Page 7

The word is barely above a whisper, as though she’s scared that giving it a voice will make it real. She scans the room of my home, and when she brings her gaze back to mine, it’s churning with questions.

I rub my thumb on her arm in soothing strokes. “Ask me whatever you like.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t want to know.”

“You can’t escape reality.”

“Reality is only what my mind perceives it to be.”

My brow furrows. I lift my hand to touch her face, and she rears back. Changing my approach, I grab hold of her neck. With my thumb directly over her windpipe, she stiffens.

“Has the madness claimed you as well?” I ask. “Even in the realm beyond?”

“None of what just happened makes any sense, so I must be crazy.”

“Perhaps,” I say. She jerks back, and I tighten my grip, pressing my fingers into her skin. “Regardless of how you interpret the events from a moment ago, I am very real. That, I can assure you.”

With my hand splayed across the small of her back, I thrust upward, into the softness of her, the apex of her thighs cradling me like a lover’s embrace. My cock strains against my breeches, more than when she first landed on me.

The blue of her gaze turns wintry, as cold and sharp as an icicle. “Don’t do that again,” she says. Her voice takes on a husky quality that contradicts her warning. Unlike her cool stare, the warmth of her body rises, bringing a pink hue to her cheeks.

It’s quick to disappear. Odd.

“Or what?” I ask, drawing circles on her throat.

She swallows as my subtle threat registers. “I think we got off on the wrong foot.”

“I haven’tgotten offat all, so I beg to differ. My cock still aches, my seed ready to be spilt, and that has nothing to do with my foot.”

Her lips thin. “How do you know me?”

A prick of disappointment stabs me, and I’m quick to dismiss it. I’ve always known that I could never have Alice. However, that was while I was under the Queen’s roof and her watchful eye.

The monarch isn’t here to stop me.

Even so, I can’t give into my desires. It would bring about my demise.

“You truly don’t recognize me?” I ask.

The woman shakes her head. “Should I?”

Yes.“Not necessarily, but given your reaction to me and your surroundings, I’m inclined to think you don’t remember much of anything. Isn’t that right, Alice?”

She frowns. “That’s not my name.”

I search her face, scrutinizing it for any telltale signs of a falsehood. My expression mirrors her when there is none to be found. Either she’s telling the truth and doesn’t realize she’s wrong, or she’s good at playacting.

Given the deceitful games played at Court, I’m well-versed in the conception and execution of lies, as well as the detection of. Yet this girl is very convincing. Considering her upbringing, I shouldn’t be surprised.

“What is your name then, dearest one?”

The woman’s lips part on a gasp, drawing my attention to her lips. It’s a pity I only have enough strength to choke her, not fuck her. I doubt she’s aware of the fact.

“Adelaide.”

“Hmm. That is lovely. As are you.”

She searches my gaze, the blue of it mesmerizing me, putting me further under her spell; one that she casted many years ago. “Why are you saying things like that?” she asks, now avoiding my stare. “I’m no one to you, and we just met.”