Page 28

My mind was restless. I slept in short spurts. Each time I woke up, panic raced through me, my breathing short and fast until I felt as if I would pass out.

I would have to remind myself of where I was, who had put me there. I wasn’t back in the tower, but it was close enough to the same that it had reawakened my trauma.

The first few times I’d woken, Adam and Gage weren’t there, but they’d left a plastic bottle of water on the table.

This time when I startled awake, sucking in long streams of breaths, my eyes locked onto Gage’s. He sat a tray on the lone table. I expected anger or even disgust to reach me, but what I didn’t expect was pity.

That was so much worse.

Rolling over, I put my back to him, ignoring him as he set out the meal I wouldn’t be eating.

“If you can’t sleep, we can bring you something to help.”

My arms wrapped tighter around myself. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how being caged affected me.

“Eva.” Gage’s voice grew quiet, his presence a shadow over the bed. “You need to eat. I brought you some clothes to change into. If you don’t like them, I can find something else.”

“Leave me alone,” I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut. I couldn’t bear how nice he was being to me. Where was the asshole who threatened me in the park? The one who told me to stay away from him and his friends? Why was he acting like... like he cared?

“You can pout all you want, but I’m not going to let you starve yourself.”

His firm grip dragged me from the bed, lifting me up into his thick, warm arms. I pushed against him, slashing my nails at his face until he dropped me into the chair at the table.

“Fuck, Eva. You’re being a child,” Gage snapped. He dropped into the chair on the opposite side of the table, touching the side of his face briefly.

I smirked as blood welled up from one of the scratches I’d left on his face.

“Eat. Or I will force feed you.” Gage gestured at the plate in front of me.

My lips pulled down at the sides at the plate. It was flimsy and, with a bit of pressure, ripped. The sandwich and cold vegetables on the plate didn’t require utensils, and he hadn’t given me any. I poked at the food and sneered. “Afraid I’m going to use the plate as a weapon?”

Gage crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Not taking any chances. You’re violent when you’re mad.”

I picked up a carrot and snapped it between my teeth with a vicious grin. “I wonder why.”

Silently, I took one bite of food after the next, not really tasting it as I swallowed it. My eyes burned into Gage’s face, the mask covering his lower half just a reminder of how much he didn’t trust me.

“Shouldn’t you be on the other side of the barrier?”

Gage cocked his head to the side, and I didn’t need to see his lips to know he was smirking at me. “Why? Are you going to kill me?”

I lifted my hand, letting a small ball of fire swell there. “I could easily kill you.”

“You won’t, though,” Gage shot back, tapping his foot under the table. “I’m finally starting to figure you out.”

I let the fire go out and shifted back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other. “Oh, really? Please enlighten me.”

“You’re all bark and no bite.” He tapped his fingers on the table with a grin. “You could have killed Beatriz, too, instead of just threatening her.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe I was giving her a chance to change. Obviously I was mistaken.”

“You could have attacked me the moment I walked through the barrier, but you didn’t.”

“Haven’t yet.”

“You won’t.”

“It’s not too late to test that theory.”

Gage threw his head back and laughed. “See? All bark.”

“And what about the party? I didn’t just bark then,” I snapped, irritated that he was making me out to be some weakling who couldn’t follow through on her promises.

“A fluke. You were fighting your other self and lost control.”

My brows rose at that. Lost control? Sure, I’d been fighting my other self, but there was no loss of control. I had killed Master Tuck because I wanted to. I hadn’t been aiming at anyone in particular outside of that, just angry at the sudden news of Adam’s engagement.

I wasn’t known for my cool head, after all.

I didn’t want to kill Gage or, if I was being honest, Adam, no matter how much his heritage or lying angered me. However, I wasn’t going to be seen as some yappy little dog who wasn’t a threat.

Cocking my head to the side, I let my fingers trail up and down the opening of my jacket. I held back my smile as Gage took the bait, his eyes locked on the curves of my breasts just barely peeking through the sides.

“You think you know me so well, do you, assassin?” I unsnapped one of the buttons that held the jacket closed, his eyes locked on my movements. “I’ve been around for a thousand years, waiting, plotting, boiling in my rage while the mages took over the world.”

Another button snapped open.

“Everyone I knew and loved died a long time ago.” My fingers followed the line of skin that stopped mid stomach. “The mages killed my mother. So I killed their king.”

“That was ruled an accident,” Gage murmured, his eyes still focused on my hand.

My lips curled. “Oh, yes, he accidentally drank the poison I put in his cup.”

Then there were no more buttons to pop. My jacket spread slightly, giving him just a peek at what was underneath. What he could have if he had just given into me before.

“My whole life has been devoted to avenging my mother and the humans who have suffered at the mages hands.” I stood from the table, his body tensed but those eyes kept watching me above his mask.

He didn’t resist when I slipped into his lap, my fingers playing along his jawline, the fabric of his mask separating our skin. His hands stayed by his sides for a moment before grasping my hips, fingers tracing the bare flesh above my pants.

“The only good I had in my life was Ferdinand, and even he was taken from me.” I leaned forward until my breath brushed against his cloth-covered mouth.

“How did he die?” Gage’s eye lids lowered to slits as he leaned into me, our mouths almost touching. A taunt and a tease for both of us.

“Take your mask off, and I’ll tell you.” I licked my lips, wetting the material against his mouth.

“Do you think seeing my face is going to get you out of here?”

I smiled against his mouth, and my hips shifted over his lap. I could feel how hard he was getting just from my being there. “No, you’ll let me out... eventually. I just want to see that you finally trust me. After all, you just said I’m all bark and no bite.”

Gage stared at me for a long moment, his fingers tracing patterns on my skin before he lifted one hand up. The last time I’d seen him without his mask, he’d been under a boils curse, and I couldn’t actually appreciate the beauty of his face.

Now, that curse was gone. His handsome face was the kind that would make women and men alike stop on the street. The kind of face that was remembered. Not a good thing in his line of work.

I placed my bare hands on both sides of his face, feeling the scrape of his scruff against my palms as I leaned in and kissed him.

For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t kiss me back. After all, he had been adamant about keeping me away. Claimed he didn’t and wouldn’t ever love me.

So, when he kissed me back, I forgot what I was doing and where I was for a moment.

His mouth pressed firmly against mine, tongue darting out to brush across the line of my lips. I opened to him, sinking into the kiss, my body pressed flush against him.

Gage pulled away for a second and bit the finger of his glove, pulling it off before his rough hand slid beneath my jacket to cup my bare breast. I pressed into his touch as his mouth found mine once more.

Even if he had a shitty personality, I could give the assassin one thing–he could kiss. His mouth pressed hard against mine, his tongue fucking my mouth without giving me the chance to reciprocate.

I had no doubt that, if we had sex, he would be in complete control, leaving me to take whatever he gave me and I would have begged for more.

Gage’s kisses and hands made my head whirl. My thoughts clouded together as desire overtook me. Somehow, this game I’d been playing had been turned on me, and I couldn’t afford that.

Withdrawing reluctantly from the kiss, I held his face in my hands, nipping and teasing him without giving him more. “Don’t you want to know what happened?”

Lust glazed over Gage’s eyes. The hand holding my breast traced around my nipple before pinching it between his fingers. “I’d rather know about the rebels.”

I grinned against his mouth. “You haven’t earned that information yet.”

“Oh?” Gage mused, moving his hand from my chest and down to the edge of my pants. “What do I need to do to get that information?”

It would be so easy to just tell him that I didn’t know anything about the rebels. Which I didn’t. Rebecca and Nick kept a lot of the specifics quiet. It was better that way. The less people who knew about the whole operation the better. I only cared about getting my pound of flesh.

But Gage didn’t need to know that.

“We’re not talking about rebels,” I reminded him, my hips wiggling against him. “We’re talking about me.”

He popped the button of my pants and pulled them open, his hand ducking beneath the material to cup my center. His thumb made a circle around my clit, ripping a moan from my lips. If I wasn’t careful, he would beat me at this game.

“Are you sure?” Gage purred, pressing his mouth to my lips, chin, and then the junction of my neck before thrusting two fingers without warning into my soaking heat. “I could make you feel so good if you’d just tell me where the rebels gather.”

I almost laughed, had he not curled his fingers inside of me. Instead, I threw my head back to let out a gasping scream.

Gage’s mouth sucked on my exposed throat, growling and thrusting his hips against my back side with each thrust of his fingers.

Pleasure meshed my thoughts together, making the only thing I wanted was to reach that peak. So close. Just a little more.

His hand stopped moving.

I cried out in protest, trying to move my hips, chasing that release.

“Tell me, and I will let you come.” The wicked gleam in his eye both pissed me off and made me laugh. He’d played me at my own game. Except he didn’t know that we weren’t playing on the same level.

Breathing heavily, I pressed my forehead against his, my hands cupping his face once more. “You misunderstand me, Gage.” I let my gaze meet his, my powers billowing beneath the surface. “Ferdinand didn’t die.” I poured my persuasion into my voice, my eyes a hypnotic lure that made the smirk on his lips flatten out as I whispered against his mouth.

“I killed him.”

Gage’s body flinched against those words, but he didn’t move, his face slack and his fingers still buried deep inside of me. I kept eye contact with him as I fucked myself on his fingers, racing toward that edge while Gage stayed locked in place.

I shattered and released my hold on Gage’s mind.

Gage threw me onto the table, a hand around my throat. Snarling down at me, one of his daggers appeared out of nowhere. He pressed the tip into the center of my chest.

I breathed heavily and laughed up at him, my body still recovering from my release. “Was it good for you?”

“What the fuck was that?” The hand on my throat tightened until I could barely breathe. “I couldn’t move.”

I licked my lips, my breasts exposed now beneath the dagger. I pressed up into it to draw a rivulet of blood. “Are you going to kill me, Gage? After all your talk of wanting to protect me? I’m hurt.”

“How did you do that?” Gage asked, ignoring my taunting. “How did you control my mind?”

I lifted my hand, and he flinched.

Enjoying his wariness, I let my finger trail down the exposed muscles of his biceps. “Ferdinand was the first man I ever loved, the first one I’d ever let myself love. My whole life was for revenge. I married the king for revenge. I let him fuck me every night for revenge. I played the dutiful wife, the perfect queen, the doting stepmother. I did everything I was supposed to do. I gave up everything for my vengeance until I met him.”

Gage’s breathing slowed as I spoke, his hand loosening around my throat.

“We were going to run away together. I was going to give it all up for him. Fifteen years of planning and sacrificing my own happiness just to toss it away for a single man, unextraordinary by most people’s standards.”

“You controlled me just now, didn’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

“Shit, Eva. It’s no wonder you ended up in that tower. You can’t just control people like puppets on a string waiting around to be used as you want.”

Ignoring his accusations, I continued my story. “She stole him from me. He was mine, and she stole his love and took him. He was going to run away and marry Snow instead of me.”

I pushed up, forcing him to either move back or stab me as my anger from that day seethed inside of me. “So I ripped him apart.”

Gage’s eyes widened slightly, disbelief in his eyes.

I let him see me then, truly see the dark twisted thing that lived inside of me. “I’m not some pet that can be tamed into behaving, Gage. If you hurt me, I’ll hurt you back tenfold. And, when I threaten you, you take it as a promise because I always follow through.”

Gage let his dagger droop between us, his hand tightening on the hilt while his jaw clenched. “Where are the rebels?”

I wrapped myself in my magic, disappearing and then reappearing on my bed, where I placed my hands behind my head and smiled. “I have no idea.”

He took one step toward me and then thought better of it, shaking his head before stalking back through the barrier.

“Thanks for the ride,” I called out to his retreating back. “Let’s do it again sometime.”