hundred and accept my fate, then enjoy being violated. But I want to succeed in my challenge more. Prove to him that I can do this. But . . .
I’m constantly proving myself to him, constantly running his gauntlet and coming out the other side relatively unscathed, doing him proud. When will he prove himself to me? He has, Eleanor! I scorn myself a little, listening to my subconscious. He’s given me his heart, and that’s the grandest gesture of all. Probably even more significant than him sharing his secrets with me. But still. Becker gave me his heart without even really realising. ‘I want to know what I get in return,’ I reiterate.
‘Me,’ he says quietly. ‘Every wicked, corrupt, vulnerable piece of me.’
‘I have you already.’
‘Do you?’ He smiles as I frown, my eyes narrowing in question. He has more to give? Or more to share? ‘Get that sweet arse over here so I can show you.’
Is there anything more tempting than that? I eye up the glowing beams before me on an unsure smile as I tie my hair into a ponytail. There are five horizontal stretches of light to consider within my height range, each a foot or so apart. Studying the one nearest my feet, I lower to my knees as I tuck the loose strands of hair behind my ears. My palms meet the floor and I drop to my tummy, all the while assessing the height of the beam from the floor. Taking only a small intake of air so as not to expand my chest too much, I close my eyes and roll onto my back, waiting for any sound that will tell me I’ve breached the light. It doesn’t come. I open my eyes and see the ceiling of the Grand Hall through the beams above me. I grin. I feel far too proud, and maybe a little cocky, because that’s only one beam down. I have a way to go yet before I can claim my victory, and my prize. What’s my prize? I look left and right, then above me, seeing I’m now closed in from every direction. I’m in the centre of four beams that form a square around me. The beam nearest the floor is lower than the one I just rolled under. I won’t clear it, so I weigh up my other options. I need to step over it, while ducking the one above. ‘Okay,’ I whisper, carefully rising to my feet, holding my breath.
‘Breathe steady.’ Becker calls. ‘Breathe through your moves.’
I watch the beam as I bring my knee up to my chest, angling it so I don’t trigger the beam above. Keeping my arms close to my body, I dip and place my foot on the other side, straddling it.
‘Clever girl,’ he praises with sincere pride.
My breathing has now fallen into a calm, steady rhythm, and my muscles are no longer tense. I find I can roll under the next two beams, step over another three, and bend my body to clear two more, but when I make it over halfway, I find I can do none of those things on my next move. The beams are spaced more tightly and there’s a huge dresser blocking the other way. If I try to move it, I’ll trigger a sensor. There’s no way past. I look from side-to-side, searching for another route. There must be one, unless Becker has purposely set me up to fail. But no. Whatever he wants to give me, he really wants to give me.
‘There’s a way, princess,’ he says, distracting me from my search. He nods, affirming what he’s told me. I shouldn’t have looked at him standing there waiting for me, beautifully bare.
I close my eyes and fight to relocate my focus. ‘How many more beams do I need to clear?’
‘Just three if you go the right way,’ he answers. Three. Just three? I’m over halfway and it’s taken me nine moves to get here. How? I open my eyes and re-evaluate my position. I’m definitely not going forward, and if I go back, it’ll take way more than three moves to make it to him. The dresser. I gaze up to the top of it, estimating it to be roughly four feet taller than me. That has to be it. It’s almost impossible to determine whether there’s a way forward from there, not until I reach the top, but it’s my only option. There are three drawers at the