vii

Chapter 7

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Mariah

 I took a deep breathe as the butler knocked on the large double oak doors. I held the cloth to my neck as the door opened and a maid stood to the side, her head bowed in respect with the King sitting by his desk, reading through some documents. 

“Forgive me, your highness. She wouldn’t take no for an answer” Butler Aldridge said fearfully as the King continued to write notes on his parchment. The butler was visibly shaking as his grip on my arm tightened painfully. Fear began to bubble in my stomach as I suddenly forgot what exactly I wanted from him, all the anger I felt dissolved into a pit of nothingness when it came to face his aura. The king looked up, unimpressed as his eyes fell onto me and then the butler and then to the red-stained cloth in my hand. 

“Leave us” he said to the maid and the butler, and they didn’t waste a second to heed to their masters command. Like sheep they flocked out the door and left me to face that demon all on my own. I stepped further into the room, the door closing behind me as I let my hands fall to my side with the cloth.

“You threaten to slit your neck to see me, but when you are given the opportunity to do so you are silent” he said unamused, as he slid his chair back. “What do you want Mariah?” he questioned rolling his head to the side. I hated when he did that, they way he tricked my mind, the way toyed with my brain as if I were so inferior to him. And what made it worse, is that I am inferior to him. 

“Why are doing this?” I asked him, not really understanding what I meant by it. He looked at me his throat bobbing as he gestured for me to come closer, and I did. I walked toward him, coming around his desk and standing beside him. He turned in his chair and grabbed my arm pulling me onto him. I froze up, unsure what was happening as he placed his hand on the back of my neck.

“Hurting yourself is equivalent to damaging my property” he said, suddenly angry. “You are mine, Mariah. Mine to do as I please with. And when you damage yourself” he growled his grip on my hair getting harder as his jaw clenched, his eyes swimming with emotion I couldn’t quite understand or figure out. He sighed, his grip softening as he stroked the side of my cheek. “What do you want? “ he asked again. 

I leaned into his touch, my body relaxing into him as if I had known him my whole life, as if I was made for him. He smirked at my reaction, bringing his lips to my neck and kissing the cut I had made earlier. “Is this why you wanted to see me so urgently?” he asked pulling me closer, moulding our bodies together. Every rational thought I had left my body as I felt his teeth graze against me skin. “Do you want me to fuck you, like the whore you were bought to be?” he spat, but his words of hate were a sharp contrast to the way he touched me. And to me, actions spoke louder than words. 

I whimpered, my body heating up as I felt his tongue dancing on my pulse. I wanted more, I needed to feel him. “Y-your Highness, please ” I gasped spreading my legs to straddle him. He growled lowly made my stomach flutter with both fear and need. Fear because of how real it sounded, and need because me body craved him like water, like I was a sinner and he was my redemption. “Such a bad girl” he said teasingly, his voice strained in his throat. He grabbed my hair and pulled me away from him, “say my name,  Gattino. Tell me who you want” he growled bringing his lips to mine his other hand slipped down my back cupping my ass as he pushed me into the growing bulge in his pants.

“Say it, Mariah” he ordered, but I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know his name. He never told me and I never heard it. “I-I don’t know” I whimpered placing my nose to his neck and inhaling. Suddenly everything stopped and his hands ran down my side to my thighs, they paused their for a second before he pushed me off of him and onto the floor. As soon as I was away from him everything came rushing back and my heart clenched with embarrassment.

 What the fuck did I just do?! I turned to my knees and stood up ready to rush out of the door but he jumped up a second later and as fast as he had stood up, he slammed me into the wall lifting my legs around his waist. “You are MINE.” He roared angrily. “You do not run away from me”.  He stopped placing his head in my neck and took deep breaths. 

“Say my name Mariah. Elijah. SAY IT ” he commanded me, his voice going deeper as spoke. My whole body was going hot and cold, my mind telling me to get out of there but my body and heart telling to bend over submissively and let him have his wicked way with me. “Elijah.” I said so softly I thought he wouldn’t hear me, but he did. A rumble came from deep in his throat and it sounded  anything but human. His eyes changed to a dark crimson and his grip on my thighs became bruising as he smashed his lips to mine again.

Then, my whole world dropped as he stepped back and let me fall to the floor again. I looked up at him in fear when a blood curling scream left my throat. His eyes were bloodshot and his teeth elongated as he stepped back. 

His gaze turned to me and his pupils dilated with something along the lines of hunger. "Mine" he said lowly and everything around me flashed. I was suddenly in the King's room, sprawled across his bed and a second later he was right on top of me. His lips claimed mine with unmatchable hunger and lust. His eyes flashed between red and grey as if fighting for control. His hands touched me everywhere, his lips trailing across my skin every chance they got, but the grey finally took over. The King’s real eyes colour came back. Our eyes met for just a second and then he was suddenly gone and I was left all alone again.