AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A deep sigh escapes my lips as I pull his long t-shirt off of my body. Even in the heated bathroom, the absence of his scent leaves me feeling cold.
This is bad. I shouldn’t be feeling this dependant on a man who stole me just to prove that he could. There’s nothing special going on here. I’m just a pawn.
Turning on the shower, I wait for some steam to form before I step beneath the hot water.
It’s a different kind of heaven from what I experienced yesterday. A much cleaner one.
The longer I stand beneath the water, the further away yesterday becomes, until the only reminder of it is the soreness in my legs.
It’s almost like meditation. And for a while, I swear my mind goes blank… until something else from yesterday forces its way into my little slice of peace.
The library.
Fuck.
My men blew it up. They killed innocent people.
That’s wrong on so many levels. And not just morally.
If Leonid and his allies decide to tell the authorities who did it, we’ll never even get the chance to build our empire on the east coast. No politician is going to let a bunch of terrorists into their state, no matter how much we bribe or threaten them.
Such largescale violence would be a death sentence for their careers. My men should have held off on their attack for that reason alone.
But I know what they were thinking. And it wasn’t strategy.
It was revenge.
It was a threat.
Give her back… or else.
Sure, Leonid could have been lying to me about the whole thing, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if he was only holding back some gory details.
My men can be savage, brutal, downright inhumane. Some of those soldiers only yearn for blood, and nothing else.
… It’s why they chose to follow me instead of forming their own, smaller armies. They heard my message of vengeance. They saw the fire in my eyes. They listened to my furious words and felt the brutal pounding of my restless heart.
I was the excuse they needed to band together. Because together, they could do more damage.
Maybe I thought that I could control them, or maybe I just didn’t think it mattered. That person who rallied so many vicious men to her cause seems like a distant memory now.
But I can still remember how little I cared about the future. Someone needed to pay for Father’s death… even if part of me was glad that he was gone.
Sure, I loved my father, just as he loved me in his twisted way. But without him, the tyrant who ruled my life was gone—or, rather, he should have been gone.
I should have been free to do as I pleased. But Retsos quickly stepped up. He outmaneuvered me. Took Castor. And made me a slave once again.
All the suffering I had endured became meaningless. All of a sudden, I couldn’t even be a ruler, I couldn’t be a leader, I couldn’t be a queen.
I could only be a pawn.
… Always a fucking pawn.
When the water starts to turn cold, I turn off the faucet and wander out into the steam. My legs are still sore, but they feel better in the warmth.
I don’t even bother looking at my reflection in the hazy mirror again. Instead, I just collect Leonid’s t-shirt and stumble back into the bedroom, lost in my troubling thoughts.
Just like that, I’ve been reminded of all of my responsibilities. I’ve been reminded of how they twist and turn around each other until I can’t tell which is most important.
