“Rest,” he orders softly, before lifting me and pulling me back into his lap.

I can feel his erection straining against my bottom, but he doesn’t try and relieve it. He just holds onto me, stroking my hair, murmuring soft words into my ear. My eyes close, and my body begins to slacken in his arms. William shifts, and a moment later he’s carrying me down the hall. He takes me to my room and slowly lowers me to the bed. I keep my eyes closed, letting the warmth of sleep consume me.

His fingers stroke a piece of hair from my face, and then he murmurs something in Romanian. “O inimă frumos nu poate iubi o inimă întunecată. Dar o inima întunecată poate tanjesc dupa un frumos, și așa va fi. Eu vă va aștepta cu nerăbdare, frumusețe.”

A beautiful heart can never love a dark heart. But a dark heart can crave a beautiful one, and it will. I will crave you, beauty.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“He’s giving us the chance to serve again,” Number Twelve says the next morning, tucking herself into my bed.

“I heard,” I say, reaching over and taking my mug of coffee. I sip the warm liquid.

“Can I ask you something?”

I nod, swallowing the mouthful of coffee. I stare at her, and I notice her face is almost...anxious. She peers around the room, and up at the cameras, and then she leans in close so she’s whispering into my ear. “Does he...touch you?”

What is she getting at?

“What do you mean?” I whisper back, though I suspect I know what she’s speaking about.

“I asked Number Seven, but she said he just speaks to her. I realized we all get different treatment from him, but we are the only ones that get to see him privately. There has to be a reason for that. I get the feeling, I mean...I think he’s looking for a lover.”

I snap my head up, locking gazes with her. “What?”

“I...I’ve thought a lot about it, and I think he picked us so he could get to know us, and then eventually pick a lover.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, the first night he put me on his lap, like he wanted me to trust him, but he never took it further. He always just let me sit there, getting to know him. Sometimes he would speak to me. Then eventually, he started easing up, answering me when I asked, and touching me more.”

Jealousy burns inside my chest.

He’s touching her too?

I recall how it felt to have his body over mine, to have his fingers inside me, and a deep anger bubbles in my chest to think that he’s been doing that with her too. I felt something there; I thought he did, too. I thought we had developed a bond that wasn’t shared with the other girls.

Why does it matter? Why am I even letting this affect me? I should have never allowed myself to give in so easily. I swallow, and take a deep, steadying breath.

“="2I thinGo on,” I whisper.

“I think that he’s narrowed it down.”

I meet her gaze.

“Between me and you,” she continues.

“Okay,” I encourage.

“So, basically, I wanted to ask...what has he done...with you?”

“Done?” I say, narrowing my eyes.

“Yes, has he just held you on his lap? Has he spoken to you? Touched you?”

I look away guiltily as I think about his lips finding mine in the basement the other day before he punished me. I feel my hand lift up, and my fingertips graze my lips. My sex clenches as I remember how he brought me to pleasure in the library. Should I tell Number Twelve? Or should I lie? I turn and stare at my friend, and I know we have to be honest here. I, as much as she, need to know what he’s doing.

“The first day he held me on his lap. After that, we fought...a lot. I really put it on him every time we were together, arguing and abusing him. There weren’t really many chances to get closer, but then...”

“Then?” she urges.

“Then he kissed me, in the basement.”

Her face hardens, and it’s everything I needed to know.

She wants him. She’s falling for him.

“It wasn’t anything romantic,” I add in quickly, deciding I can’t tell her about the library, not right now. “It was like an apology.”

“An apology?”

She looks skeptical.

“He chained me up for twelve hours with a gag in my mouth, I think he was sorry for that.”

“So he kissed you?” she muttered.

“Y-y-yes.”

“Is that all he’s done?”

I look away guiltily.

“This isn’t a competition, Number Thirteen. I’m just trying to figure out how and why he’s doing these things.”

“I get a feeling it is a competition,” I say honestly.

She shakes her head. “He kissed me too, Number Thirteen, only not in the way he kissed you.”

I narrow my eyes.

“Then how did he kiss you?”

She looks away for a second. “As I was saying, he was almost waiting for my permission. He was gaining our trust, holding us, letting us see that if we wanted it we could have it, but he wouldn’t push it on us if we didn’t.”

“And...”

I feel sick. Something in my stomach is about to erupt and show how much this is affecting me.

“Well, I asked. I told him I wanted it. I told him I wanted him. I thought he would just take me, but he didn’t. He just...pleasured me.”

Pleasured her?

Bile rises in my throat.