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“You’re the head of one of the most powerful Families on the planet,” Keon says. “I’m sure you can make it work.”
“And what about her betrayal?” I ask. “She needs to be punished.”
“Oh, no,” Keon says. “This isn’t a one-sided deal. In exchange, you need to ask her for the name of our traitor.”
It all clicks together, then. He’s been playing us both; he wanted me to charm her, for her to charm me, for us to develop a mutual admiration before he told the truth so that I would be forced to make a deal with her…
…and he could find the rat he’s been looking for without me knowing a damn thing.
“You’re a devious bastard,” I mutter.
“And that’s why I’m your second,” he says. “Because I have your best interests at heart…but I don’t mind keeping secrets when the Family is on the line.”
I don’t respond; I just take another drag, and we sit in silence as I mull over his proposal. He’s put me in a bad situation, though…because at this point, I don’t really have a choice, do I?
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll do it. But what about after?”
“What do you mean?”
“After all this is over,” I say. “Does she just…go home? She’s not actually part of the bride program. The contract she signed is bunk. I assume she wants to go home after she finds her friend.”
“Does she, though?” Keon asks. “Atlas…I think she’s falling in love with you. So you’ll just have to woo her if you want her to stay.”
Do I want her to stay?
I guess that’s one more thing I need to figure out.
CHAPTER THIRTY
?
PENN
I can’t be here.Not right now.
I’m done being Atlas’ prisoner, I’m done playing the good girl. I let my guard down. It wasn’t just about the sex, though of course the sex was amazing. I let Keon play me. I let Atlas play me.
This is a game and I’m their toy.
Fuck this.
I’m furious, my heart beating hard in my chest, tears at the corner of my eyes as my blood pumps. I storm off to my room, a retinue of guards whose names I still haven’t learned following me.
They saw me naked, watched me kneel, saw the most sensitive parts of me. They watched as their king went in to use me and then discarded me. I know they can smell arousal, but I wonder if they can also smell humiliation.
I want to slam the door behind me, but it slides open and closed, so I turn around and growl at them. “Out,” I say.
“We’re supposed to…”
“Out,” I reply between gritted teeth. “If he’s king, I’m queen, right? And that makes me your boss.”
It’s not the most elegant way to get rid of them, but right now, I don’t care about that. I need to be alone. The guards look at each other, but the one in front nods. “Yes,” he says.
“Then do what I tell you,” I say.
He nods again, ushering the rest of them away with a hand gesture. I pace around my room—my beautiful room, with the tall walls and the canopy bed with expensive sheets, the soft light of the moon spilling into the windowsill as the curtains move in the breeze.
It’s like a movie set for an old Hollywood romance. If it wasn’t set on Earth.
