you’ve taken over the years of your abysmal life, some of which could have been avoided, like those Arbors.”
He stepped into her, and she guessed his hands were in fists underwater judging by how tight his jaw was. “You know nothing of what I’ve endured and nothing of my life.”
She squeezed her arms tighter across her breasts. “And you know nothing of mine.”
“I intend to keep it that way, witch. Besides . . .” Vade ran a finger along her waist down to the wide berth of her hips. Her bold words died in her throat as she wondered what in the hells he was doing.
He gripped her hard enough to bruise, and she hissed. Vade leaned down until he was staring directly into her eyes.
“You’re nothing special. Nothing I haven’t seen before. And your life means nothing to me, only that it’s unfortunately tethered to mine. Once I’m free of you, I won’t have to live with the burden of your presence.”
“Meaning you’re going to kill me once we’re unbound? Cut off my finger and put it in your stone just for laughs?” She practically spit the words.
His touch fell away, dark eyes searching hers. “Don’t tempt me.”
Anger coursed through her at the insinuation. “You’ve killed women before, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” he said curtly.
She scoffed. “You’re a godsless man.”
“Or maybe I’m just the truth you refuse to acknowledge.”
“I’ve never met anyone sodisgusting.”
Vade tilted his head. “You believe women are incapable of violence?” He was standing so gods-damned close that his anger hung over them like a storm cloud.
“Not the kind a king would find worthy of death.”
Vade tilted his head back and laughed obnoxiously loud. “So fucking innocent. You know nothing of the varieties of evil. I may have killed more men than women, but you females are certainly capable of the same caliber of violence we are.”
“Not from what I’ve seen.”
“Which is what? What have you seen in your pathetic little life to tell you anything different?” He pressed his hands against the stone beside her head, blocking her in. “You don’t know true evil.”
