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“Oh my dear Lordling, you must wait until the wedding night to have it,” she replied, sarcastic sweetness in every word.

Mikale brought his face inches from hers, but she refused to back down. In a whisper of deadly calm, he said, “My sweet pet, rest assured I could take it whenever I would like. That has already been proven, hasn’t it?” Scarlett’s eyes went wide as she stumbled back a step. He looked at her with pure amusement. His dark eyes were dancing in victory. “You do recall that night, don’t you, my pet? Can you still feel her blood on your hands?”

Scarlett couldn’t speak. Words escaped her and her thoughts swirled. Mikale advanced on her. She took step after step backward until she was against the wall. Mikale braced his hands on either side of her head, then brought his mouth close to her ear. She could feel his breath on her skin, and she winced.

“That fucking prince choseyouover my sister. Then that bastard of a commander had the nerve to try to blackmail me,” he crooned in a cruel whisper into her ear. Scarlett stilled, not daring to move. “Of course, I could not tell anyone about the events of that night without risking the wrath of the prince, but this, Sweet Scarlett? This seems like far better revenge, does it not?”

“How does forcing me into marriage get revenge on Cassius and Callan?”she asked. Slowly, so slowly, she started gathering the fabric of her dress in her hand. If she could just get her hand on that dagger…

“Oh, this is the perfect revenge on everyone, even those you know nothing of,” Mikale continued, his voice still low and cruel. “In fact, I find this far more fitting than death. I will take them from you andyoufrom them. You, his Seastar. You, his most loved. You, the one he seeks. They shall rarely see you, for you will rarely leave this house, Scarlett. But they will know you are here. They will know that you are mine for the fucking whenever I wish.”

“You intend to lock me up here? People will surely notice. My friends will surely call on me. What shall you do when they come for me?”

Keep him talking, she thought as she continued to slowly inch the fabric of her dress up. It was almost to her knee now.

“Oh yes, but that awful ailment you have may suddenly take a turn for the worse. You might find yourself unable to get out of bed for days, and company might just become too much for you,” he crooned with mock sympathy.

“How do you know of my magic?” she breathed.

“The same way I know that Nuri desires to feast on blood and that sunlight weakens her over time,” he sneered. “The same way I know that the sister you killed was a Witch.”

She was about to reach for the hilt of the dagger, but his words clanged through her. “What?”

“You do not even know what you are, do you? Do you know what lurks beneath your skin?” Without warning, Mikale grabbed her wrist, bringing it up and slamming it against the wall. Scarlett grimaced at the force but bit down on her yelp of pain. Grabbing her other wrist, he brought it up above her head as well. He held them both with one hand while he jerked her dress up and slid the dagger from its sheath. “Do you think me an idiot?” he clipped out.

“Most definitely,” she spat. “Along with a bastard, a coward, and an ass.”

He glared at her, an unamused smile on his lips. He twirled her dagger in his hand, his other hand still pinning her wrists to the wall.“I have studied you, Scarlett. I have studied you and planned for this exact moment. I know how you think, how you will react. I know how you work. I know things about you that you do not even know about yourself.”

“You know nothing about me,” she answered, her tone vicious. She jerked a knee up in an attempt to hit him in the groin, but the dagger came to her throat in a flash, faster than he should have been able to move. She stopped short as the point dug ever so slightly into her neck. She felt a pinpoint of blood well.

“You will find out just how wrong you are,” he whispered. “For example, I know that had I waited much longer to put this plan into action, you and Renwell would have run off in a few days.” He gritted his teeth at the thought, and his eyes flashed his fury.

“We were not planning anything of the sort,” she snapped back.

“Not yet,” he answered, that knowing smile returning. “But it was coming. There were rumors of him returning to whatever Fae pit of hell he came from soon, and I highly doubt he would have left you behind.”

“What would I matter to him?” she breathed, the dagger still at her throat.

“Do not act so naïve,” he snarled. “Everyone knows how he feels about you. How you feel about each other. You made it perfectly clear at the Pier a few nights ago. Word has even gotten back to dear Callan that you have found someone new.”

“Apparently, I am a better actress than I thought. I feel nothing for him,” she retorted.

Mikale merely stared at her, amusement on his features. Then he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. She struggled, but despite all her training, he was still bigger than her and a highly trained soldier. He pulled back, laughing to himself as he released her and stepped back, striding for the door. He pulled the key from his pocket, and as he unlocked the door, he threw her a victorious grin. “You lost, Scarlett. You get to decide how to handle the defeat. It can be easy, or it can be dreadful. Consider it a courtesy you get a choice at all.”

The door clicked shut behind him. She heard the lock slide into place.She listened until his footsteps had faded, and she was sure he was gone. Then Scarlett slid to the floor and sobs wracked her body. Her hands covered her face as she tried to stifle the sound. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Alone.

She was completely alone.

Locked in a room.

Locked in a cage.

The tears kept coming. She was crying so hard, her stomach twisted, but she couldn’t stop. She vomited into a wastebasket near the nightstand, convulsing with the sobs. When there was nothing else to vomit up, she laid down on the floor, the stones cool against her cheek. She forced herself to take deep, steadying breaths. In and out. In and out. But there was no one here to match her breaths. Tears continued to fall, although the wracking sobs eventually subsided. Minutes, then an hour. Two hours. Three. She traced the stones on the floor with her finger.

Alone.