Page 22 of Cruel Juliet

Call me crazy, but I can’t do that to her. Not even with her bitchy, thousand-year stare and bland morning oatmeal.

She may be a witch, but she doesn’t deserve to die.

“The lock didn’t latch,” I lie. “I messed with the handle and it came open. I’d tell you to splurge on some WD-40, but I’m sure you oil everything with the boiled fat of your enemies around here.”

Petyr’s stare turns suspicious. He’s looking for holes in my story, but he won’t find them. I won’t be responsible for someone’s death.

I keep my chin high, my expression even. My palms sweat, but I don’t look away. Don’t give him the slightest reason to doubt what I’m saying.

After all, I did just fuck myself over here. If he replaces the lock with an electronic one, I’ll never see the sun again.

He must think the same thing I’m thinking, because he nods. “It won’t happen again,” he says, tone final. “I’ll make sure of that.”

Great. More threats. Anya owes me a shitload of KFC after this.

Petyr drags a hand through his hair. I catch the exasperation in his eyes. He’s tired of this, I realize. Tired of the sick game of cat and mouse he himself started between us.

Well, so am I.

So I seize the moment. “What do you want from me, Petyr?”

For a split second, it looks like I might get an honest answer.

But then Petyr’s face shutters. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

That’s when my patience finally snaps. “Yes, you do!” I throw my arms in the air. “So I’ll ask again: what the hell do you want me to do? Just accept that I’m going to spend the rest of my life staring at your horrifying wallpaper while I’m either pregnant or being forced to get pregnant again? All so you can keep a womb on hand to carry your heir for you?”

Petyr’s whole body tenses. If he doesn’t like getting the truth shoved in his face, though, he hides it well, because his face betrays nothing. “You can’t be trusted. You just proved it.”

“Youlocked me up!” I realize I’m yelling, but at this point, I don’t give a shit. “You really think that’s normal? Kidnapping your own wife? Forcing her to birth your heirs over and over? And I was supposed to, what, just go along with it?”

I’m desperate for him to come back to his senses. All that desperation is in my voice, and I know Petyr can hear it. He just won’t let it sink in.

Because he knows, deep down, I’m right.

“You sayIcan’t be trusted.” I step forward, trying to force his gaze to meet mine. “But you’re the one I don’t trust, Petyr. You gave me four walls and a locked door and told me that would have to be enough, but that’s not how it works. I’m a human being. I’m not property. And if this is how you’re going to treat me now that you found me again—” I choke on my tears, butkeep going. “Then I’m glad I ran. In fact, I should have run faster.”

His face darkens all of a sudden. “You have everything you need here,” he grits out, fists tight at his sides. “If you’re lacking for anything, tell Anya and I’ll?—”

I let out a hoarse laugh. “This isn’t a hotel, Petyr. I didn’t check in for a spa treatment. Actually, I didn’t check in at all. And you seriously think you can pat yourself on the back and tell yourself you’re giving me all I need just because you feed me three times a day?”

“It’s more than anyone else in your position would get.”

“It’s what a pet would get,” I bite back. “And I’m not your fucking pet. I’m yourwife. Because, might I add, you forced me to be.”

“You didn’t seem to mind that the last time we were together.”

My cheeks flush. But if he thinks I’ll let him throw back whatever good moments we shared in my face to shame me, he’s got another thing coming.

“I’m not ashamed of what I did,” I tell him calmly. “But I am ashamed of what you became.”

That shuts him up.

The truth is, I don’t know if I’m even making sense. This whole situation is so backwards, I can’t trust my own mind to sort it out.

More than that, I still don’t know if Petyr actually changed. Or if he was always like this and I just didn’t see it.

“I want tolive.” I’m half-laughing, half-crying at this point, but if Petyr thinks I’m crazy, then good. That’s on him, too. “I want air,light, people. I want to be a person, not a pet.” My voice drops to a whisper. “I want to befree.”