AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrugged and slipped on my t-shirt, turning back toward the mirror again. “What else could it be?”
Despite my intentions to avoid looking, I couldn’t help but notice the way her complexion waned behind me, through the glass. I had to harden myself to her. I couldn’t let myself get attached. She had no place with me.
“Is that everything? I have work to do. I am the king, you know?” I reminded her with a hint of sarcasm.
“Of course, Alpha,” she breathed, pursing her lips together and swooping into an exaggerated curtsey. “How could I possibly forget I was in the presence of such greatness? My apologies.”
She spun around to rush from the suite, but not before I saw the film of pain in her luminescent blue irises.
And her pain sent cuts of agony through me, too.
Fuck! What is she doing to me?I wondered mournfully.And why can’t we figure out who the hell she is?
Chapter11
Mirielle
Tears of humiliation burned behind my eyelids, but I refused to let them fall—at least not until I was safely back in the suite in the north wing, away from the prying eyes of Zen’s guards. I was sure they would go and report my reaction to him, and then they would all have a good laugh at my expense.
Oh, I’d been so gullible, so stupid.
Should I even be in here?I wondered, looking around the massive chambers with a fusion of conflicting emotions.Is he keeping me up here to keep an eye on me?
It was no longer endearing, knowing that he didn’t care about my safety. Zen had been trying to control me all along. The realization made me sick to my stomach—because I’d let him.
I was bewildered and defeated. Why didn’t I see that I meant nothing to him? No one is that generous to a stranger trespassing on his property. Everything he’d done, he’d done with ulterior motives. I was such a naïve idiot.
He hadn’t been worried about keeping me safe. He’d been worried about keeping me close, keeping an eye on me.
The problem was, I’d been so wrapped up in everything with myself, with my memory gone, my focus on the outside world, I hadn’t recognized the very devil right next to me.
He was used to taking what he wants and disposing of it. He was the king.
But I hadn’t asked him for any of it. Why had he done it? Now he’d ruined everything between us. Except, according to Zen, there hadn’t ever been an “us.”
I couldn’t stay.
For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I meant up on the royal floor or in the castle at all, but as I began to gather my few belongings—toiletries and clothing items—I realized that everything I had was because of the king. It filled me with shame, and that shame outweighed any sense of danger that may have been following me.
I decided I would stay the night in the dorms, if Zen wouldn’t make a big show about it. But given the way he had just dismissed me, I doubted very much he would care where I went.
I would say goodbye to Millie and Tavia, thank Lacroix for his tutelage, and head into Catalonia to figure out my own life. I didn’t need—
Crash!
The door slammed against the far wall as Zen kicked his way through, slate eyes ablaze. Drawing back, I stared at him, trembling at the sight.
“What are you doing?” I whimpered. “I’m leaving. You don’t have to worry because I won’t be your responsibility any longer.”
“No,” he growled, stalking toward me. “You’re not leaving.”
A strong forearm encircled my waist as he pulled me toward him, lips crushing to mine and stealing my breath entirely as I tried to make sense of what was happening. But the harder I fought to understand, the less I did.
Was he crazy? WasIcrazy for not fighting him off?
How could I fight him off? This was exactly what I’d hoped he’d do when I’d gone to his room in the first place. He was doing what I wanted, only too late… wasn’t it?
Zen’s head drew back, and he stared at me, his hot breath stirring me up as hotly as he had in the club.
