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She splays her little hands on my chest and pushes hard. It's not enough to budge me if I don’t let it, but I concede to her and stop my advance, marveling at the electricity that zaps through me at her touch. It has every cell in my body surging to life.
“Why?” she asks again. “Why, Julian? Why did you takeme? What do you want with me?”
I look down at her, contemplating my options. I'm not ready to tell her she's the key to me regaining my kingdom. At one time it wouldn't have bothered me to tell her her usefulness to me, but now that I want her to be my queen, I realize I want her affection too. I want her to want me. I want her toloveme.
If I tell her what she originally was to me, that could completely shut down any feelings she might develop for me. I don’t want her to think she's just a means to an end because even though that's what she was in the beginning, she's become so much more than that. She’s becomeeverything, and she doesn't even know it.
“I know there’s a reason,” she goes on. “Glenda all but admitted it except she told me it was yours to tell—not hers.”
I scowl. Fucking Glenda. She should have known better than to reveal so much.
“I want you to be my queen,” I tell her again.
It's the truth—at least half of it anyway.
“So, what? You just ripped me out of my world?” she asks me with frightened eyes. “I was supposed to begin college. I was supposed to have a life of my own. What about my friends? People will be looking for me.”
No, they won't. I took care of all that. But I don't tell her that. My girl grew up an orphan, never even knowing who her parents were, and for good reason. I'm not going to add more salt to the wound and make her feel like she's a castaway who no one wants. True, she had a few friends, but none of them were particularly close to her, and the note I left behind in her handwriting will be enough to assuage any questions about her disappearance.
“You will be very well taken care of here,” I tell her gently, trying to soothe her fears.
“But I don't even know you,” she whispers as she looks up at me, biting her lip.
I fight back a groan as I watch her worry the puffy pink flesh. I'm tempted to crash my lips down onto hers right now, but I pull myself away from her by sheer force of will, releasing her from my home and tucking my wings back in.
She's obviously not ready for my advances yet. I've waited this long. I can wait a bit longer to have my true prize. Her love and affection.
It’s obvious I'm going to have to win my little rose’s trust.
I'm going to have to woo my bride.
Everything else can wait.
Amelia comes first.
ChapterFour
Amelia
Julian doesn't let me out of his sight, and any time he does have to go to a meeting or go somewhere and leave me behind, he leaves me in the care of Glenda. He prefers to take me along with him everywhere he goes. I assume he only leaves me behind if he has important meetings or if he's going somewhere that he deems unsafe or unfit for me.
His closet is huge, and a whole side was stocked with various garments of virtually every style you can imagine in my size. I never saw someone come in and stock the wardrobe, so he either made it magically appear, or it was already there.
I'm betting money on the latter since he admitted he's been watching me for years.
Just how long has he been planning this? I both want to know yet don’t. I have the most confounding emotions when it comes to him.
He keeps me in his room with him, and I don't even know why he has a bed in here because he never sleeps. He's like a vampire or something. When I lay down to go to sleep, he sits in the corner just staring at me.
He stares at me all night like that, and while it should probably creep me out, oddly enough, I feel comforted by it.
Maybe that's what he's done all these years—watch me in my dreams.
I remember seeing him in my dreams, and I start to wonder if dreams are another realm. I never really considered the possibility that there were other realms in this world before Julian so ruthlessly plucked me from mine and pulled me into his.
I select a long, flowing gown of red to wear today. I've always hated wearing red with my hair. I feel like I look like a huge bottle of ketchup when I wear red, but the dress is beautiful and looks comfortable. My suspicions are only confirmed when I slip it over my head and the fabric glides smoothly over my skin.
I don't know what era it is in this realm that Julian rules over, but all the clothing he selected for me seems to be like a mixture of medieval and modern times. It's predominantly dresses in my closet, but they're not the big, puffy trains that some Victorian eras were known for. Instead, they're smooth and flowing, yet still utterly unlike anything from my world.
