Sound of Madness A Dark Royal Romance - Maria Luis Page 0,20
Men who don civilized masks and pretend every wrong that they commit is done in the name of protecting their child or their spouse or their home. But the mask always come off, and when it does, that shred of civility disappears right along with it.
Once upon a time, my father protected me too.
And then he realized how much more he stood to gain when he fed me to the wolves.
“You’d strangle me?” Pretending to think on it, I hum deep in my throat. “No, not strangulation. It doesn’t seem very you, Alfie. Too up close and personal. You’re more the sort to hide behind a gun.”
A small, heavy pause. “Are you saying that I’m a coward?”
“All I’m saying is that you’re quite the contradiction. One minute you’re sobbing, the next threatening to kill me. I don’t know, maybe that’s just the way you get it done. Pull the trigger; let the tears fall free.” When Barker lets loose a feral growl, I shake my head. Easy. So bloody easy that it—manipulation—should be a crime. It definitely feels like one. As always, I feel the pull of regret deep in my gut.
Do what you have to do to get free.
I throw out my hands and, to my relief, they graze roughened stone. Another round completed, even if I did take a few extra steps.
“Is that what happened?” I ask with forced nonchalance, turning around to start all over again. “Were you crying when Holyrood caught you and dragged you here—”
“That mouth of yours will get you into trouble one day, Miss Carrigan.”
That voice.
His voice.
I didn’t even hear him enter the cell, but instinctively, I stagger backward until my arse collides with stone and my palms splay out on either side of my hips and pain rips through my entire being. Stifling a whimper, I jerk my head to the side. There’s nowhere to run, no chance for escape. And even if I could somehow make it to the door, there’s no doubt in my mind that he would catch me.
Catch me and drag me back and take—
“Don’t tell me that you’re nervous now,” Godwin drawls, so much closer than before. Each arrogant step matches the staccato of my heart until I’m balancing on my toes, straining against stone, and the heat of him is right there, not even a breath away. “I so enjoyed sparring with you.”
Before or after you made me bleed, you bastard?
Desperate to appear unfazed, I dig my fingertips into the wall and lift my chin. “I don’t spar with snakes.”
“Smart choice. You wouldn’t win.”
The droll comment grinds my teeth together. “And, for the record, I’m not nervous. You don’t make me nervous.”
The warmth of his body infiltrates my personal space, swallowing the stale air from the cell and all the oxygen from my lungs. And then I feel it—him. His hands coming to rest on either side of mine, against the wall, and his breath, then his lips, brushing the slope of my neck as though I belong to him.
“You’re a liar, Miss Carrigan.”
The words vibrate against my skin. Velvet. Steel. Condescending. A shiver skates down my spine, and I wish—God, I wish—that I could stay perfectly still. But even now my shoulders tremble with the startling realization that whatever comes next . . . there’s no stopping it. Not with a madman at the helm. “I’m not lying.”
“Your pulse would argue otherwise,” he counters, his lips purposely grazing my throat, “but I’m not worried. We have more than enough time to get the truth out of you.”
And then, before I can even process what’s happening, my hands are yanked together, wrists forced to kiss by hands the size of boulders, and clink! clink! clink!
My heart stutters.
Palms pool with sweat.
Both are a sharp contrast to the cold metal now weighing down my arms.
The bastard . . . the bastard cuffed me!
“Let me go!” I thrash in place, swinging out a leg to kick him—and hit nothing but air. “I said, let me go!”
The chains linking the handcuffs go taut, as if Godwin fisted them in his grip, and then I’m snatched away from the wall in a single pull. The unexpected momentum throws my world off-kilter as up becomes down and left becomes right and darkness caves in completely. What little confidence I gained marching back and forth across the cell deteriorates instantly.
I can’t see, and I’m going to die.
I can’t see, and Godwin will take advantage of the weakness.