He strode into the room like an approaching storm, his anger riding before him in a crackling wave. The power poured over me and I wanted to scream.
"Stop leaking all over me."
It stopped him, almost literally in midmotion. "What are you talking about?"
"Your power, aura, it's raining all over me. Stop it."
"Why? Does it feel good? Until you panicked last night, it felt good, didn't it?"
I shoved the Firestar under the pillow and stood, clutching the sheet to me. "Yeah, it felt good until you shapeshifted on top of me. I was covered in that clear gunk, thick with it." The memory was new enough that I shuddered and looked away from him.
"So you f**ked Jean-Claude. Oh, that makes perfect sense."
I looked at him and felt an answering anger. If he wanted to fight, he'd come to the right place. I held up my right hand. It was covered in a wonderful multicolored bruise. "You did this when you knocked my gun away."
"There'd been enough killing, Anita. No one else had to die."
"Do you really think that Raina is just going to let you take over? No way. She'll see you dead first."
He shook his head, his face set in stubborn lines. "I am Ulfric now. I'm in control. She'll do what I say."
"Nobody bosses Raina; not for long. Has she offered to f**k you yet?"
"Yes," he said.
The way he said it stopped me, brought my breath up short. "Did you, after I left?"
"It would serve you right if I had."
I couldn't meet his eyes on that one. "If you make her lupa, she'll let it go. She just doesn't want to lose her power base." I forced myself to look up, to meet his eyes.
"I don't want Raina." Something passed over his face so raw, that it brought tears to my eyes. "I want you."
"You can't want me now, not after last night."
"Is that why you slept with Jean-Claude? Did you think it would keep you safe from me?"
"I wasn't thinking that clearly," I said.
He laid the coat and the gun on the bed. He gripped the end of the bed. The wood groaned under the strength of his hands. He jerked back from it as if he hadn't meant to do it. "You slept with him in this bed. Right here." He put his hand over his eyes as if he was trying to erase an image inside his head.
He screamed wordlessly.
I took a step towards him, hand out, and stopped. How could I comfort him? What could I say to make this better? Not a damn thing.
He jerked at the bottom sheet, tugging it until it came loose. He grabbed the top mattress and pulled it off the bed. He grabbed the bottom of the bed and lifted.
I screamed, "Richard!"
The bed was antique solid oak, and he tossed it on its side like it was a toy. He pulled the bottom sheet off. The silk tore with a sound like skin peeling back. He was on his knees with the butchered silk in his hands. He held his hands out to me and the sheets fell away like blood.
Richard got to his feet, a little unsteady. He caught himself against the bed and took a step towards me. The Firestar and the Browning were somewhere on the floor in the welter of red silk and tossed mattress.
I backed away until I hit the corner, and I had nowhere else to go. I was still clutching the sheet around me like it was some kind of protection.
I held out a hand towards Richard, as if that would help. "What do you want from me, Richard? What do you want me to say? I'm sorry. I am sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry that I can't handle what I saw last night. I'm sorry."
He stalked towards me, not saying anything, hands balled into fists. I realized that I was afraid of Richard. That I wasn't sure what he'd do when he reached me, and I wasn't armed. Part of me felt like I deserved to be hit at least once, that I owed that to him. But after seeing what he'd done to the bed, I wasn't sure I'd survive it.