But I wasn’t going to tell Maren that. There was no need to upset her, not now anyway. I had a feeling that despite everything my only surviving family had done to her, my gentle butterfly would be upset to hear about their imminent deaths.
“I’ll deal with them,” I replied vaguely. “Whatever happens, you’ll be safe, Maren. I’ll keep you safe from now on.”
She said nothing, and I feared her faith in my words might’ve been shattered after everything that had transpired last night.
How could it not?
I sent her to Arnon’s. I promised her it was for her own safety. She trusted me. And then she nearly died a devious, unnatural death. I gritted my teeth. But all the rage in the world wasn’t going to right the wrongs perpetrated against this woman.
I’d kill and die to make her happy. Only I didn’t think that either killing or dying would bring her happiness.
She leaned her cheek on the pillow, but her eyes remained open. She stared down at the floor, looking lost in thought.
Her silence bothered me. I would far prefer her yelling at me. Fuck, I would even take tears over that ominous calm. For once in my life, it wasn’t the tears that disturbed me but the absence of them.
“Darling?” I prodded carefully.
“Someone is walking in the cabin under ours,” she stated in a dull, flat voice.
Like the rest of the ship, the floor was glass and perfectly see-through. Two men brought in a large trunk and placed it by the wall in the cargo hold below. I sat with my bare ass on the floor and my cock resting on the glass ever so aesthetically.
“Well, let’s hope they don’t look up or they'll get an eyeful,” I quipped.
She threw a hand over her mouth, but her laughter burst out between her fingers, nevertheless. At least by some divine miracle, I still retained the ability to make her laugh.
Sadly, her laughter waned quickly. The men below had long left, and she was still staring at the floor, her gaze unseeing.
“You need to rest, sweetheart,” I cooed, soothingly. “Why don’t I sing you to sleep? We still have a few hours—”
“Let me go, Kye,” she said unexpectedly.
Her words came like a blow to my chest, depriving me of air and instantly shutting me up.
She sat up in bed, fixing her gaze on me.
“Go where?” I finally found the words to ask, praying for an easy, acceptable explanation. Maybe she just wanted to get some fresh air? Or needed to use the bathroom again?
“I want to go back home. Please. Back to my world.”
Fuuuck...
I leaned back against the wall. Breath left me. Dread filled me instead.
“Do you really want to leave me?” I refused to comprehend her request.
“I don’t belong in this world,” she said in a voice so small, it made me want to cuddle her to my chest and never let go.
“But Maren...” I crawled closer to her, as close as I dared. “You belong with me. I need you.”
She was just frightened, I told myself. She didn’t mean it. She had a terrible night. She was tired, exhausted really. Things often looked their worst when we were tired and scared. I knew that better than anyone.
“I’m not your property, Kye,” she retorted with a fiery flash in her eyes. “Not some comfort creature delivered to your door for entertainment. I had a life, a future, and a purpose back home. I was snatched away from it all against my will. I can’t spend the rest of my life afraid of powers I don’t understand, caught in a deadly game I don’t want to be a part of, played by the rules I don’t know.”
“I give you my word, my formal promise that your safety—”
But she wouldn’t let me finish. “Tying yourself with a promise that puts your life in danger is not going to solve anything. I can’t be your pet, even a pampered one. Don’t you understand? I can never be happy in a cage, no matter how pretty you promise to make that cage for me. Please, just let me go.”
The idea of parting from her terrified me more than any god or monster ever could. I was ready to fight anyone for Maren. What I was not prepared for was fighting Maren herself.
