I scooted to the end of the mattress letting my feet hang off the edge.
“I rescued you from your prison. I have fed you. Clothed you. Given you all manner of comforts you certainly weren’t getting from that horrendous place,” he spat, pausing to glare at me. “What do I have to do to please you?”
My mouth fell open as I struggled to find something to say to him.
This man had dragged me out of the factory in the middle of the night without explanation and refused to let me leave. And yet he calls it saving me? How did I explain to this vampire that what he did was not seen by society as saving me?
Blackthorn fell to his knees before me, clasping my hands in his. “Tell me, Mara. Please. How can I make you happy you?”
I gaped down at the vampire kneeling before me. Just hours ago, he was threatening me, tying me up with his vines and now he’s begging me on his knees. What kind of twisted world had I stepped into?
“Mara, please.” Blackthorn pressed his lips to my hands, peering up at me with genuine concern. “Let me protect you. I’ll keep you safe. I promise. No one will hurt you here. Just stay. Stay... with me.”
There was a vulnerability in his voice that I didn’t like hearing. It made my heart ache for him. This man... this vampire I barely knew. Why did he want to protect me so? It couldn’t only be because I saved him first. No one would go to these lengths for such a simple thing, would they?
I swallowed, licking my lips as I contemplated what to say to him. “I—it’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I do, truly. It’s just that... Rumple.”
Blackthorn growled, shoving to his feet. “That creature. Do you feel such loyalty to him that you would waste your life breaking your back while he gives you scraps? He would see you dead and not even mourn you.”
I glared at him. “Don’t you think I know that.”
“Then why do you want to go back to him so badly?” Blackthorn cupped my face between his hands, his thumbs brushing my cheeks. “Let me prove to you that you will be happy here. Just give me a chance.”
The thing was that I wanted to. I wanted to stay here and see what kind of life I could have with Fran and the others. Even this mercurial master of theirs was better than going back to that life in the factory.
And yet...
And yet, all the reasons why I had to go back made it so I couldn’t even entertain the thought. I had to go back. Because of the spell. For the children.
Maybe in another world, another time, I could stay here. If I’d never made that deal. If some way, somehow Rumple broke our contract. Then I could get my happily ever after.
But I’d learned a long time ago that wishing and praying didn’t do anything but give you false hope.
I was in charge of my own fate.
Placing my hands over his, the cool feel of his skin on mine felt delightful after all the climbing and fighting. “I can’t stay, Blackthorn. I made a deal. I have to go back.”
Blackthorn’s eyes narrowed, before he released my face with a grunt. “Then you leave me no choice.”
I watched him step away with a gnawing feeling in my stomach. Would he punish me for not agreeing to stay? Would I be locked in the dungeons until I either died from Rumple’s spell or succumbed to his demands? The uncertainty of knowing what was coming ate at me.
Blackthorn grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me up the bed.
“I... what are you doing?” I gasped, pulling at my arm. “Let go.”
“No,” Blackthorn clipped. “You do not know what is good for you. And since you cannot be trusted to not escape, you will stay here with me, where I can keep an eye on you.” He lifted my arm until it was near the post of his bed, a vine twined up the pole, wrapping around my wrist, holding me firmly in place.
“What?” I yanked at it, glaring at him. “You can’t do this. You have to let me go.”
Blackthorn snorted, pulling away the bag I still had slung over my neck and shoulders. “I don’t have to do anything. You want to act like a prisoner, so you shall be treated like one. Get some sleep. I’ll make Fran aware of the change of rooms.”
I snarled and yanked at my wrist, yelling profanities at Blackthorn’s back as he stalked out of the room.
How dare he? I wasn’t sleeping in here with him. I hardly knew him. What if in the middle of the night he got hungry? Would he try to feed from me?
Huffing a sigh, I covered my throat with my free hand, as if that could protect me if Blackthorn decided I looked tasty.
I leaned back, grunting when my head hit the headboard of the bed. I rubbed the sore spot and shifted until I was in a comfortable position. Well, as comfortable as I was going to get with my arm tied above my head.
