Gemini’s beguiled expression cracks just long enough for me to see disappointment behind his jokester mask. It’s gone just as quickly.
“Don’t you want to know about your conditions now?” he says, his voice slightly raised as I walk away from him.
“Does it matter?” I yell back over my shoulder.
I expectGemini to bring us back to the pier. Instead, the town car heads northbound, deeper into Pravitia. I don’t recognize this part of the city, and the question of where we’re heading lies heavy on my tongue. I chew and chew and chew until it becomes nothing but a pulverized pile of words before choking it back down.
I try to appear as uninterested as possible while I watch the sun set beyond the skyline, the shadows lengthening like nocturnal ghosts as the orange orb makes its ritualistic descent into darkness.
When the car finally stops, my gaze slides to meet Gemini. He sits opposite me, his seat facing mine. His reclined posture is as relaxed as a debonair prince casually surveying his dominion. I’m greeted with another one of his unnerving smiles as hishead rests between his finger and thumb. I keep my expression detached, which only seems to tickle him further.
“Tell me you don’t want to perform at the circus,” he states simply.
It sounds like a command.
My reflex is to agree, spurred on by spite and to be as difficult as I can be in a vain effort to gain back a semblance of control.
Unfortunately, whatever fabricated freedom he’s currently dangling under my nose is better than rotting inside his house until my sanity slowly withers away. Or worse, I forget who I am and metamorphose into the very doll he claims me to be.
“I do want to perform,” I say so quietly that I wonder if he can even hear me.
He nods slowly, as if he unequivocally knew my answer. I stew over the thought while I wait for him to speak.
“Condition number one,” he says smoothly with a maddening quirk to his upper lip.
I consider stomping my heel into his crotch just to watch him buckle over in pain, but I resist the tempting image. Although considering how he reacted when I landed a few punches the other night, he’d probably get aroused. The thought is meant to be aggravating. Instead, lust pulses deep in the far reaches of my stomach, a taunting, throbbing presence.
“No one can know you are the seventh heir of Pravitia,” Gemini declares.
I puff out my disagreement. “How is that fair?”
“Fair is for the weak, love, and I’m anything but.”
There’s a bite to his tone, and I break out in goose bumps. It’s as if even my body is warning me not to test him further. I reluctantly agree to his condition with a curt nod.
He then rattles a few more conditions, his body language staying as relaxed as a dozing cat: Gemini must accompany me whenever I frequent Animus, and I must practice aloneorwithhim. His smile turns roguish, gaze darkening, as if he’s recalling what transpired between us earlier today. My breath shallows as I unconsciously cross my legs. I hold his stare, painfully aware that I’ll concede to all of it for a taste of string-tied freedom.
“Is that all?” I grit out.
He hums, looking upward, as if thinking about it, but the pit in my stomach alerts me otherwise. This is just another one of his taunts.
“I’ve saved the best for last, doll.” His grin slices across his face. “I want an heir,” he says quietly as he gazes out the window before his scintillating stare falls back to mine. “When the time is right,” he starts, “you shall give me one.”
21
GEMINI
Iwatch the flush crawl out from under her peacoat and up to her freckled cheeks with selfish gratification.
“An heir?” she says much too delicately. As if catching herself, she quickly furrows her brows with indignation. “You must think me a fool if you think I’ll ever agree to … tothat”—she can’t even say the word, and I don’t bother hiding my merriment—“in exchange for your sick and twisted version of freedom.”
“Tell me, Veil Vulturine”—I pause, keeping my gaze pinned to hers as I place my forearms over my knees, leaning into them—“as the servant to the god of thievery, do youthinkcontinuing your bloodline won’t be required of you?”
Her eyes bounce from left to right as she studies me.
She knows I’m right. And I’m so close to having her exactly where I want her.
“Not with you,” she says oh-so quietly.
