The King's Possession ✔️

FIFTY

"In my bedroom?" he questions slowly, deliberately. He gently closes the door behind him, closing me in here with him. His emerald green eyes shift to the raided nightstands. "In my drawers?"

I rub the back of my neck, wondering how I'm going to explain myself out of this one. "I was waiting in here for you to get back."

"You're wet Akara, is everything okay?" he asks, noticing my damp clothes that are finally starting to dry, my hair stuck in thick clumps, still dripping. Another aspect of this that I cannot explain so easily.

"No, not exactly," I say uneasily, looking down at myself. "I was out in the rain."

He steps forward, tilting his head in a concerned manner. Instinctively, knowing I'm hiding something, I step back. He eyes me suspiciously.

"You're freezing," he notes, tone hardening. I am shivering, but less from the cold and more from the fear that he will find out I'm stealing from him, and force me to stay here again to live out yet another sentence. Perhaps I'm being dramatic, yet seeing him dressed the way he is, his curls so effortlessly defined reminds me of his power, or what he is capable of as King.

"You're right, I should probably go shower," I breathe.

Without thinking I go to walk past him, silently wishing I had pockets in these leggings. Just as I go to brush past him, he grabs a hold of my elbow, pulling it out to reveal my hand. Guilty, I meet his gaze before it sees the band, realisation hitting him.

"You're stealing my band," he notes grimly.

"Well not anymore, I suppose," I mutter, wishing I could curse. I turn the band over in my hand, noticing the underside of it is black. I hadn't noticed that detail earlier, but it makes me recoil, wondering if it's seeping magic into my hand as we speak. "Why does it look like that?"

"Well if you must know, it got killed when the Beast nearly, well, killed me," Tai explains, picking it up from my palm. "It doesn't work anymore."

I turn away from him, chewing on the tip of my nail. "Damn."

"And why, are you trying to steal my band?" he asks, not sounding angry, simply curious. In fact, there's a hint of amusement, coming down from his surprise of having found me in his bedroom in the first place. "Planning on selling it?"

"No, obviously not," I shake my head, defeated. There's no way I can get out of here without speaking the truth. "I was planning on getting out of here?"

The amusement vanishes from his face in an instant, his gaze darkening as surprise resumes on his features. Suddenly I feel guilty for my plan, the initial anger ebbing away with every moment I stand in front of Tai. I may not know much about him, but I'm convinced his motives are pure. Yet I stand by my desire to get out of here.

"What, why?" he questions.

"Because I hate you," I blurt out, knowing I don't truly mean it but unable to stop myself. "I hate you for thinking it's okay to kill innocent Tani and get away with it. They may not be human, or even a common animal, but they may have once been. They are lives, and many of them don't do anything to harm people."

Tai looks briefly stunned, before he closes his eyes, releasing a slow sigh. If he's hurt, he doesn't show it, although I get the sense that he doesn't take my explosive burst of anger very lightly.

"You want to throw away our agreement?"

"No, I don't know," I grit out. Logic and anger are fighting for a place in my mind. My rational side wants me to make sense of this and realise there's more to this than just the senseless deaths of these Tani. The other half wants to be angry at him, wants to hear him apologise. "I'm just so angry."