Page 69 of Beast

Yes, I learned how to curse, too. And it feels good.

His jaw hardens. “Kaja, do you want to explain what this isabout?”

“I want to leave this place.”

He crowds me until my back is against the wall. The door toour room is so close. If I can reach it, perhaps I can bar his entry.

“Really? And where do you plan to go, consort? You don’tknow how to drive. I doubt you could find your way around the house, much lessthe city. So, I have to assume you have a place in mind. Did I turn my back toosoon? How have you been spending your days? Or, should I ask who you arespending your days with?”

He grinds the questions out of his mouth as though each wordhurts to say it. I am very confused. “I have spent the days with your mother orSusan.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but now I have to wonder ifyou’ve met another vampire.” His eyes deepen to the rich green of the forest. Ican feel his persuasion creeping in. He wants me. It rushes against my skinlike a wave, but I am not believing it. He wants to fuck. It does not mean hewants me personally.

“I’m not meeting some other vampire.” I nearly spit thewords at him. “I do not know if you have noticed, but they do not want towelcome me. I am the Beast, remember?”

It is what they called me when they weren’t laughing. Theycalled me a beast, and humiliation washed over me. All I thought about as theytook my picture was getting back into Dante’s arms.

It is dangerous to forget he does not really love me.

His face softens. “Kaja, they’re stupid. Is that what hasyou so prickly? It will be yesterday’s news in an hour or so. They’ll findsomeone else to pick on. In a few weeks, things will calm down, and we can takethat trip we talked about.”

That is what he said weeks before. Our “trip” keeps gettingput off. And I know my status as an outcast and a beast will not blow over.“No. I want to leave. I wish to leave this plane. I want to go back to theforests.”

“No.” He turns and walks into the front room of theapartment.

“What do you mean no?”

He walks toward the bedroom. “It means what I said. You’renot going anywhere. You’re my wife. You’ll stay with me. Now I’m done arguingwith you. You can eat supper or go hungry, but you’re not going to leave.”

He dismisses me so utterly that I feel something nasty startto kick around my brain. I look at the apartment. It is so perfect. Perfectart. Perfect furniture. Perfect rug. Everything is in its place, and that iswhat Dante is trying to do with me. I have my place, and I am not to leave it.

I pick up the glass vase Dante claims is a masterwork andthrow it across the room. It shatters when it hits the wall. Something aboutthe destruction makes me feel satisfied. And it does what I intended. Danteturns, his eyes wide.

“What the fuck was that about?”

“You cannot keep me in a cage.” I can see plainly now thatthis grand place is exactly that—my new cage. This whole plane is a cage.Perhaps I could have handled it if he was here with me, but I have beenforgotten. It is better to be alone than to languish here.

His hands clench into fists. “I have papers that say I cando anything I want with you, Kaja.”

And he thinks I am stupid. “I know all about your laws. Youcannot keep me. You cannot make me your slave.”

“You’ve been talking to your tutor, love? Well, she’s a verysmart vampire, but she is a peasant. The laws we have are there so we don’tlook like barbarians, but I assure you no one is going to come between a royaland his consort. I haven’t been abusing you. No one is going to question myrights. Try going to the police. They’ll pat your head and bring you home toyour…cage.”

Weeks of tension built inside me, and now it comes rushingout like a volcano finally erupting. I want to hurt him the way he hurt me.“Then maybe I will take your advice. I’ll find another royal. All of you royalvampires seem to sniff around consorts. I have heard royals are not very pickythese days. They will even fuck a beast. Well, when they think to. Maybe I canfind a royal with a bit more of a sex drive.”

“You are pushing me,” Dante says, his voice a low snarl. “Idon’t know why. I’ve done nothing for the last few weeks but work for ourfuture.”

“I do not want this future.” Frustrated tears fill my eyes.How can I make him understand? How can I tell him I feel smothered here? “Iwant to call Meg and go to the Faery plane.”

He moves faster than my eye can track. I noticed since hestarted taking my blood that he seems stronger, faster than he was before. “Youare not going anywhere. I am on the edge. Don’t do this. I can’t promise youthat I won’t do something I’ll regret. Back down now, consort.”

I know what I should do. It is there in his stance and hisvoice. I am “pushing his buttons,” as they say on this plane. Vampires areridiculously possessive of their consorts, and they can be very domineering. Itis one of the things I missed over the last few weeks. Even our sex has beenbland.

“No. You do not own me.”

His fangs seem larger than ever before. “I thought to letthem finish our playroom before we used it, but you made that choice, love. Ifyou’re leaving then I should at least get what I can now.”

He picks me up, cradling me to his chest.