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She dug her heels in, but he was so much bigger than she was. He simply hauled her along. “I’m not trying to fight. I’m trying to be alone. I want my own room. You have enough rooms that I should be able to have my own.”

He turned on her, his face a mask of irritation. “Now you want your own room? Really? Just a couple of weeks ago we had far too much space. Now I’m encroaching on yours?”

A few weeks ago she’d thought life would be different. “It’s only for a little while.”

His brows made a curious V on his forehead. “What is that supposed to mean? Is this some shanimal thing?”

And she hated that. She pushed away from him. “I am not a shanimal. I am Kaja. If you can’t use my fucking name, then don’t talk to me.”

Yeah, she’d learned how to curse, too. And it felt good.

His jaw hardened. “Kaja, do you want to explain what this is about?”

“I want to leave this place.”

He crowded her until her back was against the wall. The door to their room was so close. If she could reach it, perhaps she could bar his entry.

“Really? And where do you plan to go, consort? You don’t know how to drive. I doubt you could find your way around the house, much less the city. So, I have to assume you have a place in mind. Did I turn my back too soon? How have you been spending your days, Kaja? Or, should I ask who you are spending your days with?”

He ground the questions out of his mouth as though each word hurt to say it. Kaja was very confused. “I have spent the days with your mother or Susan.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but now I have to wonder if you’ve met another vampire. If you have, you should know I’ll kill him before I allow you to leave me.” His ey

es deepened to the rich green of the forest. She could feel his persuasion creeping in. He wanted her. It rushed against her skin like a wave, but she wasn’t buying it. He wanted to fuck. It didn’t mean he wanted her.

“I’m not meeting some other vampire.” Kaja nearly spat the words at him. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they don’t exactly want to welcome me. I’m the Beast, remember.”

It was what they had called her when they weren’t laughing. They had called her a beast, and humiliation had washed over her. All she’d thought about as they had taken her picture was getting back into Dante’s arms.

It was dangerous to forget he didn’t really love her.

His face softened. “Kaja, they’re stupid. Is that what has you so prickly? It will be yesterday’s news in an hour or so. They’ll find something else to pick on. Now, be a good girl and go have your supper and go to sleep early. In a few weeks, things will calm down, and we can take that trip we talked about.”

That was what he’d said weeks before. Their “trip” kept getting put off. And she knew her status as an outcast and beast wouldn’t blow over. “No. I want to leave. I wish to leave this plane. I want to go back to the forests.”

“No.” He turned and walked into the front room of their apartment.

“What do you mean ‘no?’” Kaja asked.

He walked toward the bedroom. “It means what I said, Kaja. You’re not going anywhere. You’re my wife. You’ll stay with me. Now, I’m done arguing with you. You can eat supper or go hungry, but you’re not going to leave.”

He dismissed her so utterly that Kaja felt something nasty start to kick around her brain. She looked around the apartment. It was so perfect. Perfect art. Perfect furniture. Perfect rug. Everything was in its place, and that was what Dante was trying to do with her. She had her place, and she wasn’t to leave it.

Kaja picked up the glass vase Dante claimed was a masterwork and threw it across the room. It shattered when it hit the wall. Something about the destruction made Kaja feel satisfied. And it did what she’d intended. Dante turned, his eyes wide.

“What the fuck was that about?”

“You cannot keep me in a cage.” She could see plainly now that this grand place was just that—her new cage. This whole plane was a cage. Perhaps she could have handled it if he was here with her, but she’d been forgotten. It was better to be alone than to languish here.

His hands clenched into fists. “I have papers that say I can do anything I want with you, Kaja.”

And he thought she was stupid. “I know all about your laws. You cannot keep me. You cannot make me your slave.”

“You’ve been talking to your tutor, love? Well, she’s a very smart vampire, but she is a peasant. The laws we have are there so we don’t look like barbarians, but I assure you no one is going to come between a royal and his consort. I haven’t been abusing you. No one is going to question my rights. Try going to the police. They’ll pat your head and bring you home to your…cage.”

Weeks of tension had built inside Kaja, and now it came rushing out like a volcano finally erupting. She wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt her. “Then maybe I will take your advice. I’ll find another royal. All of you royal vampires seem to sniff around consorts. I’ve heard royals aren’t very picky these days. They’ll even fuck a beast. Well, when they think to. Maybe I can find a royal with a bit more of a sex drive.”

“You are pushing me, Kaja,” Dante said, his voice a low snarl. “I don’t know why. I’ve done nothing for the last few weeks but work for our future.”

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