Page 26 of Dance of Thorns

I can feel myself start to grin, but I keep that same sugary smile on my face as I glare at him.

Silence blankets us, him still sitting casually in his chair, me standing stiffly in the middle of the room.

I clear my throat. “Why the fuck are you doing this?”

“Because in our world, one in which we’vebothbeen raised, marriage is a business transaction,” Bane says evenly. “Your father has a new shipping port. My father has men?—”

“You know what the fuck I’m asking,” I snap. “Stop patronizing me.Why, Bane?” My temper flares. “Why are forcing the friend of your dead fiancée to marry you?”

Bane’s small smile fades. His eyes narrow a little, sending a shiver down my spine.

“You loved her,” I say quietly.

His face darkens. “More than you know.”

“You’re angry because I persuaded her to come out that?—”

“Stop.”

He doesn’t raise his voice, but his commanding tone slices through me, silencing me.

“Bane.”

“Yes?”

I clench my body tight to stop from shuddering.

“Why are you doing this? Why me? Look, I know you manipulated me, and pretended to be up on that roof to…” I trail off, shaking my head.

To pretend you’re as fucked up as me to get past my defenses.

“You used my mental state against me, Bane.Why?!”

He lifts an eyebrow, a smug hint of a grin curling his lips. “For this,” he murmurs, waving his index finger back and forth between us.

I bark out a cold laugh. “If you’re that desperate for a woman to be in the same room as you, you’re even more pathetic than I thought. And I'm not here willingly, so?—”

“Here’s how this is going to work,” he sighs, sounding bored. That just pisses me off even more.

“What. The fuck. Do you. WANT!!” I scream at him.

“You.”

The word silences me utterly. My pulse skips as a clammy tingle creep-walks down my neck.

Bane smiles like a shark as he steeples his fingers in front of him.

“I wantyou.”

I blink quickly, my blood turning to syrup in my veins.

“Meaning?” I croak, my voice quivering. I hate that.

“It wasn’t that complex a statement,” he growls. “And there’s no double or secret meaning to it. I. Want.You.”

“I—”

“You’ll be my whore. My toy to play with as I wish, when I wish,howI wish.”