Page 23 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

“I was curious.”

My eyebrows snapped together in a nearly uncontrollable rage. What the damn hell—was she actually crazy? I surged forward. “You—have no idea how dangerous that was—what you’d done! You can’t always guarantee where those things lead. Who knows where you could have ended up?”

I suppressed the urge to throttle her, taking another step closer, making Allie stumble. She backed up until she was pressed against the glass wall. The giant exposed brass gears within the tower chugged mechanically behind her, the weights and chains pulling and shifting as the witness clock ticked and tocked.

A rumble of clouds mirrored in Allie’s wide eyes as my darkness descended into the room, almost blocking out the light from the windows, snuffing out the lamp lights on the table, rendering the space close to pitch black.

With a grave, menacing look, I caged her in with my body and bent my head even closer to rasp the words in her face. “Swear to me you won’t ever do that again.”

Unwilling to meet my cold gaze, hers was off to one side but she managed the words, “I-I swear.”

Vindicated, I couldn’t help a slight smirk. “Are you afraid of me now?”

Allie still wouldn’t meet my gaze.

That should have been my answer.

But for some reason, I wanted her to say it.

“Allie?” I prompted.

Swallowing hard, Allie shook her head. “I’m not afraid of you.” She looked up to meet my gaze evenly. “I’m not, Rabb.”

Unbidden, my dark clouds began to recede. What? “I’ve just told you I kill people and harvest their hearts. You already know I’ve done the same to you. I have your heart trapped. I hold you hostage. Even if you escape or try to run away again, I will always find you. You’re not afraid?”

She took a deep breath. “You haven’t hurt me yet. On the contrary, you’ve taken really good care of me so far.”

I met her gaze with a sneer, trying to will my terrifying shadows back. “I’ve told you I need you alive. It has nothing to do with taking care of you.”

Still, she shrugged. “I’m a scientist. All I know is the proof I have.”

Whether she was just saying it to put on a brave front, put me off-balance, or she really believed it, it was a futile thing to threaten someone who wasn’t at all frightened. I almost groaned in annoyance. I couldn’t seduce her. I couldn’t scare her. Did nothing I do affect her at all?

A bit confused and disoriented, I stepped back enough to give her space to breathe, the light in the room returning as the fog lifted.

I was at an absolute total loss for what to do.

Allie shifted in her stance. “Can I…ask you a question?”

I narrowed my eyes at her instead of responding.

She asked anyway, “Do—do you feel guilty at all? About what you just did?”

I sniffed. “I cannot feel guilt or remorse. Those feelings, those weak human feelings, have long been removed from me.”

“You…basically just massacred an entire kingdom, maybe even two,” she pointed out. “You don’t even feel bad in the least? Don’t you worry about—” She rolled her shoulders. “I don’t know, karma?”

Not understanding, I quirked my head.

“You know…” She threw her hands up. “Your comeuppance. The part where you get what you deserve in the end.”

Not defensive in the slightest, I folded my arms across my chest. “My soul has been black from the beginning. This is what I was made for.”

I had certainly never suffered anything untoward despite every wicked command of the Queen’s I had carried out. I remembered every horrible thing I had ever done. I had never once had to consider the consequences of my actions. It was my job. My sole purpose.

Nothing else mattered save for the clock to keep ticking.

Allie bit her lip. “Can I ask you another question?”