“I don’t know what you brought me here for, Master.”Her face blanched as she, presumably, contemplated the options.
“I understand,” he replied.“But having spent some hours under my care, does my purpose seem sinister?”
“Well…” She hesitated, pushing her remaining lentils around her plate.“You won’t let me leave.”
His lips curled at her sullen tone.It reminded him of the woman on her knees, whom he’d denied pleasure.
“There is a gulf between remaining here with me and dying at my hand, Kristina.I mean to devote myself to you, and you shall worship me in return.”
“I didn’t ask for this honor, Master.”Her voice skirted a delicate line between sulky and sensible.“I didn’t know anything about you until…” She paused.“That leaflet in the graduate hall.”
“Ah, yes, my leaflet.”He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest.“You took my bait beautifully.”
She scowled at his comment.“Is that what it was, Master?Bait?”
He smiled, signaling to her food.“Eat,” he reminded her.“My rules have not changed.”
“There were no rules about food,” she protested.
“There were rules about obedience,” he corrected, utilizing that slightly deeper octave that her heart rate always responded to.“Do I need you to recall them for me?”
Shaking her head, she lifted a fork of lentils and pushed them into her mouth.
“I’ll need an answer when you’ve finished your mouthful, little one.”
“No, Master,” she eventually replied, reaching for her goblet to wash down the pulses.
“I’m not so sure.”He hooked one long leg over the other, so his foot rested on his knee.She was riveting to watch, but even more enthralling to torment, and gods help him, but he did so love to play with her.“A reminder will be helpful.”
Chapter Seven
Kris
Kris stared down at her plate, dismayed at how much food there was left to eat.He couldn’t seriously expect her to have all of that, could he?Yet one glance at his clenched jaw confirmed that was indeed his demand, and she knew he had both the means and the intent to back up the expectation.
“Tell me between mouthfuls.”He motioned for her to continue as though he was doing her a fucking favor.“What was my first rule?”
What is this, a test?
If he expected her to remember the list of ridiculous rules he’d conjured, he had to be kidding.So much had happened since he went over the inane regulations that she could scarcely remember half of them.
“Erm.”She stalled for time, collecting a piece of cold fish.The dish was delicious when it first appeared, but it had lost its appeal with its temperature.“I must obey you, Master.”
That one was easy enough to recollect.He’d gone on about it endlessly since she’d woken up, reinforcing the rule by compelling her to do things she didn’t want to do, and even spanking her.She shifted at the memory, conscious that her ass was still dealing with the consequences of his relentless palm.
“Very good.”His smile lit up his face, and even though she’d have loved to have said she despised him, it wasn’t true.
Kronos was as handsome as he was strong, and the fact that he’d told her he had no intention of killing either her or Shelley had done him no harm, either.She wasn’t entirely sure she could trust what he said, but he’d seemed sincere at the time, his words reassuring her.
Lifting the fork to her lips, she nibbled on the fish, wondering whether he’d be more angered by her forgetting his so-called rules or by not finishing her oversized meal.Kris couldn’t see how she was going to eat all of the remaining food, but more importantly, she didn’t see why she should.Eating because he said so was nonsense.It was like she’d told him; she wasn’t a child, and she didn’t need to be coddled.
“Rule two,” he continued.“Impress me.”
Shit.
Her stomach lurched as she attempted to recall what his second preposterous rule was.Chasing a group of lentils around her plate, she scowled.Not only couldn’t she recollect, but the more she struggled, the more irritated the idea made her.
What did it matter what his fucking rules were?She was grateful that he’d intervened on the street, but she hadn’t asked to go there with him and become his sycophant.