He turns to face me, his eyes hardening on mine.
“Why?” I ask the one thing I’ve wanted to know since I woke up in the dungeon. “Was nothing real for you? Was she not real for you?”
His hand flies to my throat and he squeezes roughly. “Don’t fucking speak of her ever again.”
I slap his arm and my knee flies between his thighs, hitting him straight in the dick. “I lost her too, asshole.”
He lets go of me like I stung him and backs up, his face going pale. It annoys me that he doesn’t falter at my violence. I at least wanted him to fall to his knees in pain.
I shrug him off and step forward into a room large enough to hold a business conference. There’s one stretched rectangular table that’s displayed in the middle of the room with about twelve chairs all placed with precision around it. And every chair that’s around it has a King sitting in it. Bishop is at the head, and when Abel and I enter, Bishop’s eyes go straight to him.
“Sit.” Bishop points to the chairs and I move over to them with Abel right behind me.
We both take a seat, Nate pulling out the empty one beside me. His presence instantly makes me queasy.
“Tell me why Khales had you locked in a cell and why the fuck do you look like me?”
Abel flicks his hoodie off his head.
Nate chuckles. “Twins?”
Abel shakes his head. “Nah. Different moms.”
Bishop works his jaw so hard I think it might pop. “Carry on.”
“Khales had been using my mom as bait since I met her last year at a party. We fucked, and then fucked some more. Obviously now I know why…” Abel runs his fingers through his hair. “She told me about you. She came clean with the parts she wanted me to know, but not everything I should know. She told me that I had a brother and that he didn’t know about me. A few days ago, she caught me in bed with someone else. Lost her shit and killed my fucking mom before bringing me here.”
“Sounds like her,” I mumble. Nate’s thick thigh presses against mine under the table and my chest tightens from the connection, but my fury simmers above the surface.
Bishop pauses, tilting his head. “Why did she keep you, that’s the question. I’m not at all surprised about your existence, but Khales never made impulsive decisions. Everything was always calculated with her.”
Abel shrugs. “Don’t fucking know. But she kept me for something.”
Bishop nods, his finger working over his upper lip. “We’ll find out.”
My eyes catch Brantley, who is already watching me. “Aw, what’s the matter, Bran Bran. Why are you looking at me like that?”
Perdita isn’t good for my soul. I can feel it digging its claws into me. I need to get out if I’m not going to stay. I need to escape and take Abel and Daemon with me.
Brantley doesn’t falter, his lip kicking up in a snarl. “Bran Bran? Pretty bold nickname coming from someone who I can fuck without permission, don’t you think?”
I tilt my head and give him back his smile. “Who’s to say permission wouldn’t be granted, Bran Bran.”
“Tillie!” Bishop snaps at me and I divert my attention back to the head of the table.
“Yes?”
Bishop stills, his eyes piercing into me like I had seen him do to Madison so many times before. Being on the receiving end of it, though, not so funny. I won’t show him that. If you cower in the presence of a King, he’ll have you kissing his feet for life.
“Let me go—”
“No,” Nate interrupts, and I snap my attention straight to him. This table is full of Kings and Abel is sitting right beside me, but all I see is Nate. All I care about is Nate and why he thinks he can hold me here.
“Why!” I throw up my arms to add to my dramatics.
My chest tightens when he looks at me. His eyes are enough to grip onto every single human emotion that’s inside of me and flip it upside down. I feel for Nate. I do. I’m in love with him, but I will never expose my feelings to him. You can’t. Once you expose your love for someone, you’ve surrendered your power, and in this case, my forgiveness. I won’t let him win. Not this time, and not any time soon.
Nate leans forward, his elbows resting on the table. “Because I don’t want to.”
I pause, allowing his words to sink into my brain. I blink a few times, count to ten, and then open my mouth. “Because you don’t want to?” Then I look around the table, my eyes falling on Bishop. “You mean to tell me that the reason you’re keeping me here is because he wants me here and that’s it?”