//Song: american money - børns

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I left my room hesitantly while Julian showered to go downstairs for a glass of water.

As time was drawing nearer to when Damien asked for all of us to come back, fear began to grip me. My heart was beating faster and my hand shook as I held the glass under the faucet in the dark kitchen.

I was lost in my thoughts, thinking of any possible way that I could trap Mal.

I checked my clothes over again. I didn't have armor or anything that could help me defend myself like before but I changed into some of Leah's black workout clothes. I wanted to be able to move freely if needed.

I sighed deeply as I stood in front of the sink, a hand on the back of my neck.

My neck was so stiff from the tension.

"Emylin."

I froze.

We weren't supposed to be alone together.

At all.

I looked at where he stood. He was blocking my way to the stairs.

Gods, if he trapped me into another bargain...

I set my glass down back into the sink so hard the sound almost echoed in the room.

"Just listen to me."

It was a plea. In a tone that I had never heard him use.

I began to specter but his hand reached out to mine. I couldn't move. He wouldn't let me specter.

I looked at him in shocked anger.

He moved quickly, pulling me away from the sink then pinning me against the refrigerator. Both of his hands were on either side of me against the refrigerator, preventing me from moving from where he placed me.

His usually dark eyes were tinted yellow almost shining in the darkness.

I wondered if he pulled on demon power to keep me from spectering.

"I just need you to listen, Emylin," he whispered. He leaned forward, his forehead resting against the refrigerator. His dark hair fell across his face. His lips were close to my ear. "You don't have to go," he whispered again. "What Damien said, it isn't true. She will kill you if she has the chance. She won't let anyone stop her this time."

The palms of my hands were sweating at my sides. My fingers were tingling.

He pulled away slightly. His fingers gingerly touched the ends of my hair. "I'm leaving, Emylin. Come with me. I will keep you safe."

The lights in the kitchen suddenly turned on.

"Alteaza."

We both turned to Leah who appeared suddenly beside us. Though she didn't show much fear, I could sense it from her. Her eyes shifted from Asmo then back at me. "Julian is looking for you."

It had to be a lie. Once Julian left the shower and didn't find me he'd tear the house apart to make sure Asmo wasn't anywhere near me.

As she reached for my hand, Asmo turned to her. "Touch her and you will regret it."

She swallowed. "Asmodeus--"

The air rippled with dark power.

Immediately, Leah was thrown across the room and pinned against the wall so hard she yelped.

I couldn't move from my place all I could do was stay still as Asmo turned to her fully. "You are nothing!" He barked at her. "Not a lady or a princess, just a wanna-be queen. You are absolutely no one to address a prince of the Underworld so informally. You will call me Your Royal Highness or Your Highness or Prince." His eyes were venomous. His jaw clenched. "This is a conversation between those of power, you have none."

His lip curled with anger as he continued. "The only reason I have not torn your skin from your bones is because Emylin does not want you dead. You deserve no less for the part you played in her kidnapping and the coup against my cousin, you traitorous wench." His arms flexed from his fists clenching so hard. His nose scrunched up in pure disgust as he looked her over. "Exile is too good for you."

He stepped back away from me, no longer pinning me in place, his dark eyes were black instead of yellow. He was still too close for me to feel comfortable and I wanted to do anything I could to get away from him.

His aura screamed danger. Like he was teetering on the edge of sanity.

"Emylin."

My name sounded so strange coming from him. He usually called me by a pet name and now by my title.

"You don't have to say anything," he whispered. His eyes didn't meet mine. He raised his hands to my upper arms and stopped just short of touching them when he saw me inch away. "Just listen," he said calmly. He still wouldn't look at me. He shook his head. "No more games, no more bargains." He said the last word with almost a growl. It sounded like he was disgusted with it himself. "We can leave. We don't have to fight. Come away with me. We'll hide until this all blows over. Leave with me." He paused as if considering his next words. "Be with me." His eyes met mine. "I can be patient. I can wait."

My cheeks flamed.

I looked at his hand as he held it out in front of me.

I looked at his eyes as he looked at me.

"Take my hand and nothing else needs to be said." He paused. "I can be patient." His voice was strained. "I give you my word I can be. You don't have to say anything else." He swallowed nervously. "Just take my hand."

I looked down at his hand, feeling my heart in my throat.

He meant it. He meant every word.

"I think," my voice cracked in my parched throat. "If you would have asked me this a couple of months ago before Mal-" I stopped. "I think I may have taken you up on that." I stopped again, struggling for words. "But you were making sure of that." I met his eyes. "Weren't you?"

He didn't move.

"You used our old bargain to manipulate my dreams to what you wanted," I whispered. "You told me that I was lonely. You planted that idea. You wanted me to choose you as my consort." I paused. "It's how you knew I was injured in my dream. It's how you were able to find me so quickly even with the guards posted outside my door. They had no idea I was in any danger because they weren't in my dreams to see it. Am I wrong?"

He swallowed.

"Don't lie to me, Asmo."

He looked away.

"You've been preying on my ignorance of fae power and rules to your advantage, haven't you?"

He couldn't speak, he could barely look at me. An admission of guilt. He just couldn't bring himself to say it.

I shook my head. "I suspected it and even then I defended you." I scoffed. "Gods, even when you threw the knife at me I defended you. I would still have defended you even with what you told me about your mother. I thought you were a good person." I sniffled. "Even with the first bargain, I defended you because I understood why you did it. Or, at least, I thought I did."

I let out a shaking breath. "And then you pinned me against a wall, threatened to kill anyone that was ever kind to me." I looked at him again. "And you gave me ten seconds to decide if I would be with you against my will to save their lives."

"Emylin-"

"You said," I interrupted. "You said you would kill them on sight even if they weren't helping me." I shook my head. "Gods," I whispered quietly to myself. "I was too willing to trust you--I was naïve enough to think that you wanted to help me just to help." I let out a shaking breath. "Maybe you did with the training..." I trailed off. "Or maybe I was just the means to get Mal out and for you to live outside the Keep." I shook my head. "But I am an object to you--you just want to possess me." I sighed. "Even when I sat on the throne next to you." I shook my head again. "When Mal's gone, when I give Damien back his throne--when this is all over and I make my life--"

"He will use you, Emylin," he interrupted. His voice was rough. "He's lied to you. Julian, he will use you. That's his reputation."

"You're right. Julian has lied. And he apologized. And has been making it up to me ever since." I stopped for a moment. "And if he does use me, that's my problem. Not yours."

He took a half step back his shoulders dropping slightly. He leaned against the countertop behind him, his hands resting on the edge of the marble. His fists flexed and he tightened them against the marble.

"I am not yours to claim," I echoed my words from weeks before. The same words I told him before I went to Elysium. I straightened my shoulders. "I am just your queen, Asmo, nothing more."

He looked away.

"If you do want to leave," I whispered. "Then that's your decision. But I will be side by side with your cousin to make everything right."

In the next moment, he disappeared. Leah fell to her knees next to me, gasping.

She reached for her throat, coughing. "What," she gasped. "Did you say to him? Why did he leave?"

I blinked. I didn't think that he would make her unable to listen to the conversation. I stared at the space he was in before unable to answer.