“Good girl,” I said softly, hating that look on her but needing her to work with me for a few more minutes. Because if I let her go now, she’d lose her ever-loving shit in front of the entire party, and that wouldn’t end well for anyone involved. “Follow me.”
My mother gave me a look, one that told me I had to fix this faux pas, or she would do it for me. I gave her a subtle nod, acknowledging that I would. Just as soon as I finished escorting Zaya to my room.
I pocketed the blade and walked past a seething Napia. “Where are you going?” she demanded.
“I’ll be back” was all I told her before leading Zaya out of the room. Her heels clicked across the dark marble, confirming that she followed me the way I intended.
Good. I really didn’t want to have to compel her more than necessary.
Just a few more steps and I’d release her from my mental hold.
And likely need to block a few punches soon after.
“What were you thinking?” I asked her while we walked, shaking my head in the process. “You can’t just attack a guest in my court, and Yakariah, of all men. Fuck, Zay. You have no idea how bad this is.”
She didn’t reply, mostly because my hold over her psyche forbade her from doing anything other than obeying me. That wouldn’t stop her from hearing me, but it would sound as if I spoke through a haze.
I picked up the pace, needing to release her as soon as possible. The longer I held her in a trance, the more she would suffer.
“I hate doing this to you,” I muttered. “But you left me no choice back there. Is this the big emotional display you threatened me with the other night? All because I took your charms away?” I snorted. “Well, you’ve only further proven to me how unready you are.”
She pulled a knife on a demon at a party.
In front of a roomful of people.
“I taught you better than that,” I muttered, reaching the quarters to my rooms and nodding at the guards protecting the entrance.
They both shared a confused glance at my early return but didn’t ask questions. I’d follow up with them after I locked Zaya in my room.
I led her to the last door in the hallway, opened it, and ushered her inside with a mental command. She walked in with a dreamy expression, one I wished were real.
The horrors of her life, however, had engraved a haunting note in her irises that remained even with the falsely complacent grin tilting her full lips.
I flipped the lock behind me and leaned back against the door while studying her face for a few long seconds before releasing my hold over her.
She didn’t shift back right away, her lashes blinking a few times as she tried to regain control of her mind.
I counted, waiting for her to strike.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
I caught her fist before it could connect with my jaw and used my hold to push her back when she attempted to charge me. “Don’t.” I allowed her to feel an ounce of my strength by sending her back a few paces. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” she repeated. “Calm down?!” She leapt at me in a fury of fists and kicks, the slits of her skirt allowing her an agility she wouldn’t have been afforded in her green dress.
“Don’t make me restrain you,” I told her, blocking her hits and not fighting back.
“By controlling my mind again?” she retorted, clearly livid.
“You wouldn’t give me the knife.”
“Because he’s one of them!” she roared, both her wrists caught in one of my hands now.