“This is ridiculous,” I bit out, then I sucked in my breath as I steadied myself on the footstool Jared had so graciously provided. One of the legs was shorter than the other, which ant I was using all of my weight to keep myself steady as I ran a feather duster over the bookshelves. They still towered above my head. There was no way I was going to reach the highest shelves, even with a stool.
And there was no way I was standing on my tip-toes, either. I wasn’t going to give Jared the satisfaction. I’d done stupid things for my own selfish gain, sure, but this was by far the dumbest, most degrading thing I’d ever done.
And all for access to his study, whenever I wanted.
When I’d stitched those flowers into his sparring clothes, I’d assud he’d have nothing else to wear into the ring the next day. He would’ve been forced to wear them, and he would have been laughed at by his crew. It was why I’d spent hours upon hours stitching until my fingers were raw and bleeding.
But now I was wearing them–a shirt, at least. His pants didn’t fit , even with a belt.
So, in order to access his study whenever the hell I wanted with no recourse, I was wearing a flower-covered shirt, my bare thighs on full display as I moved from shelf to shelf, cleaning.
I glanced at Jared, my face twisted in a scowl.
“You could have said no,” he said flatly, turning a page of the book he had resting on his lap. He had one arm resting over the back of the couch, a tall glass of whiskey clutched in his hand. He didn’t look up at as I cursed under my breath and climbed down to move the stool to the next shelf.
“You could have had the maids co in and clean this place,” I retorted.
His eyes flicked to mine, a half-cocked smile touching the corner of his mouth.
“No one–”
“No one is allowed in your study,” I mimicked, then grunted with frustration as I climbed back up the rickety stool. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-four,” he replied, uninterested.
“I thought you were much older than that,” I replied, trying to get a rise out of him. “You have the office of an old man who can’t find anything unless it’s an absolute ss.”
“Thank you,” he said, and he obviously ant it.
I pursed my lips and turned back to the bookshelves, muttering curses under my breath.
“Since we’re playing twenty questions,” he began, pausing to take a drink, “was it your father who was the archeologist?”
“I’m the archeologist.”
“There are no programs for that here in Egoren, which would an you’re self trained.” His eyes flicked to mine. He was baiting , I knew that. He’d been trying to get to admit to being from the Realm of Light for days now. “So?”
“My father stayed ho with us and my mother is a–” I paused, unsure how to describe my mother’s position without giving my connections away. Gemma, my mother, was in all regards the Beta of my aunt Maeve, the current White Queen. “She’s a secretary.”
“Hm,” Jared said, his gaze trailing from my eyes down to my legs.
I threw the feather duster at him, but it missed, landing in a puff of dust next to him on the couch. “Was your father a bounty hunter too?” I said mockingly.
“My parents were dead before I knew them,” he said casually.
“Oh,” I murmured, feeling a little guilty. “I’m sorry–”
“How did you know the artifact opened up like that?” he interrupted, derailing the subject.
I chewed the inside of my cheek. I really didn’t want to talk about the Cryptex. The thought of it alone was enough to send a shiver of ice-cold dread up my spine.
“I’ve seen so like it, that’s all. But yours is... cursed, for sure. I don’t like it, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well we’re going to talk about it–”
“No,” I said firmly. “We’re not going to talk about it, Jared. You’re just going to ask questions but not answer any of my questions about why you have it and why you need to find the rest. This is very one-sided–”
“Who do you work for?” The tone of his voice had changed abruptly, and a blanket of tension descended over the room.
“You, in the laundry,” I replied tartly.
He glared. “I’m serious, Eliza–”
“So am I! Quit asking questions if you’re going to be just as vague.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow, both of us. We’ll be traveling through the Dark Forest to the territory belonging to Aeris.” He closed his book and rose from the couch, his eyes darkening on mine as he drained his glass of whiskey.
“Why do you need to go?”
“Because you technically belong to him. You were bought using funds his brother stole–”
I stepped down from the stool, my body trembling with a mix of fear and fury.
“I belong to no one,” I said as steadily as possible. “You can’t–”
“Are you working for him?” he asked.
I furrowed my brow. “What?”
“For Aeris. Are you working for him?”
“I don’t know Aeris–”
“Do you know what I saw when I entered that tavern, for the breeder auction?” he seethed. “I saw you, up on that stage. And you–you weren’t scared. You were fucking curious. Why?”
“What?” I snapped.
“Are you a spy?”
“No!” Rage ripped through as I took a step toward him, pointing an accusatory finger. “The stones were a test, weren’t they? You brought down there to show the Cryptex because you thought I was after it, didn’t you?”
“Are you?”
“I never want to see it again,” I cried, my voice breaking with emotion. “That thing is evil, Jared. It made feel–” I held my hands out, my palms facing the ceiling. I could still feel the weight of the Cryptex in my hands, far too heavy for its size. Whatever it was carrying... whatever all of its pieces contained once brought together... “No one should have it. It should be destroyed.”
Silence fell. My blood was rushing through my veins, my heart hamring in my chest. Sothing had to give. Jared and I had been dancing around each other since the mont he brought to this place.
“I am not a spy. I’m not here to take anything from you.”
“How did you end up at the breeder auction?”
“I was taken there. I don’t rember–” I paused, my eyes downcast on my bare toes.
His shirt hit almost to the knee when my feet were flat, like a dress, but I felt incredibly exposed. Should I tell him the truth? “You’ve asked if you can trust ,” I whispered. “I need to know if I can trust you.”
“I’ve told you ti after ti that I’m not going to hurt you–”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” I replied, eting his eyes. “I need to know what you want with the other pieces of the Cryptex.”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Then I can’t tell you anything about myself,” I said.
He’d made a deal with only an hour ago–clean his study and he’d grant access. There was a catch, of course, which was doing so in his clothing. This was a ga to him. I could play, too. “I can’t trust anyone with sothing like that in their possession.”
“I assure you...”
“Assure of what? That you’re not going to set loose whatever is hidden inside? I felt that darkness within it, the sa darkness I see in your eyes everyti I look at you! What is it to you? What–”
“How dare you–”
“How dare I what? Call you out on this? You obviously need my help, and this is the deal. You tell what it is and I tell you–”
“Tell you’re not just so whore masquerading as a fucking archeologist to get close to , to steal it, or hurt or my n?”
“Fuck you!” I raged, taking several steps toward him.
He didn’t move, but he squared his shoulders as I poked him accusingly in the chest.
“All of that coming from a man who murders people for a living! If I wanted the Cryptex, I would’ve taken it already!”
“I know!”
“Then why are you accusing of being sothing I’m not!”
“Because I have no fucking idea who you are!”
He took a step toward , closing the distance between us. I backed up, the back of my thighs hitting his desk.
“When I saw you at the auction I knew you were different. Seeing the curiosity and then relief when Ambrose bit his bid on you, I–” He leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk on either side of . “I took you because I thought you worked for him. I ant to give you to Aeris as part of the bounty, but then... when you first ca to my study and started talking...”
He looked into my eyes.
“You should have been scared of , and you weren’t.”
“Is that what this is all about? My fucking attitude? That not bending to your will and being blindly obedient is sohow a threat?”
“Yes!”
“Did you want to cower and tremble at your feet? To say yes, sir and bow my head like a good little maid and not question why the hell you’re keeping in this house against my will? And because I didn’t, you think that I’m a spy, that I’m trying to steal sothing from you–”
“Eliza–”
“What do you want from ? You’re obviously enjoying these gas you’ve been playing with since I got here. Do you want to get on my knees and beg your forgiveness and thank you for rescuing ? I bet you’d like that, you fucking brute, you ruthless, sadistic savage!”
We were nose to nose now, his breath tickling my cheek. His hands curled into fists on the desk behind , his body going rigid.
“Say that again,” he growled, the words sending a rush of... heat, straight to my core.
I looked up at him and found it hard to breathe, let alone move. Being this close to him was doing sothing to my body that I had little control over. Had I wanted this fight just to see the heat blazing behind his own eyes?
Yeah, I believe I had.
“You’re a savage,” I hissed the words onto his lips, our faces barely an inch apart.
His hand shot up, tangling in my hair so I was forced to look up into his face.
“And you’re a fucking pain in the ass.”
I tried to slap him, but he caught my wrist.
“Let go,” I whispered, but I wasn’t all that convinced it was what I actually wanted.
“No.”
He leaned in, his forehead resting against mine for the space of a breath. Then he brushed his lips against my cheek, and then my neck. I trembled involuntarily as he gently nipped the rim of my ear. He’d let go of my hand and for whatever reason I laid it on his chest, scrunching his shirt as I made a fist.
“Jared,” I breathed, an audible plea lacing his na.
He kissed so fully it took my breath away. I opened my mouth to him and he groaned low in his throat in answer.
“I can show you savage,” he growled against my mouth, then in a shower of parchnt and books hitting the ground, he threw onto his desk, resting his body between my knees as his mouth t mine again with fervor.
I gasped, out of shock or pleasure, I wasn’t sure, as he swiped his arm across the desk to send the rest of the contents crashing to the ground, one hand still tangled in my hair, the other gripped my thigh, his hand moving upward beneath my shirt.
Every movent we made was sothing built out of sheer, frantic desperation. His mouth left mine to trail kisses down my neck as his fingers curled around my underwear, pulling them down over my waist.
“Jared?” ca Archer’s voice from outside the study.
We froze.
“What?” Jared growled, his eyes eting mine as he ran his fingertips over the heated skin just below my hip bone.
I trembled, still holding his gaze as I brushed a desperately soft kiss against his lips.
“There’s a situation outside. One of the boys has a broken leg–”
“Fuck,” Jared growled, releasing his hold on .
He looked over, his expression unreadable, then stalked to the door and threw it open without giving much ti to right myself. His footsteps thundered in the hallway as I turned to the door, seeing Archer staring at , a smug grin on his face.
“See you bright and early,” he chuckled to himself as he closed the door behind them.
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