Hiding beneath billowing skirts, I righted myself, injecting my words with scorn. “Be still my heart.”
Dark laughter rumbled through the room. “It’s not your heart I desire, slave.”
In spite of the tears, something slipped in my mind. A savage, toothy grin spread across my face and I tucked my feet beneath me once more. “You’re welcome to try for more.”
“Another time, perhaps, if you insist. But come along. There are some very important men on their way to meet you.”
“They can wait all day.”
For the space of a dozen breaths, we glared at each other. Dark eyes to light. Neither backing down.
“Don’t spoil my good mood, Mila. You won’t like the consequences.”
“You’re mistaking me for someone who cares.” I laughed, head light and spinning. “You’ve taken everything from me.”
His face twisted in the shadows. “More than you know.”
“What more could there possibly be? What else could you do?”
But it was his turn to hold his silence.
I slipped off the bed, stalking past an ornate wooden desk, fists clenched. “It doesn’t matter what pathetic little punishments you can dream up.” A tremor rippled through my body, but I spread my arms wide. “I belong to no one. I am the darkness. You cannot hold me,Captain.”
Eyes gleaming, he said, “Have you forgotten, then? WhatIam?” He took a step closer. “I am your match, girl. Ineverything. Or rather”—the nasty little smile returned to the edges of his lips—“was. Now?” The captain traced the glitter of gold at his wrist. The match to my set, set and fused against his wrist. “You’re a pretty pet on a leash. A symbol of power to be cared for. Cherished. Nothing more.” Buttoning his sleeve, the captain took a breath, tugging my mother’s pendant from his trouser pocket then slipped it over his head with mocking care. “You’ll adjust. I willhelp youadjust. But until then… come. The general will be in my kitchen in ten minutes, and I don’t trust you up here alone.”
I stilled. “General Tilcot?”
He finished buttoning his shirt, eyebrow raised. “The very same.”
The man who’d slaughtered my father and led the attack on my people was within striking distance, and I was permanently without the power to kill him? Was there no end to this humiliation?
I bared my teeth, quaking with a fury I’d never known. And yet… if the general was here, then his enslaved Trila-Glís wasn’t far.
If it were possible to taste that darkest of Truths once more,she’dknow how it could be done.
“Stop.”
Startled, I glared at him.
“Whatever little plot you’re cooking up can wait, Miss Tannovic. I promise you, now is not the time to test your new limits.”
“Then unless you’d like to see the innards of that foul man, you will leave me here and hope I don’t set the place ablaze in your absence.”
The captain returned my scowl. “As much as I may like to take you up on that insane offer, I can’t.” He cleared his throat. “I may have bypassed a few of the proper channels to claim you. The general needs to be… appeased.”
“Am I to smile prettily, then?” I bared modified canines, simpering. Playing Alicia’s damnable part, and badly. “Would you have me get down on my knees? Praise his untouchable, Elite power? Would you have me stroke his cock—”
“Enough,” the captain snapped, seizing my wrist and yanking me flush to his chest, pendant a hard dead lump between us. “Speak that way in front of him, and you’ll be lucky if a public whipping is the only thing he gives you.” He shook me. “Do you think I relish the notion of involving you?” He laughed, dark and cruel. “There isn’t a rational bone in your entire fucking body. I expect the general will spend this conversation provoking you, just to see you react as you did last night in the baths! He’ll start by insulting your people—”
“Every breath he draws is an insult to my people. Every breathyoudraw—”
The captain passed a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Mypoint, Mila. If you’d like to continue breathing, I recommend you keep your mouth shut in front of my superiors. Do you understand me?” His voice dropped an octave. “I’m not above gagging you.”
“Your threats are meaningless, parasite.” I tossed my hair, ignoring the silky texture. The absence of tangles and burrs. “I have leverage.”
“Oh? And how do you plan on using that leverage, you little lunatic?” He took a single, fluid step, herding me back. “Will you tell them you’re a rogue Trila-Glís who’s survived in the wood all this time, unmolested?”
I said nothing.
