So I play the cards he deals me and don’t continue eating. Clearly, given the way he ordered food as if sent from heaven above in the hands of a winged messenger, there’s plenty to eat around here. I’ll find my way down to the kitchen if I have to.
I take another sip of water and sit back in my chair.
A stream of light illuminates his features for a moment as he watches me. I look to the window, uncomfortable under his penetrating glare. For the first time, I notice there are bars on the window. Bars. Thick, black, impenetrable bars. I rise to my feet, panic welling in my chest.
“This is a prison,” I whisper, my throat feeling as if someone’s wrapped a hand around it. “You pretended it was a bedroom with your pretty bed and luxurious carpet.” I back away from him toward the bed, afraid of what will happen next. “But you tricked me. I’m in a prison.”
His brow furrows and his lips turn down as he studies me. “No,” he says thoughtfully. “The bars on the window are to keep people out, not to keep the occupants inside.” His gaze swings to the window, then back to me. “But you’re most definitely my prisoner. Does this surprise you?”
I’m not sure how to answer. Yes and no, I suppose. I knew I wasn’t free to go. It wasn’t until I saw the bars on the window that I panicked.
I clear my throat. “No.”
“Now that we’ve taken care of the business of feeding you, it’s essential we establish some ground rules,” he says, a note of steel in his voice.
“Is it?” I ask, not able to mask the note of petulance in my voice.
“It is,” he says, his voice hardening.
“Have at it, then. Rules and all that.”
To my surprise, he walks to me, takes my hand, and yanks me to my feet. Placing one hand on my lower back, he pulls me to him so that I’m flush against him. I begin to tremble. I’ve not been touched like this by a man before, and it frightens me a little. And why is my body doing strange, wonderful, terrible things to me? A rush of heat flares in my body, my throat suddenly dry. He smells the way I’d imagine a waterfall would, strong and clean and powerful. His hand is warm, and I feel it straight through the thin fabric of my dress. My heartbeat quickens, and my palms feel weirdly damp. I’ve read of these things before, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think I were attracted to him. But how could I be? He’s been nothing but mean.
His deep, rough voice, laced with his brogue, washes over me as he warns me. “When you speak to me, you’ll speak respectfully. None of this ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ It’s ‘yes, sir,’ and ‘no, sir.’”
And odd rule, but I’ve noticed the men he speaks to calls him sir and it was how he himself addressed his father. He’s an authority figure, then, just like his father.
“Yes, sir,” I say, though I barely keep my tone cordial. He’s a bully. “How long am I to be here? I want to go home.” I was starving to death and lonely, but anything would be better than being here under his thumb.
I want to either pull closer to him or push away, but instead, I’m just frozen in place.
His brows rise for a barely noticeable fraction of a second before he draws them together again. “Are you really that naïve?”
Is he asking a question, or does he really mean that?
“I don’t know how to answer that,” I say, shaking my head. “Do you expect me to?” He runs his hand from my lower back upward, stroking as he maintains eye contact.
“You were caught in possession of notes, details, and data that mark you as a spy. Spying on The Clan is punishable by death. You raised your hand to me and tried to kick me, which earns additional punishment. You aren’t going home, Caitlin. You’ve escaped with your life by sheer luck.”
I feel cold and warm and a little dizzy.
They think I’m a spy? I’m not going home?
It doesn’t matter that I wouldn’t even know what to do with myself if I did go home. I have no food in the house, no contact with the outside world, and the home I lived in really was not much better than where I am now. If I’m honest, this place is far more comfortable.
But I’m not safe here.
“I’m to deal with you, but first we need to deal with practicalities. You’ll not present in front of my brothers looking like that.”
My throat tightens and my nose tingles, and for one brief moment, I’m glad I haven’t been around other people before now. People can be cruel.