Page 12 of Cruel Master

“I'm not hungry,” I tell him. My stomach chooses that moment to growl embarrassingly, but he doesn't gloat. Instead, he takes my hand firmly in his and pulls me with him to the door.

You would think I'd be happy to be getting out of the room he locked me up in, but I grab onto the doorframe and pull against him when he tries to pull me through it.

He turns to me with a raised brow.

“Where are we going?” I ask warily.

“To feed you,” he growls at me. “If you think I'm going to let you sit in here and starve yourself to death, you're sadly mistaken.”

He places his hand over mine that’s still gripping the doorframe and pries my fingers from it before he wraps an arm around my shoulder, tucking me into his side this time and ushering me out the door.

I relax the tiniest bit. If he’s angry that I might be trying to starve myself to death, it only reaffirms that he really isn’t going to kill me.

And honestly, anything is better than being locked up in that room all alone, wondering what he has in store for me.

Gabriel keeps me held tightly against his side as he leads us to a dining room. The table looks big enough to seat more than two dozen people, but there are two place settings set at the head of it.

He pulls my chair out and motions for me to sit down before he pushes me under it like he's a gentleman seating his date.

My heart trips and my breath catches when I see each place setting has a knife sitting by it. I try to even my breathing and keep my hands clasped tightly together in my lap as Gabriel takes his seat at the head of the table next to me.

The man takes up so much space that I feel crowded sitting here next to him, but it's good he's so close because it will make what I have planned that much easier.

Without being summoned, as if there's just a certain order to things around here, an old man walks in carrying a couple of trays. He sets them in front of us before removing the domes and revealing what looks to be a gourmet meal.

The tantalizing scents rise up to greet me, and my stomach rumbles again embarrassingly loudly.

Again, Gabriel doesn't call me on it. Instead, he motions to the plate and orders me, “Eat.”

As hungry as I am, I don't want to give him the satisfaction of obeying him, so instead, I tilt my chin defiantly and announce, “I'm a vegetarian.”

Gabriel smiles at me indulgently like one would a calcitrant child as he tsks at me. “What did I say to you about lying to me, Nora? You can't do it. I know everything there is to know about you. You're not a vegetarian. I daresay you're a carnivore because you tend to eat more meat than vegetables.”

My cheeks flush angrily at the truth. Damn him.

When I still make no move to eat, Gabriel frowns at me. “Kitten,” he warns me, “you will eat. We can do it the easy way or the hard way.”

I swallow, and my curiosity gets the best of me. “What's the hard way?”

“You don't want to find out,” he growls.

Despite my curiosity, something about the look on his face tells me that I indeed don't want to find out, so I pick up my fork and knife and cut off a piece of meat and place it in my mouth. I almost moan at the succulent taste of it. It's cooked perfectly.

I open my eyes to see Gabriel staring at me. I look back down at my plate and make a show of cutting another bite.

Only when he picks up his own utensils and begins eating do I dare to try to divert his attention elsewhere. I've got a good four bites of meat in me, so maybe that'll be enough to give me the energy I need to escape from here.

Regardless, it’ll have to be enough because I’m too much a bundle of nerves to wait any longer. “What’s that?” I gesture over to the corner of the room where he'd have to turn around to look.

He raises his eyebrows questioningly.

“That?” I gesture again.

He turns his head, and my heart leaps in my throat. As soon as I’m looking at the back of his head, I raise the knife, ready to stab it into his neck.

Without ever turning around, he raises his hand and grips my wrist firmly, applying just the right amount of pressure to make my hand fall open. I drop the knife, and it clatters on the table between us.

Gabriel slowly turns those blazing eyes back on me. “Just what were you planning on doing after killing me, Nora?” His voice is deceptively soft. “You obviously don't realize we're in the middle of nowhere.”

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