I wanted her to realize how much I cared.
“Someday you’ll enjoy your life here,” I explained, as servants passed her dinner through to her. Just a small glimpse of her pale hand let me know she was alright. She didn’t answer me, and so I ate along with her in silence. As the evening drew to a close, the lights in the halls dimmed darker and darker until, at nearly midnight, there was only one remaining.
“Are you going to spend the night in there?” I couldn’t fight the amusement in my voice. She was having a semi-tantrum, a diminishing one at that.
“Why won’t my phone work?”
“There’s no signal out here. As far as any official government knows, the Kingdom of Crystal Glass doesn’t exist.”
“No cell towers, then.”
“None.”
“I’ll sleep in here tonight.”
Asking a servant to follow through, I had a large duvet, and more than enough pillows shoved into the storage room. I could picture her: ramped up in there but stubborn and not wanting to lose to me. A smile slipped across my lips at the image, and I had to remind myself of the seriousness of the situation.
What if she never came around?
“Bring me a pillow and blanket for myself,” I requested, the servant nodding and heading off immediately. Nobody else alive could make me sleep on a hallway floor, but I wouldn’t leave her alone if I had to.
“You’re sleeping out there?” she asked.
“I’m not leaving you alone in a place you don’t know.”
“You could always take me back.”
“This is your home now,” I reminded her.
She went quiet again, and I hoped she wasn’t asleep. I’d rather convince her into my bed than leave her in an old room that hadn’t been touched in ages.
“There are nice beds here. If you want, it’s not too late to just sleep in one of those instead.”
“You said you wanted to mate me.” She threw my words back in my face. I did want to mate her. More than anything else on Earth, I wanted to take her and make her mine in body and soul. To claim her.
I gritted my teeth, annoyed that I couldn’t control my impulses more.
A day was going to come when I ruled as king. If I was flighty and hot-headed, acting without thinking — the way I did when I snatched her away — then I was risking putting the whole country in danger. I had to put a lid on the boiling pot that was my dragon within me.
“Look, things are different here,” I explained.
“That doesn’t give you the right to—”
“I know, but with shifters it’s like there’s always this voice at the back of your head, especially around fated mates,” I explained. The dragon within me was displeased for being told that I don’t have the right, but I moved on. “The voice says to take, to hunt, to breed. It drove me crazy when I saw you in there, alone, beautiful.” The last word slipped out of my mouth and I bit my tongue for a second in frustration.
“Most shifters don’t go around kidnapping people.”
“You’re right.” I nodded despite the fact that she couldn’t see me.
“You’re one of the last hopes for our kingdom. I let the pressure get—”
“Sounds like you’re coming up with excuses for your bad behavior.” I could hear her shift against the door behind me. In my mind I could just see her: leaning against the door with a pillow behind her, talking softly with the sound of defeat. Her words hurt, but Izzy was worth the pain and frustration.
“You’re right,” I sighed.
“How many times have you done this before?”
“Just you.”