Chapter: 8: The Cruel Son

My hands trembled as I observed the naked hall in front of me, squeezing the handles of the housekeeping cart so hard my knuckles had turned white.

I was trying to pull myself together and gather enough courage to take the first step toward the room at the end of the hall. Only, I couldn’t do it.

The door to the Deveroux son’s chamber was closed and had been that way since I arrived half an hour ago.

I considered my options for the tenth time.

I hadn’t seen his callous face since he’d returned, and I couldn’t even be sure he was in there, but he still could be.

Maybe, if I hurried through the hall, I could make it before he heard or saw me. It was my only option. I would probably be fired if the room wasn’t spotless before the end of the day.

I gulped and eased the grip on the housekeeping cart before I stepped forward, silently praying to the ancient spirits that no one would step through that door.

I’d barely finished my first prayer, let alone taken five steps before the door to his room swung open.

My heart skipped a beat before it fell to my stomach, panic spreading through every nerve of my terror-stricken body.

I instantly turned around and ran back to the safety of the corner I’d been hiding behind. I could only hope that no one had seen me.

In this instant, I desperately wished I’d never kept my powers a secret so I’d know how to teleport to somewhere far away from here. I’d even be happy to take the cursed exams at one of those academies.

My heart rate slowed when I realized it might just as easily have been a maid leaving that room as it could’ve been the Deveroux son. Maybe it was Maeve.

I peeked around the corner and saw Maeve step out of his room. A rush of relief surged through me, but just as I was about to run into her arms, I noticed she wasn’t alone.

I stopped myself from advancing and leaned against the wall to listen.

Maeve was chuckling, amused, mumbling words I couldn’t discern to someone I couldn’t yet see.

She was adjusting her clothes as if she was getting dressed, still clenching the apron in her hand.

Perhaps Milo was in there. If that were the case, it would make sense why she’d been avoiding me.

I’d accidentally told her about my maybe crush on Milo days before she disappeared. Maybe she’d been too embarrassed to tell me that something was going on between them.

Milo might be the first boy I’d ever dared to imagine a potential future with, but if he and Maeve were together, I’d be happy for them.

I craned my neck to catch a better look. It wasn’t Milo hiding behind the door, and the sight made my skin crawl.

The Deveroux son was smiling at Maeve, shirtless and dripping wet.

Terrified of making a sound, I held my breath and quietly drifted back behind the corner.

Why was Maeve talking to him? And why was she smiling?

Did they have a relationship that extended beyond employer and employee?

I’d told her everything about what that horrible guy did and said to me, so could he really be why she’d been avoiding me?

Endless questions flooded my mind, and I couldn’t determine whether it was fear or fury possessing my quivering body.

Then I heard footsteps approaching my hiding spot. Fear took hold of my heart and squeezed so hard it became difficult for me to breathe.

I closed my eyes and made myself as small as humanly possible, hoping the approaching eyes wouldn’t find me. Then the footsteps stopped, and my heart sank.

I’d been seen.

My pulse roared in my throat when I slowly cracked my eye open until I saw Maeve staring at me, horrified.

I shot to my feet. “Maeve, I—”

I wanted to explain myself and how it had never been my intention to eavesdrop when she covered my mouth with her hand.

“Hush,” she whispered, pressing me against the wall. “He’ll hear you.”

Maeve peeked around the corner and sighed, relieved. “What are you doing here?”

I swallowed the urge to gasp my words. “I-I’ve been assigned the task to clean Master Deveroux’s office,” I stuttered once she allowed me to talk.

“Damn it, Will,” she whispered, clenching her hand around my arm. “He could’ve seen you.”

A spark of confusion ignited a wave of red-hot anger inside me. She sounded…concerned.

“You and the Deveroux son?” I hissed, gesturing behind me. “Have you forgotten what I told you about him?”

Her expression hardened as she stepped back. “His name is Knox, and no, I haven’t,” she said, her harsh tone taking me by surprise.

“But our relationship is none of your business, and it has nothing to do with you.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She’d looked absolutely mortified when I’d told her about that encounter, and now she was siding with him.

“Stay out of this, Will,” she hissed. “I don’t want to have to tell you again.”

Without another word or a chance for me to ask her questions, she walked away.

Overwhelmed, I pressed my back against the cold wall.

What, in the name of the five realms, was going on with her? This was not the Maeve I’d come to know.

“So, you’re spying on me now?”

I turned my head toward the voice and found myself facing the blue-eyed monster I’d hoped to avoid—Knox.

Instinctively, I reached for the housekeeping cart to flee, but he was faster than me. He had my body pinned against the wall before I could take the first step.

Any attempt to run would be futile. He’d catch me before I could make it past the mirror beside me.

I lowered my gaze to the ground, not wanting to tempt fate by looking at him.

His feet were bare, and his gray sweatpants hung low on his carved hips, almost revealing more than I needed to see. The sight made my stomach turn.

He’d dried his body, but his raven hair was still drenched. Tiny drops of water left trails of goosebumps on my skin as they slowly soaked my dress.

“Are you?” Knox asked, stepping closer to me.

I desperately shook my head, hoping that answer would suffice.

“Then what are you doing out here?” he whispered in my ear.

The feeling clouded my head, and I spoke before I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to. “I-I’m here to clean your father’s office and—”

I swallowed a gasp and covered my treacherous mouth before I could speak another word. Even Knox stood quietly as if he was as taken aback by my behavior as I was.

My eyes couldn’t see his face, but I felt the malicious grin gradually spreading on his face.

“It talks,” he said, chuckling, amused. “What a lovely voice. I wonder what else it can do.”

Knox caught my hand, forcing it away from my mouth before he grabbed my chin and made me look at him.

“Well?” he said and smirked as if he expected me to say more.

I kept my mouth shut. Whatever he had in mind would probably become ten times worse if I gave him what he wanted.

Then his smile widened as if he was enjoying my defiance. “You’re making me work for it, huh?” he muttered, resting his elbows against the wall behind me.

The distance between us became uncomfortably narrow. It triggered my instincts, and I brought my free hand to his chest to keep him back.

Knox looked down at my hand and then back up to my terror-stricken eyes.

I’d made a careless mistake.

His hand left my chin to grab both my wrists and force my hands above my head, pinning them to the wall.

I wanted to scream and beg him for mercy, but my voice was lodged in my throat.

“Just tell me when you want me to stop,” he whispered, trapping my hands in one of his. The other began sliding tenderly down my arm until it could grab my chin again.

I whimpered when his thumb traced my bottom lip.

Knox had complete control over my body. I could hardly move at all.

“Nothing?” Knox said when I didn’t utter a single word. “Then I guess I can continue.”

His breath warmed my nose as fear painted my cheeks pale. I’d never been so close to another man before, other than Koa and my dad. I was terrified and unable to think clearly.

He was too strong for me to have the slightest chance of shaking him, and my powers faded in comparison to his experience as a Fire Iridis. I had no way out.

“Let’s see what sounds you can make,” Knox whispered and twisted my head sideways.

A wave of adrenaline shot through me when Knox leaned closer and placed his warm lips on my neck.

“Knox, stop! Please!” I screamed, terrified and startled by the sensation of his lips on my skin.

It wasn’t pleasant or arousing as I’d heard other girls describe it. Instead, I felt disgusted and appalled by it.

I heaved for air when Knox backed away to look at me with an unnerving smirk. “You know my name?”

My breath hitched when I recalled the words that had left my mouth. I’d called his actual name—the one that Maeve had given me—and I couldn’t take it back.

“I would like to hear that again; unfortunately, I have scheduled a training session with my father soon, so I have to leave,” he said, pressing his shameless lips against the back of my hand.

“I guess I’ll see you around... Willow.”

Then he let me go and went back to his room.

I stood, frozen and stripped of any thoughts but the memory of the words he’d said to me. It took a few minutes for me to realize that he was no longer standing in front of me.

Finally, my body relaxed, and I slid down the wall to sit on the floor, exhausted and unable to do more than cry.

I felt so sick and filthy that even jumping into the cleanest hot springs in Heliac wouldn’t be able to wash away the stench of ~him~.

Regardless, I needed the feeling of his hands to be gone, so I grabbed a cloth from one of the buckets in the cart and scrubbed my skin until it became numb.

I could’ve scrubbed until my bone was visible, and it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Knox had marked more than my skin, he’d marked my soul, and I didn’t know how to remove a mark like that.

How could Maeve be enchanted by someone this cruel?