Rise (Roam Series, Book Three) Read Online Free Page B

would only be a matter of hours before I’d be back at the window and safe.
    The only food I could stomach was soup with tiny, salted crackers, and so I ate that and nothing else for every meal. Morning maids would help me to the bathroom and to dress, and I’d focus on getting back to the chair as quickly as I could. The oceans beyond the kingdom tumbled with chunks of ice, and each day was a melting progression.
    As the sun remained in the sky for longer periods of time and the frozen world began to melt, I took note of the kingdom below, of the strange people scurrying in the roads with horse-drawn carriages and briefcases. I wondered about their daily life and occupations, and soon began naming the familiar faces in my mind.
    When evening fell, anxiety often left me gripping the arms of the chair. Troy would have to peel my fingers away from the bolted leather to carry me to the bed. According to the tick marks on the wall, seven days had passed since the first, terrible night he touched me.
    “Roam,” he lay next to me as I stared at the ebony canopy through the darkness, his fingers tracing my cheekbone. “ I am going to sleep here, with you, from now on.”
    I turned my face on the pillow, purposefully meeting his eyes for the first time since his attacks began. “Why?” I whispered, the threat to my routine stealing my breath.
    “I want to be closer to you.”
    My mouth went dry; I turned to my chair, focusing on the smooth lines of the winged-backed leather and velvet. “But I will never sleep,” I felt my chest rising and falling as my breathing became irregular, and he reached for me, smoothing his fingers over my neck.
    “ You’re breathing too fast.” He found my fingers, pinching them in his grasp. “Stop. I won’t stay if it upsets you that much.”
    When I turned into my pillow, clinging to the sheets while my lungs refused to function, I heard him move to the door. The heavy slam of the iron and wood was so relieving, I broke into tears, wrapping the sheet around my naked body and darting from the bed to my chair.
    Curling my legs beneath me, I found sleep near the window.
    I woke to his arms slipping under me, lifting me. Did I sleep through the day? Is it night again? No… I tried to fight him, but he held me firmly, carrying me through the cold light of dawn and back to the bed. “I’m not going to touch you. Stop.” His voice, gentle for the first time, turned piteous. “I am going to sleep here with you, and you’ll learn to sleep next to me and trust me. You are my wife,” he added, pulling the blankets over me as I shivered.
    “I expect you to accept me and behave normally. I have no intention of keeping you, locked up in here, watching you go insane. ”
    “Let me go, then,” I argued, cringing as he pulled me against his shirt, my body stiffening.
    “That is not an option,” he flattened his palm over my back, stroking lightly. “You know the conditions we agreed on in that basement. I have kept my word. Your sister lives; your daughter lives. Logan lives.”
    As he mentioned Eva, I lost my breath, picturing her safe in West’s arms.
    “ I expect a willing, obedient wife. Not this.”
    With that, he tucked me even tighter to him, and closed his eyes.
    According to the sun through the window, hours passed, but time crept like years as he slept next to me. My mind activated, and I thought of every possible weapon in the bedroom and bathroom. Would he sleep if I moved out of his grasp? How could I kill him, really kill him, without giving him a chance to retaliate against me? Are the guards still at the door outside?
    With his face only centimeters from mine, I noted a scar beneath his left eyebrow, and thick, dark eyelashes on each eyelid. His Roman nose lined vertically w ith the cleft in his chin. Lips parted slightly, his teeth were very white and mostly straight, except for one slightly crooked, bottom tooth. A shadow of facial hair covered his jaw, and laying so close