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“Shut your mouth.” Raymond demanded. But I didn’t listen.
“He loves me madly, Commander.” I pushed further, leaning closer, my lips almost brushing his chin. “And I love him, too. I love him in a way you could never—”
“I said shut up!”
He slammed his hands against the arms of my iron chair, the heavy impact ringing through the concrete walls. Before I could catch my breath, his mouth crashed onto mine.
He caught my lower lip between his teeth and bit down, and his tongue swept in, tasting me until I gasped against his mouth. He had kissed me just like this the day we parted. Not as if I might break, but as if I were the only true thing in his dark world.
“Don’t lie to me, miss.” He panted, his hand sliding down to grip my throat, shutting off my air. “You don’t love him. If you loved him, you would stay with him. You would never pretend in front of him.”
Oh. Now I understood better. He was furious with me. This damn game was his revenge. It thrilled me that even his hatred couldn’t free him from me. It kept pulling him back to me.
Maybe that was what love was.
“He was the kind of boy who would rather kill himself than see you with someone else. But you left him. With all lies and promises.”
“Kill himself? Then it’s his problem.” I replied calmly. His eyes widened, shock washed over him, but I continued.
“What good would his death do me? If he died protecting me, I wouldn’t even care. To me, a man who can’t stay by my side is weak and worthless.”
“What a cruel woman.” Though he murmured this, there was an amused expression on his face. “So you don’t care about his pain. While you live your life, you don’t care that he’s being dragged into madness.”
I shrugged. “Someone loving me from afar isn’t my concern. He should’ve been brave enough to face me.”
“What if he has reasons? What if he stayed away to protect you?”
“If it’s Remi, I wouldn’t be surprised. He always believed himself to be an honorable prince.”
His lips curved faintly. “You told him to be like this. He was only fulfilling your wishes.”
The cold, calculating demeanor from before had vanished now. His voice trembled with fury, and a smirk tugged at my lips. I tried to wipe it from my face, but it kept creeping back.
“Who was he serving, I wonder? Were the Mina in his head and I the same person?”
“That’s it?” His voice was colder than before. He slid a knife from beneath his coat, spun it once in his black-gloved fingers, and brought the tip to my hair.
Not a flicker of fear stirred in me.
“You’re tired of his blind devotion. You crave something stronger.”
I licked my lips, tilted my head back and scanned him from head to toe. Without any shame at all.
“So you’ve been watching me for years. What about you? Why didn’t you come and take me from him?”
“Because I know your wicked nature.” He pulled the knife toward himself. “Remi was an idiot. But I’m not like him. I waited for the perfect moment. I wanted you at your weakest before I tore you apart. Because this is what you want. You want to be loved with all your filth.”
I pursed my lips, one brow arched. “Remi did once. He loved me with all my filth. I can wait for him to come back.”
“Of course, if he can take you away from me.”
His shadow fell over me, my body temperature rising as he drew closer. When his leather-clad hands descended from my frilly skirt and began to caress my bare skin, I let out a low breath.
“He can try all he wants, but he’ll never have you.” His lips parted, slipped my shirt and kissed my tights, his other hand caressing my labia. He hadn’t yet given special attention to my clit, but just feeling his long fingers there was enough to set me ablaze.
“What if… I go to him?”
“You won’t. Because you never cared him. You used him.” he whispered hoarsely, touching me had thrown him off balance, too. “You used his weakness for you. Maybe you never even loved him.”
