Page 68 of Muerte
"The staff are returning. You'll meet them tomorrow.”
“Do they live here too?”
He cut into his steak and nodded. “They have their own quarters, beyond a door on this level.”
I took a bite of sweet potato, not hungry but remembering all too well how he felt about that.
“Your thoughts are quite loud. Tell me what’s on your mind,” he probed.
I wanted to ask about the men that had taken Keres and Pandora away. About Anya. Selena too, because I knew I hadn’t imagined the way she looked at him. But Nicolette’s warning was still ringing in my head, nearly drowning out everything else. It was the reason I hadn’t broached the topic of his wives yet, either.
“The other women…the ones that were in the room with me. Where do they go?” I questioned, edging around mentioning the men.
“They belong to two of my Magistri Tenebrarum. Do you remember what that is?”
“Yeah, I remember.” They were essentially two of his right-hand men, which meant they lived on one corner of the Isle I needed to stay away from.
“You’ll be spending quite a lot of time with them going forward. We decided it would be good for you all to establish healthy, platonic relationships.”
If I hadn’t already swallowed my water, I would’ve choked on it. Did he really have the audacity to mention healthy relationships? Him? And I didn’t have an issue being around Keres or Pandora, but I couldn’t help seeing this as yet another means to entrap me. If I grew close to them—which seemed highly likely—I would definitely struggle to leave them behind.
He changed the subject before I could comment on it, and the next one was so unexpected I simply sat there for a moment.
"Selena and I had an arrangement once," he began, his voice devoid of emotion. "It's long over. Our relationship is purely professional now. Loosely at that."
Did this man miss anything? I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure how to feel now that he’d confirmed what I’d suspected earlier. There’d been a longing in her eyes, a quick shift of her gaze when she looked at him. I wasn’t going to acknowledge the pang of possessiveness that slithered through my chest. I’d ignored it then, and I intended to keep doing just that. It was wiser for me to focus on the bit of kinship I’d felt than wanting to rip her eyes out.
"So, there's nothing between you two anymore?" I found myself asking, damn curiosity getting the better of me.
“Nothing of importance. Selena understands her place. Or she will.”
“Why did it end?”
His gaze fixed on me, intense and unnerving as ever. "I used Selena at the Pleasure House because I couldn't tolerate my wife," he replied, his voice void of remorse. “I used her in every sense of the word. I enjoyed it to an extent, and then she was discarded in a generous manner.”
I struggled to process his words, something akin to disgust and that same slippery feeling from earlier churning in my gut. The thought of him selecting Selena, as if she were an object and because he was unhappily married, didn’t sit right with me. And now, here I was, another woman under his roof.
“I’m not sure what to say to that. I thought...or more like assumed you wouldn’t be unfaithful,” I ventured, instantly regretting my choice of words.
He tilted his head, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. I quickly tried to correct my blunder. “I mean, not to me specifically—I was talking about your wife. Or wives?”
His answering grin made him as pretty as the devil. Just as quickly as it appeared, it shifted into something more serious—darker. “I’ve told you, you’re all I want. There will never be another woman. You’re far more than enough. I’ve no reason to build you up just to watch you fall because I mishandled your heart.”
“How can you say that to me?" I asked quietly. "How can you even mean it when we've just met?"
“Lolita, if you're under the impression that I hadn't known you before now, then you haven't been listening to me at all," he said, his tone holding a hint of ice. "I didn't need to speak to you to learn who you were. I've watched you, observed you from a distance. I did everything and anything to know the tiniest details about you. You’ve always been more to me than a mere stranger, and now that you’re here with me, you’re beyond what I thought I wanted."
He almost made stalking sound romantic. If I were to be fully honest with myself, I’d admit that Alexander didn’t feel like a complete stranger. It was as if he had woven a part of himself into the tapestry of my life without my knowledge, waiting for the moment to claim what he believed was his.
“So long as I get down and worship you, right?”
“Lola.” He reached over and placed his hand over mine. “The only time I want to see you on your knees is in your adoration of me, be it with those pretty lips wrapped around my dick or as I fuck you from behind.”
My cheeks burned and I barely withheld a scoff.
I wasn’t a prude by any means, but I hadn’t ever been subjected to someone making vulgarity sound poetic. And Lola? No one called me that. I removed his hand from mine and reached for my glass of water.
“You’re really hung up on that, aren’t you? Showing your husband, the love of your life, how much you appreciate him?”