Page 21 of The Catacomb King
The bleakness in his voice was so thorough it pierced my heart. I almost asked him what he meant.
But no. Here he was, trying to make me feel for him again, like when he had laughed at my joke. I wouldn’t fall for it. I didn’t care what kind of fucked-up relationship he had with his parents.
So instead, I asked, “Why don’t you just let me go? That Vizeking guy said I’m not supposed to be here anyway. See, I told you you were supposed to take Josie.”
We had reached the bed-chamber. He opened the metal door and pushed me inside. “Who the hell is Josie? No, you know what, I don’t care. And I don’t care what the Vizeking says. I know what I’m doing.”
I stumbled into the room, tripped over the carpet. He pressed in behind me.
The room. The bedroom.
The Vizeking’s high voice echoed in my head:You want to fuck her first?
I forgot his sad dumb voice. All at once, my heart rate spiked. The black bed loomed, soft and sleek, warmed by the fire. I turned on Hades, who was frowning at me, and I backed up until the backs of my thighs hit the mattress. “Go on, then,” I snarled at him. His gaze flickered, hurt, at my tone. “Get it over with.”
“Get what over with?”
“What the Vizeking said.” How would he do it? Throw me on the bed, open my knees, press his hard muscular body against mine? Maybe I could pretend he was Calix. “Just do it fast.” He hadbetterdo it fast. If he gave me an opening I’d tear his dick off.
Hades stared at me, his lips slightly parted, his gaze almost opaque. Goosebumps rose on my skin beneath that gaze. I wound my fists into the blanket.
Then he said, in the same voice with which he’d saidMust be nice: “You really think I would do that?”
That hollow softness again! Like with the laugh! No, no, no! “Youkidnappedme!”
Hades licked his lips. He still had not lifted his gaze from my face. It drifted to my neck, my mouth, and then wrenched back up to my eyes. The muscles in his face didn’t move almost at all, but something at the corners of his eyes was… sad.
Oh, come on.
All the fight went out of me.
“All right, all right,” I said, and sat down. “You don’t have to look so wounded at the thought of fucking me. Gods.”
“For Monarch’s sake, woman. It’s not the thought of fucking you, it’s that you thought I wouldrapeyou.”
“Well, how am I supposed to know?” I asked, disgruntled. “That beetle-godling said.”
“You can’t trust anything he says.”
“And youdidkidnap me.”
Hades rubbed his hands over his face. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. But I had no choice. Like you, with the water.”
Why did he have no choice? What was he going to do with me?
I want her for something else first, he’d said to the Vizeking.
It was really impossible to feel threatened with him looking like that. I crossed my legs and asked, “What do you mean, you had no choice?”
“I’ll explain soon. I need to figure out some, um, logistics first.” He sighed. “Ireallywish I could have talked to my father.”
“Why can’t you talk to your father?”
He shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand. It’s none of your concern, anyway.”
“I think everything is my concern, given the whole kidnapping thing,” I pointed out. Hades looked dubious. “Hey.If it’s any consolation, I can’t talk to my father, either.” I didn’t know why I was trying to make him feel better. He just looked so damned sad. “He’s dead.”
The Prince looked at me again. “It’s not,” he said. “But thank you. Wait here, okay?”
