“Can you at least lengthen it? I’m not going to be able to sit comfortably this way, and what if I have to go to the bathroom? Should I just do my business here?” I gestured at the bed with a knowing expression.
Blackthorn stopped on my side of the bed, his brows bunched together in thought. Then after a moment, the vine around my wrist disappeared. I cried out in relief, rubbing the sore flesh. I barely had a second to rejoice in my freedom before a vine wrapped around my ankle, its length burrowing into the ground.
“There, you may now walk around the room and reach the bathroom. But nowhere else.” He gave me a pointed look. “Fran will be here shortly with your breakfast and a change of clothes. She is quite distraught that you tried to leave.”
Guilt hit me like a ton of bricks.
Fran had been nothing but kind to me. I could only imagine how she felt knowing I had tried to leave. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to explain to her that it wasn’t her that made me leave. Could I trust her with the knowledge of my agreement with Rumple? Or would she try to convince me to stay too?
All I could do was watch Blackthorn as he moved around the room. He stepped into his bathroom, leaving me alone for a long while. When he came out again, his hair was damp, and he wore a towel low around his waist.
I jerked my eyes away from his exposed skin, my cheeks and ears burning.
“Oh, so you can touch me while I’m sleeping, but this embarrasses you?” The humor in his voice told me he was no doubt smirking at me. Something I wasn’t going to chance checking for myself.
I kept my eyes averted until another door clicked open and shut. A few minutes later, Blackthorn walked out of what I assumed was his closet, his fingers buttoning the new long-sleeved black shirt he’d put on.
“Do you own any other colors?” I asked, unable to hold back my snark after the night I’d had.
Blackthorn looked up from buttoning his cufflinks. “Does the color offend you?”
I crossed one leg over the other, arms wrapped around my middle. “Not in particular, but you’d think someone who’d been alive for...?” I trailed off, looking at him expectantly.
His lips curled up on one side. “Is this your way of asking how old I am?”
Leaning back on my hands, I let my leg bounce up and down. “Well, I know you have to be at least fifty ‘cause Cookie said it’d been that long since he’d been to the capital.” I cocked my head to the side. “Why don’t you allow your servants to leave? Surely there are things they can’t make themselves here—”
“Enough.”
My mouth clipped shut, shoulders stiffening at the harsh tone of his voice. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
He stalked across the room, invading my personal space. “What I do with my servants is my business. Do not question things you don’t understand.”
So much for the playful Blackthorn from this morning. He was so touchy about certain subjects. Maybe it had something to do with that woman in the painting. I’d have asked him about it, but I feared he’d bite my head off.
“Now,” Blackthorn stepped back, cracking his neck, “I have things to take care of. Fran will be here shortly to attend to you. I advise you to not think about escaping again.”
I glared up at him beneath furrowed brows. “I will find a way out of here. You can’t keep me here forever.”
Blackthorn cocked his head to the side. “Watch me.”
Chapter 14
The door slamming reverberated through me. He just left me here. Tied to the bed and completely at anyone’s mercy. How was this for my own safety?
I ground my teeth and stalked to the bathroom, jerking on the vine as it tangled under my legs. I fumed the entire time I did my business and cleaned my face and teeth. Every ounce of me rebelled against the injustice Blackthorn had put upon me.
That stupid vampire was being completely unreasonable. He was the one who kidnapped me. I didn’t ask him to rescue me. I didn’t ask to be taken here. He had no right to assume I wanted out of the situation I was in.
Okay, so maybe from the outside looking in, it was obvious none of us who belonged to Rumple wanted to be there. The townspeople clearly could tell we were being used and abused; except they couldn’t do anything about it.
We belonged to Rumple by law. We signed the magically binding documents or in some unfortunate cases our parents did. Not even the royals could break those contracts, no matter how much they despised what Rumple was doing.
And I supposed, no one in their right mind would want to go back to their abuser. Maybe Blackthorn thought I was brainwashed or something. But I didn’t want to go back, Ihadto go back. Not only for my own survival but for the children who couldn’t stand up for themselves.
Blackthorn just didn’t understand.
I should just tell Blackthorn. I’ll tell him about the spell and then he’ll have to let me go. He said he wanted to protect me. By keeping me here, he was technically hurting me. So unbeknownst to him, he was breaking his own promise of protection.
