Page 56 of Rapunzel Unchained

“So you weren’t there to get me back, were you?” I said quietly, my hand rubbing at my chest. “You don’t care about me at all. You only care about what I’m doing to your council. To your power structure.”

I dropped my arm. “I hate you,” I snarled.

“And I love you,” Adam shouted just inches from my face. “Damn it, Eva. I wasn’t supposed to like you, let alone love you. I knew who you were when I got you out of that tower, and I tried, I tried so hard to just be your friend.”

“Oh, yes, friends kiss each other all the time,” I crooned, sarcasm laced in my words. “I could see how you would make that mistake.”

“You have no idea how hard it has been to stay away from you. I literally put another person between us by pretending to be engaged to Rebecca so I wouldn’t cross that line again.” The anguish in his voice would have melted me had it not been for the prison cell I currently stood in.

“I couldn’t be with you, not because of the Arch Mage position or because I wanted someone else. It’s because Iknewthe moment that you found out who I really was, you would hate me for it. Just like you do now.”

He flashed a sad smile, swiping his hand through his hair. “So, yes. I’m going to keep you here until you can listen to reason because, believe it or not, I am not Snow. I don’t want to destroy you. I want to protect you. I’ve always just been trying to protect you, Eva.”

This time, he reached out, his fingers passing the barrier to stroke the side of my face. I let him trace my jawline, leaninginto his touch for just a moment before sinking my teeth into his palm.

Adam jerked and cried out, pulling his arm back. Blinking down at his hand, he gasped. “You bit me.”

Letting him touch me had been half desire and half calculation. I shoved down the part of me that wanted to forgive him and just tell him to kiss me, hold me, love me, and held onto the part that hated him for who he was and what he’d done to me.

He’d proved one thing, though. It proved once more to me that the barrier was made to keep me in, but anyone and anything could go out. I just had to figure out how to use that to my advantage.

“Keep your fucking hands to yourself,” I sneered, swiping my mouth off with the back of my hand. “You don’t get to imprison me and get to touch me. You can’t have it both ways.”

Gage, who'd let us argue silently from the sidelines, suddenly crossed the barrier. He grabbed me by my throat and dragged me against him. “Oh, but I thought you liked being roughed up. Isn’t that why you spread your legs for that demon?”

I pressed my full form against him, letting my hands lay on his chest. “There’s a difference between flirting with danger,” I hissed, “knowing I can get out of it, and being completely helpless. You have me trapped and powerless. Tell me, Gage, does that get you hard?” I reached between us and grasped his clothed member, stroking my hand as I glared up at him.

“You are hardly powerless, and I wouldn’t do that to you or anyone.” Gage released my neck and stepped back across the barrier. “You will be safe here, and everyone else will be safe from you. Maybe you should use this time to think about what’s important. Your revenge or your life. Because one of them is going to leave you all alone.”

My fingers tightened around the shoe in my hand, and I chucked it at his retreating back with an aggravated scream. “You’ll regret this. I promise you. If you think that this little cage is going to keep me safe, you’re delusional. I’ve already started this war, and the council members won’t hesitate to finish it with me as they bloody prize.”

With no more ammunition to use, I threw myself down on the bed, staring up at the metal ceiling and glaring light. “You could have at least given me a window. The tower had a window.”

My anger was still there, but it had ebbed to a simmer, despair filtering into its place.

Adam rubbed his hand where I left teeth marks on him and watched me quietly. “In case you were wondering, Nick and Rebecca are fine. They were escorted back to their homes and told to stay there. The news crews never found out about your plan. Nick’s messages were intercepted.”

“Who betrayed us?” I hated to ask the question but I needed to know. If I was going to get my heart broken again, then I’d rather have it done all at once than wait for it to be sprung on me later.

“No one did.” Adam answered quietly. “Gage knew the others were coming to see you and planted a bug on each of them. We’d been there the whole time.”

My face heated at his words. “The whole time, huh?”

The thought of Gage and Adam listening to me take all three of the others at the same time both annoyed and sent a rush of desire through me. I’d have teased Adam about it, but I didn’t have the energy to bother.

Adam didn’t say anything for a long moment and then cleared his throat. “I’ll bring you something to eat and clothes. You should get some rest.”

I snorted at how normal he made this sound. If I closed my eyes and thought back to it, this was almost identical to the way he treated me when he first pulled me from that tower. Except this time, I couldn’t leave.

“I am sorry it ended up this way, Eva,” Adam breathed, lingering at the edges of the barrier. “I wanted it to be different.”

I waited until his footsteps faded away before I replied, my eyes burning with tears. “I wanted it to be, too.”

Chapter 28

My mind was restless. I slept in short spurts. Each time I woke up, panic raced through me, my breathing short and fast until I felt as if I would pass out.

I would have to remind myself of where I was, who had put me there. I wasn’t back in the tower, but it was close enough to the same that it had reawakened my trauma.

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