126

126
Ashley's POV

"Will be stolen, simply stolen," a voice in my head said. "This kiss was only stolen for time, nothing more." He was going to kill her after that. He held me tight, but something told me that he would soon push me away anytime now. And the depressing feeling left me in the lurch. I wasn't sure what to do anymore. I was literally giving him everything.

If my body was the price, was it worth it? Well, considering that I would absolutely hate myself if anything happened to the child, then this was probably the best. He responded to the kiss on his own, taking in my lips and claiming my tongue brutally. I knew that we could have sex here and now. That he would like me to be willing, like me. He would love me to desperately give him my body as a form of paying him for not killing her.

Maybe that is what he was here waiting for. My own offering. Giving myself and my chastity over to him willingly. Even though I would absolutely never do that again after how he had betrayed me and how he had hurt me, maybe he knew that this was the only way he could get me for himself one last time. And that kept me willing to do absolutely everything that he wanted to do.

I knew what would come next. He would have sex with me as best as he possibly could, and he was going to not hold back any of his dark desires. What's more, I would let him. If that was the price for me to survive this, then, and if the children were all going to live because of that, I would let him do so and I would play right into his trap.

Well, considering that I'm the one who made the mistake, I should be the one to pay for it, I thought to myself as I felt his arm cup my ass behind me and squeeze a little. I didn't know what came over me, but the sensations within me were probably what made me put my hand on his chest and move one button at a time from his shirt. His breathing became a little shallow, and I knew that I was affecting him in my own little way right now.

This is payment, I thought to myself, wondering how I seemed to love him and hate him at the same time. I didn't want to tell myself, I didn't want to accept the fact that I actually found myself liking this in a certain twisted way. I wanted him even though he had done so many bad things to me and had betrayed me time and time again.

He didn't say anything to me yet. Instead, he started taking my shirt. He was done with that and took in the rest of me with it and also took a deep breath, kissing me again. But this time around, there was something different about it. Seeing him now, I got flashbacks. He wasn't completely naked yet like he was the last time around, but he wasn't too far away from it.

I could already see his bare chest, and somehow my mind was associating him with the person from before in the dungeon that I had gotten sex with as a virgin. He was the first person I gave my body to, and I gave him all of it and let him take me how he wanted to. I let him teach me. I let him have something that I shouldn't give anyone carelessly, and he took it carelessly and ravaged me, only to betray me later when things could have gone so well between us.

The feeling of happiness and the sensations, the arousal that had come upon me just a while ago—they were gone completely, and all I felt was disgust. Not just disgust—repulsion. His touch wasn't electrifying anymore; it was burning me, probably because of his fire element, but also it was burning me emotionally. It was destroying me from the inside out.

The kiss now, it was repugnant to me. I would rather be anywhere but here. I tried to tell myself that this was the price that I needed to pay for defying him again, but I just couldn't bring myself to accept that any longer. What the hell? Why did I need to pay a price at all? What had it done for me? This was not an equal arrangement at all.

It was absolutely ridiculous for me to have to obey him. Was he himself some kind of my master? Why was he making deals with me without me having any say in it? And the anger that came along with the irritation I felt suddenly overwhelmed me, and before I knew what I was doing, I placed my palm on his chest once again. Probably supposed to be a loving gesture, but it turned into a brutal one as I pushed him away, blasting him with my energy at the same time.

He was sent flying and then crashed right into the marble floor beside him, his eyes widening in shock. The child that he was holding—she was caught from falling by me, and I held her in my arms. She was crying even more than ever now and she needed comfort, but I couldn't provide that for her right now. It was him that I needed to teach a lesson, and only when he was gone could I finally pet her and bring her back.

I turned to the remaining children. Two of them were looking with clear eyes as if they weren't quite sure what was going on. I would grab them also and run away, but I was done running. This was enough. He had taken away so much from me. He had been threatening me, controlling me, and making stupid deals with me all over again. He had stolen my body, stolen my children, stolen my loyalty, and even now he was about to steal my home and steal away my life.

It was enough. I simply dropped Lyric among the remaining three children behind me and took one menacing step after another towards him. Sure, I was in my sports bra and I was probably not looking best for combat, but I had a feeling that I looked scary enough, like a kind of boxer or something like that, as I approached him.

He picked himself up from the ground, wiping away the blood from his mouth and smiling a little. The bitter smirk he had on his face showed me that he was going to retaliate in his own way, but unlike before, he didn't have the children to use to control me. He couldn't simply pronounce a threat and tap a child, and I would be on my knees, groveling at his feet, ready to conform.

No, we were against each other now, equal person to person, and I was going to finally give him a piece of my mind. I somehow felt like I had been waiting for this day for a very long time now. I felt happy that finally it had come, and I would get the opportunity that I wanted to finally face him in a proper battle and see what he was made of.

His eyes glinted, and I felt his energy move—fire, yes, but it was remote this time around. It wasn't aimed at me. I could see through the corner of my eyes fire descending on the children where they were. Once again, he wanted to trap them in an encirclement of fire. Even from a distance, he wanted to use his abilities to hold them hostage against me so that I would once again conform to his will.

"You coward," I spat. The fire suddenly dissipated into thin air as if snuffed out by a strong wind. My energy burst out from me as I took one mega step towards him, closing the distance between us and punching him right in his gut, sending him flying once again.

"Are you afraid?" I asked him. "Are you not a man, or are you simply just a deceiver? Nothing more than a master manipulator?" I breathed, glaring at him as I towered over him and put my foot on his chest.

Even now that we had the opportunity to face each other one-on-one, he was still trying underhanded tricks. Was he that afraid of facing me? Or was that simply the kind of man that he was? How had I ever loved him? When I thought about it now, I could only spit on his face. And that was what I did. Disgusting. That was what he was. He was an imp of a man, and such a scum shouldn't be on this earth.