Page 21 of Under His Rule

“Hello, Natalie.”

The familiar dark, brooding voice instantly makes me turn my head.

I want to hurl.

Instead, tears well up in my eyes.

It’s him.

He’s here.

Chapter 7

Noah

The moment our eyes met, it felt as though the earth stood still.

I’ve wondered what this moment would be like. If she’d stop and stare. If she’d look at me with hatred or with fear. If she’d try to kill me.

Probably all of those things wrapped into one beautiful package.

Even in those white gowns the women are forced to wear, she still looks as pretty as I remember. Our connection was instant back in that joint where we held that speech to convert people.

She must know it was me … that I’m the one who took her.

No doubt she’s been questioning all sorts of things since she came here. But I have no answers that I can give her that will take away her rage. None.

This is her new reality now.

There is only take it, no leave it.

And I can imagine that’s a hard pill to swallow.

“It’s you …”

I knew she’d recognize me.

But her voice sounds shattered. Painful. As though she’s been to hell and back just to stand here and look me in the eyes.

I deserve every inch of her wrath.

“Yes,” I reply.

Every step I take toward her, she takes one back, until she’s pressed against the side of the hut, just out of sight from the guards and her fellow sisters.

Good.

I don’t enjoy being seen. At least not here, where the helpers live in peace. It’s not our place to meddle, and it’s highly unusual for a patriarch to come out of the temple, let alone all by himself.

Normally, I’d be escorted if I ever left the building or the property.

But not right now. Not when I’m doing something completely against protocol.

I needed to see her … See if she made it out alive … and sane.

“I see you’ve adjusted,” I say, taking in her dainty figure dressed in all white. “It looks good on you.”

Her lips part. I wonder what she’ll say to me.

No words are uttered, except a gasp the moment I stand in front of her.

“I know you probably assumed we wouldn’t meet again this soon, but I needed to see you for myself.” I grasp a strand of her hair that’s fallen out of the shawl and curl it around my finger, imagining fisting a whole bunch while I fuck her from behind.

Calm down, Noah.

Don’t want to get a hard-on in public, especially not with what’s at stake here. I need to take this slow, for both our sakes. She needs a little more training and a few more teachings before I can begin.

Patience is a virtue I struggle with daily, but Natalie has truly tested me.

I lean in and place my hand against the wood, whispering into her ear, “It’s been so hard to watch from the sidelines … to see you unravel right in front of me without me there to hold you.”

“Watch me?” she mutters, her pupils dilating. “The cameras.”

I nod. Of course, she knows. She’s destroyed one of them, so she must’ve realized I was watching or else she wouldn’t have gotten so enraged.

“Good girl. But you’re ours now, and we don’t get mad at our own.”

Her face turns sour, and she balls her fists.

“Shhh … This’ll all be easier if you only gave in,” I say.

“Never,” she hisses.

A wicked smile forms on my lips. “If only you knew the lengths I went through to get you.”

“Why? Why me?” she asks, her voice cracking again.

I know it’s hard on her, this place, but she must hold on.

“Why did you do this to me?” she cries out.

So I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.

She’s frozen in my arms and silent, apart from the ragged breaths coming from her mouth.

“You’ll understand someday. I can’t explain everything without risking it all too,” I say, still holding her tight. “But know that I never wanted to hurt you.”

“But … but …” she mutters. “The cell …”

I lean back and look her directly in the eyes. “Was a necessary evil.”

She makes a face, shaking her head. “You put me there. On purpose.”

“No, it’s how the initiation goes,” I explain. “All captured go through the same process. Yours was no different.”

“I know what you are,” she says, trembling in place. “You could’ve stopped it.”

“The process is not up to me to decide,” I say. “The women here do what they must do to comply with the rules, as do I.”

“You had no right,” she says through gritted teeth.

I tilt her chin with one finger. “I had every right.”

She licks her lips in anger but doesn’t reply. It’s as if she’s scared she’ll give something away. A vulnerability she refuses to show. A weakness … I could exploit.

Of course, she’s smart. She knows what I want.

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