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I don’t know why I expect a different answer. And I get it. I hurt him, so he hurts me. We’re both just following script. It’s justthismoment that I don’t get. Watching him care for me, being tender with me. It’s unsettling enough to expect an answer beyond,I want to make you suffer.

But if there’s another explanation, I’m not going to get it.

Chapter 13

Baths are goingto be a problem.

The next day, I stare Pestilence down, the tub at my back, the door at his. The two of us are crammed inside a small bathroom in the new house we’ve decided to bed down in.

Like the last home we stayed at, this one is blessedly empty. And bonus: this house has electricity, which means hot water, which means my ass is gettingcleaned.

The only snag is the psycho who thinks that I’m going to run away despite the fact that he’s left me alone in a bathroom before—hell, he’s left me alone in bedrooms and living rooms and kitchens. He knows he’s broken my will to escape him. So I don’t understand why he thinks there’s any sort of need to stay in the bathroom with me.

“Okay, youhaveto leave,” I say, staring at the giant man-thing across from me.

His arms fold over his golden armor. Horseman code formake me, lady.

“You might not know this, but people don’t watch other people take baths.” I don’tthinkthey do at least. But maybe there’s a whole sexually deviant underbelly to society that I don’t know about. Stranger things have happened—the man in front of me case in point.

“You want a longer leash, you’re going to have to prove it,” he says, his face haughty.

“How about all those other times when you left me alone to go to the bathroom?”

“You were too weak to disobey me,” he says.

“I wasn’t last night.”

He just stares at me.

I throw up my arms. “I’m going to be naked and drenched in water. Do you know how cold it is outside?”

He doesn’t respond.

“It’s cold enough to freeze my tits off,” I answer anyway.

No reaction. Not even a laugh. Figures. Pretty sure his sense of humor is nonexistent.

“Please.” I’m shamelessly resorting to begging.

“Please?” he echoes. “Have you forgotten our history? I begged and you denied.” He leans against the door. “Take your bath, human, or don’t, but I’m not leaving this room without you.”

I seriously consider forgoing the bath. I’m no prude, but I’m not exactly thrilled to by showing the goods to the creature that’s trying to end civilization either.

But in the end, it comes down to practicality. I’m covered in blood and dirt and who knows what other bodily fluids. I’m a biohazard.

Giving Pestilence a dirty look, I turn on the hot water spigot and begin removing my clothes.

He doesn’t have a problem with nudity,I try to reassure myself as I shuck off my pants.I think back to the sight of him buck naked.He doesn’t even know he’s supposed to be embarrassed.

That reassures me only a little.

It’s when I reach for the gauze covering my torso that I hit a snag. Wherever Pestilence tied off the linen bandages, it’s beyond my reach. I tug fruitlessly at the wrappings until the horseman peels himself away from the door.

He knocks my hands away and turns my back to him. I’m about to protest whenrrrrrrip, he tears the linen away from my back.

Once he’s finished, he bends to my ear. “You’re welcome.”

I make a face to the wall as he returns to the doorway.