Page 148 of The Cannibal

In a place so large, every small movement was announced by echoes.

“Will you still treat me with silence, even if I am here at your request?” My voice carried through the room, unsure if it would land on the only other ears present.

His fingers tapped against the sofa as his arms draped over the top. Then his arm hinged by the elbow, the gesture beckoning me to join him in the room.

I pulled my robe closer to conceal the sheer nightgown. There was very little desire to ever again wear the dress his father chose for me. Amelia was instructed to burn it.

He didn’t look at me. As I stepped into the clustered sitting area, even as I eyed him, his gaze remained far off, staring at the center of the rug.

I went to sit on the sofa across from him, but he snapped his fingers at me.

He pointed to the center marked by the designs woven into the carpet.

The design included two chimeras, lions with their talons locked, an extra head of a ram and the tails of snakes twisting about.

I stepped forward, my shoes between the lions’ mouths. A chill crawled up my neck, biting at the nape. My limbs felt cold, bare.

My eyes met his reluctantly, but he didn’t speak first.

Even if we were both dressed quite casually, it didn’t keep me from feeling like the one exposed. All black attire, nice shoes, black pants, shirt, he even kept his gloves on. His forearms bare through rolled sleeves in a lax posture.

“What is it?” I turned my chin up. “Do you wish me to beg for you to speak to me again?”

Even when I was standing tall over his seated posture, I did not feel I had any control of the situation. His presence was demanding, more so than it had ever been. The light, cocky posture had turned to something more. He had gone from a stray cat to a loose panther, a predator that had lost the joy in playing with his food.

His eyes wandered, surveying me as if I would dissect myself before him for his own entertainment.

“Take it off,” he said.

I froze. The lack of specificity made me guess what exactly he was referring to. I wouldn’t be generous with my interpretation and assume he meant the robe.

The knot tied in front loosened as I pulled the tails, the silk slipping from my shoulders as I tossed it to one of the other seats.

The gallery chandelier above acted as a stage light, shining down on me. Every ripple of the gown, the shadow of my body, everything on display yet still veiled to the eye. The phantom shadows only appear to tease the imagination.

As he rose from his seat, his eyes never left me, which made it hard to keep contact in the first place. I didn’t have to be naked to feel exposed, his level of scrutiny was enough. With my eyes to the ground, he stepped around me, polished shoes stark against the rich woven patterns on the floor.

He lifted a piece of hair, letting it fall from his gentle grasp as he moved. Behind me, he brushed his knuckles against my tailbone, then dragged them upward. Each vertebrae straightened further into place as he touched. Silas didn’t resurface in my peripheral vision.

His fingers traced the back of my shoulders, pushing the neckline of the chemise nightgown wider. It fell past my shoulders, then to the floor.

Somehow in a closed room with no windows, I felt a chill. The eyes of the paintings looked to follow me, and I couldn’t see the unforgiving glare of the Creature who kept me company.

“I’ll leave if this visit is pointless.” I turned my head over my shoulder to speak.

His fingers dragged through my hair before brushing over the backs of my arms. Say something. I stared straight ahead.

“You look good,” a smugness to his tone, “nourished.”

My heart was struggling.

His hands touched my waist, palms pressed flush to the skin as he smoothed down my hips, then to the front. His fingers brushed against the vertical scar of my abdomen. His fingers twitched, then I felt an exhale beside my neck.

Silas’s body pressed to mine, his touches so gentle, so restrained.

“Are you angry with me?” I asked.

His hands left my waist to gather my hair over my shoulder. He brushed his lips against my ear, then kissed behind it. “That is far too weak a word.”