Page 64 of Rapunzel Unchained
I pulled my lower lip between my teeth, peering up at him beneath my lashes. “You started it, I just finished it.”
“That’s beside the point.” Gage lifted me slightly so our eyes met. “How can we trust you if we know you can take over our minds any time you want? How can anyone trust that you won’t just make us all into your puppets?”
I sighed. I knew this was going to come up. It was why I didn’t show many my compulsion ability. They start to question everything about me and how they felt.
“I can’t just do it whenever I want,” I started, glancing between Gage and Adam. “I have to be touching you, preferably your face. It’s easier to get to your mind that way. And it doesn’t always work. If you’re strong of mind, I’d have a hard time getting you to do anything.”
I let my lips tick up into a smirk. “Guess we know which one you are.”
“I was distracted,” Gage growled, releasing me abruptly so I stumbled.
I caught myself before I fell, shooting him a glare. “Rude. And yes, distraction can cause it to work easier. Big emotions, physical exertion.” I slid a sly look at Adam. “Arousal.”
Worry painted his expression and then something I didn’t expect happened. Hand stroking over his jaw, Adam shook his head and laughed.
“You think it’s funny?” Gage practically shouted at him. “She can control us whenever she wants.”
“If she wanted to control us, don’t you think she would have done it by now?” Adam raised a brow. “And it seems like you were playing dirty as much as she was. How can you fault her for using it? Besides,” his hot gaze slid over me, heating my body against my better judgement, “I for one would be interested to see this compulsion in action.”
A shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with every naughty thought that just ran through Adam’s eyes. Oh, the things I could make them do to me, to each other. The list was endless and not something I should be thinking about while trapped in their prison.
I crossed my arms over my chest and harrumphed. “You haven’t earned that pleasure yet.”
“Yet?” Adam crooned, he sauntered toward me as boneless as a cat. His fingers pinched my chin, turning my face toward him.“I can work with yet.” His thumb rubbed back and forth over my lower lip, his lids lowered as he watched the movement. “Will you ever forgive me for lying to you, Eva?”
The urge to lick my lips, to taste him on my tongue was strong but I shoved that feeling down. “I don’t know. Maybe. This though?” I gestured around us as I pulled away from him. “I don’t know if I can forgive this.”
“I know.” Adam’s voice was low, no longer filled with desire. “I could say I’m sorry, but I’m not. We didn’t know what to do. You’re like a wave crashing against the rocks. Untamable and unpredictable. We’re scrambling to keep ourselves together while you wage war on everything we’ve ever known. It’s a lot to adjust to.”
“Adjust faster.”
Gage snorted and turned his back on us, walking out of the barrier and then the room.
Adam stepped away from me with a sad look. “I wish it hadn’t been this way. However, each day brings me closer to thinking you might have been right all along.”
As he walked away, I hugged myself tightly. The cracks in my heart were starting to fill back in slowly.
Chapter 31
“I want to see the others,” I demanded, standing at the edge of my prison. I pressed my palm against the barrier, glowering at Gage.
Gage didn’t even glance up from the tablet in his hands. “No.”
I slammed my fist against the barrier and growled. “You can’t keep us separated forever. They will eventually come looking for me.”
His finger swiped across the screen before his eyes flicked up to me over his mask. “If they know what is good for you, they won’t. Besides, Adam is keeping them busy hunting down rebels. They aren’t even thinking about you.”
“You’re a liar.” I bared my teeth at him, not believing him for one second. They wouldn’t forget about me. Every time I’d been separated from them, they’d searched for me. Even Adam and Gage couldn’t stay away, no matter how much they wanted to deny it.
Gage stood and stalked toward me, stopping just on the other side of the barrier. “Then why aren’t they here?”
I shook my head, my fingers curling into fists. “You’re keeping them away somehow.” I paused and then a wicked smile curled my lips. “Besides, a certain demon is going to get bored eventually and then you won’t be able to keep us apart.”
Rolling his eyes, Gage peered back down at his tablet. “Only you could turn a demon into a trained dog.”
“Oh, someone sounds jealous.” I preened up at him. “Don’t worry, Gage, I have room for all of you.” I trailed a hand down my front, my pride swelling as his eyes followed my hand’s path. “Did Adam tell you what we were doing when he came by Rebecca’s house?”
I gripped the skirt of my dress and slowly lifted it in a teasing taunt. “Luke couldn’t stop praising how well I took all of them. I might like to be in charge, but I know how to kneel...” I blinked up at him beneath my long lashes. “For the right man.”
