Page 114 of Unmasked

“I didn’t say they did. I’m curious if you would. Can you do that now, at your palace. You must… have an underground room too, right? I mean.” She took a step towards me, a mask either sliding on or away from her. “Some of the best things happen in rooms no one knows about. Secrets. Darkness.”

Silence played between us, but I found myself moving in closer to her.

“I have a place. What I do, or don’t do, or can do… is up to me. Nothing is off limits.”

She nodded, keeping her eyes on me as she began to circle around wide. My brow creased, and the lust heightened. This Penelope wasn’t the one she let everyone see, but I was instantly captivated by it.

“No limits… Interesting. I know King Lawrence, but I don’t think I’ve met the real you yet.” Her gaze looked me up and down, coming back to my face. She grabbed a cuff, tilting her head. “I wonder about this darker you. The one who hints to like… chains and… blood… and death? Or maybe I’m completely wrong.”

Light flooded in from above, and I growled as I tore my gaze from her. Boots pounded down the stairs, and I pinned my guards with a look that threatened exactly what me and Penelope were talking about.

“Get. Out.”

My command had them jolting to a stop. Penelope laughed under her breath.

“I believe in signs. We should go, Your Majesty. There’s so much to do.”

Penelope threw me a look that had an inferno pouring from my body. It took all I had not to lunge forward and rip her back to me. I’d put her in those cuffs and fuck her raw and bloody. She’d beg me to stop. She’d⁠—”

“Come, Your Majesty.”

The order drew me forward, and I clenched my jaw through the seductive tone.

What the hell had just happened? No… Who the hell had I just witnessed?

Penelope wasn’t Penelope. At least not one I had met yet. I kept getting flashes of this strong woman who made my head spin. She was gone so fast, it left me questioning whether she was there at all.

Well, there was no doubt anymore. I wouldn’t forget this darker version I’d been introduced to. And soon, Penelope wouldn’t have the ability to run if I didn’t want her to.

She wanted to play with fire?

She wanted to tease and test the rules?

I’d play… and then… I’d win.

CHAPTER 37

Vaughn

Sweat. It dripped from my hair. It drenched my clothes. Still, I didn’t stop. My rage didn’t allow me to.

I fought.

I seethed through every swing.

I saw nothing but the blood covering the bottom half of my Reeve’s face. And I knew I had some on mine. I’d tasted it. Smelled it. Blood was life.

It.

Was.

Everything.

“Unavowed! Go. Go. Go.”

Chants hummed in the large empty stone room. So distant from me as flashes of Penelope came back with blinding force.

The seduction. The want I’d seen in her gaze.