I shoved the bedding back and sat up, leaning against the ornately carved headboard.
“I had the housekeeper lock us in.”
Her gaze darted around the room as she looked for an escape.
“Why?”
“To keep you safe,” I supplied, and pushed myself out of bed.
I was naked except for underwear, and she froze as her gaze ran up and down my body. She lingered on the bandage on my thigh. It had turned pink with weeping blood overnight.
“Who are you?” she murmured.
“Who do you think I am?” I sauntered across the polished parapet toward her, giving her plenty of time to get used to the sight of me. It didn’t seem to be working. A pulse hammered in her throat, and her eyes widened as I got close.
She raised a hand in front of her. “Stop right there! I don’t know.”
Of course it had been obvious that she hadn’t recovered her recent memories, but the confirmation was disappointing.
“Did we...” She wet her lips, and pink touched her cheeks. “Did something happen between us last night?”
I nodded slowly. “Something happened, but not what you think.”
My cryptic answer did nothing to calm her down.
“What was it?”
We got married.Well, that wasn’t technically true, I admitted, just to myself. I married her. I decided in that split second that telling her while she was confused and disoriented was a terrible idea.
“We’ll talk about it later. First, I need to know how you are.” I put a hand to her forehead before she could step back.
“What are you doing?” She seemed scandalized that I’d touched her.
“Checking you for a fever. Your cheeks are terribly pink, little stray, unless that’s in response to something else...” I let my focus run over her, drinking her in.
She glanced down at my body, my insinuation clear.
Her eyes latched onto my cock, thick and hard in my briefs, and bounced back to my face, her cheeks only getting redder. Yes, I was hard as hell at the sight of Katarina in my home, her smell in my bed, knowing we were married. I was a simple man, at theend of the day... and having her here was affecting me more than I’d expected it would.
“I don’t have a fever, I’m just... confused,” she admitted, and looked away.
I nodded. “That’s to be expected. You were drugged. It was something strong, but feel better knowing that you’ve been checked by a doctor and all is well. We’ll know more about the drug later.”
“Who would drug me?” she asked, and then narrowed her eyes. “Was it you?”
The suspicious and stone-cold bravery of that question while she stood alone and defenseless, locked inside a room with me, made me chuckle. She was there, my angel of vengeance with the steely spine and shining wings, just under the surface. No matter what those monsters at Hallow Hall had done to her, they’d never broken her.
She was unbreakable.
“Why would I bother drugging you,micetta? When I already have you here, under my command?” I lost the fight not to touch her, settling for brushing a lock of her hair back. It gleamed like liquid gold in the sunlight.
She raised her chin at me, refusing to be cowed. “To keep me quiet?”
I grinned at her. “But I like it so very much when you scream my name.”
Her eyes widened. She turned away from me, trying to put space between us, to keep her cool. She stared up at the painting that filled an entire wall.
“It’s Hades and Persephone. Their first meeting. It was in bad shape when I bought this place, but I decided to have it fixed instead of painting over it. A love story for the ages.”