"Stop," she begs, covering her ears.
"And after I'm done," I continue, stepping closer to her, "after I've erased him from existence, I'll come for you. And I will make you wish you never said those words."
"I'm sorry," she sobs. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
"You DID mean it," I say. "You meant every word. You want to escape me. You want to pretend I don't exist. You want to live some fantasy life with a man who will never love you the way I do."
"That's not true!"
"ISN'T IT?" I shout.
I grab her shoulders, shaking her.
"You're MINE, Iris! MINE! "I don't share. Not my power, not my empire, and certainly not you."
"Okay!" she screams back. "Okay! I'm yours! Just stop!" But I can't stop. The rage is consuming me, burning through my veins like poison.
"Since the moment I saw you, you've been mine," I say, my voice breaking slightly. "Every breath you take belongs to me. Every heartbeat. Every thought in your head should be about ME. Not some imaginary normal man who doesn't fucking exist."
"I know," she whispers, her whole body trembling.
"Do you?" I ask, leaning in close. "Because it doesn't sound like you know. It sounds like you're still fantasizing about leaving me. About building a life without me."
"I was just... I was just scared," she says, her voice barely audible. "I'm scared of this world. I'm scared of the violence. I'm scared of losing you."
"Then don't fucking talk about marrying someone else!" I roar.
I step back, breathing hard, trying desperately to get myself under control. She slides down the wall again, pulling her knees to her chest, sobbing into her hands.
And suddenly, all the rage drains out of me like water from a broken dam, replaced by panic. What if she really does want to leave? What if she really does hate me? What if I've pushed her too far this time?
I kneel down in front of her, reaching out to touch her face. She flinches away from me, but I do it anyway, gently this time.
"Look at me," I say softly. She doesn't. "Iris, look at me." Reluctantly, she lifts her head. Her eyes are red and swollen, her face streaked with tears.
"I'm sorry," I say, and I mean it. "I'm sorry for scaring you. For hurting you. But you have to understand. The thought of you with someone else... it drives me insane. It makes me want to destroy everything."
"I know," she whispers.
"You're mine, and I will never let you go. Never."
I stand up, running my hand through my hair again, trying to calm down. "Get dressed," I say, roughly. "Let's go have breakfast. You need to eat something." She doesn't move. Just stays there on the floor, staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.
"Iris," I say, softly. "Come on. You need to eat."
Slowly, she nods and gets to her feet. She won't look at me directly. Won't come near me.
I fucked up. I scared her. But I'm not sorry for what I said. Only how I said it.
She disappears into the bathroom, and I hear the water running. When she comes out ten minutes later, she's changed into one of the dresses I had brought for her. A soft gray sweater and black leggings. Her face is washed, but her eyes are still red and puffy.
She follows me downstairs, keeping several feet of distance between us. Like I'm a wild animal that might attack at any moment.
Maybe I am.
The dining room is large, with a long oval mahogany table that could seat twenty people easily. But it's just the two of us.I pull out a chair for her, and she hesitates for a long moment before sitting down.
I take the seat beside her, close enough to touch but not touching.
