Page 33

My mind crashed back into my body just as the door clicked shut. I shifted in bed, the softness of the mattress making me sink in so much that I feared I couldn’t get out. A masculine mixture of spices and something else that was all Gage filled my nose.

I must be in Gage’s room then.

A creak and the slide of leather told me Gage had taken a seat near me. I waited for him to say something. Though my eyes were closed, I wasn’t bothering to feign sleep.

“You were listening before, weren’t you?” Gage’s voice filled the silence of the room, and I rolled over until I faced the direction of his voice.

The dim light in the room did nothing to help the burning in my eyes as I squinted them open, peering over at his large frame bent over in his reclining chair.

“Does it matter?” I croaked and then cleared my throat.

Gage leaned forward and offered me a glass of water. “Partially. There’s nothing Adam or I can do to make the others step down and let us take care of it.”

I snorted before sipping my water. I held it back out to him, and he placed it on the side table.

“I don’t agree with just killing people because you don’t agree with the way they are doing things.” Gage steepled his fingers in front of him. “I’d only ever taken assignments to kill those who were a true threat to peace and had malicious intentions. But I grew complacent. We all did.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but he held up a hand.

“No, let me finish.” Gage shifted from his chair to the side of the bed, the mattress dipping toward him. “I’ve always just taken orders. Doing what I was told without asking why. I didn’t see the world the way you did, I thought that, if the humans were assigned as lesser, then it was for a reason. Who was I to question that reason?”

I narrowed my eyes on his use of the word lesser but didn’t interrupt him.

Gage’s hand reached out, and he rubbed the ends of my blonde hair between his fingertips. “Zane’s right. I am a fool and a coward.” His dark gaze landed on mine. “A fool for following the council’s orders without question. A fool for believing that just because it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck doesn’t mean that it’s a duck.”

My brows furrowed at his words.

He laughed at my puzzled expression. “It’s an analogy. What I mean is I judged you based on your actions and not the reasoning behind them. You shared your story with me.” His fingers shifted from my hand to where my hand sat against my stomach. “And while I know you were doing it to frighten me, it made me realize something. Villains aren’t born, they’re made by the choices we make. You weren’t born to be evil, Eva.”

His eyes bore into me over his mask, and my fingers itched to pull that last barrier away from his face, to have him fully open up to me once again.

“A series of events caused you to take one extreme and then the next.” His fingers laced with mine, and he lifted it up to cup his face. “I stay away from my mother and sister because I know that, if something were to happen to them, I wouldn’t stop until I burned the world down looking for their killer. You’re just a daughter who lost her mother, a lover who lost her love, and the only person in this godforsaken world that makes me want to question the why of everything.”

He curled my fingers beneath his mask and pulled it down. Three times now I’d seen him without the cloth and, every time, he was breathtaking. The first time I’d seen his face was the old me, the second time because we were playing the ‘who would fold first’ game, but this time, this time Gage was opening himself up to me as who I was now.

Not sweet innocent Eva. Not someone he thought he had to save or save others from. Just as me. The Evil Queen and all.

My fingers formed to his face, sliding along his cheek to cup his jawline. My thumb brushed over his lower lip, slightly larger than his top one. I lifted up from the bed, and surprise colored me when no pain shot through my shoulder.

Gage must have read my expression. His other hand found the neckline of my dress, the old one covered in blood having been replaced, and brushed the material aside. Unblemished skin appeared where there should have been at least a scar of where I’d been stabbed by Zane’s demon.

My skin burned where the supple leather of his gloves stroked my skin. I licked my lips and glanced up at him, a question in my eyes.

“Luke’s best work by far,” Gage murmured, those fingers dipping to brush the top of my breast. “I swear, they almost killed me for letting you get hurt. I’d never seen Zane so irate before, even though we assured him it wasn’t his fault.”

“It wasn’t.” I placed my hand on top of his, holding it to my heart. “I set the demon loose on you, it was my fault.”

“Is that why you stepped in?” Gage’s eyes flicked up to mine, a vulnerability there I’d never seen before. “Because you thought it was your fault?”

I rolled my lips, trying to explain the agonizing panic that had ripped through me when I realized the demon meant to kill Gage. “Partially, yes.”

“You could have just used magic to stop him. Or let me handle it. I wouldn’t have killed him.” His hand loosened to drop from me, but I held on tighter, leaning toward him to capture the back of his neck with my other hand.

“Gage,” I breathed, shaking my head. “You really are a fool.”

I crashed my lips against his before he could protest, pressing his hand to where my heart raced in my chest. This stupid stubborn man just couldn’t believe that I jumped in front of him for a glaringly large reason.

For a moment, he froze against my mouth. Then his free hand tangled in the hair and angled my face so he could kiss me deeper, longer. Gage kissed me until my head felt light and my toes curled. We were both panting by the time we broke apart.

Gage pressed his forehead to mine. “That wasn’t... that wasn’t your powers, right?”

A stuttering laugh came out of me. “My compulsion? No, I didn’t use it on you. You kissed me back all on your own.”

“That’s what I thought.” Gage nodded against me. “I just needed to be sure.”

Lifting my head away from his, I stared into his eyes. “I don’t make a habit of using my powers on those I love without their consent.” I paused for a moment, thinking. “Unless they’re being a huge ass and refusing to let me come.”

Gage chuckled darkly, then his eyes widened as if realizing what I’d said. “Those you love?”

I pressed my lips to the side of his lips once and then the other side. “You can’t hide me away like your mothers and sister.”

Gage smirked down at me. “I think you’re a little bit harder to kill than them.”

“You think?” I grinned.

He lifted my hands up from where they rested in our laps, pressing my hands to the sides of his face. My breath caught in my throat at the implications of the position.

“Use me.” Gage’s eyes darkened, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. “I took away your choice by locking you up, not once but twice. Now I’m giving you my choices. Use your... compulsion on me. Use me, punish me, find your pleasure in me.”

“Gage, I...” I swallowed thickly. No one has ever offered themselves to me fully the way he was right now. I’d used my power on lovers before, but those were passing fancies. Not someone I loved. Not since Ferdinand.

“Things will never be even between us until we make this right.” Gage pulled one glove off and then the other, dropping them to the ground. “I made you vulnerable. Now it's your turn to do the same to me.”

My eyes followed his fingers as he unsnapped his belt, pulling his shirt up and over his head, My hands moved from his face as I gaped at his muscular build. I hadn’t realized how much muscle this man had on him until he was bare before me.

My fingers traced down the bulging muscles of his chest, my nails scraping against the defined abs of his stomach. God, the things this man could have done to me with this much strength, and he wanted to give up all his power to me.

“Are you sure?” I murmured, not afraid to admit I was drooling a little bit.

Gage chuckled, a dark masculine sound that zipped straight between my thighs. “If the look on your face is any indication, I’m more than sure.” He grabbed my hands once more, placing them back on his face. “How do you want me?”

I chewed on my lower lip for a moment, thinking of his words and the balance between us. A slow wicked grin filled my face as I poured my magic into his mind. His eyes glossed over and his body relaxed, waiting for my command.

My fingers moved from his face into the short bits of his hair, before angling his head to the side so I could whisper into his ear. “Lay on the bed.”