Selena’s pov
The dungeon was not as grim as I pictured in my mind.
It was a white sterile room with concrete walls and no windows because it was underground.
There was a steel frame bed and it was the only thing occupying the bare space.
I swallowed hard as I heard the iron door cranking open from the outside.
Fingers brushed over the paper thin fabric dress I’d been given to wear, though it was more like a sack with the illusion of fittings meant for a woman’s body but I wasn’t in a spot to be picky now.
Through the gap of the door Ian stepped through, a guard was about to follow him from behind he threw his head over his shoulder and said; “No, need. Return to your station. ”
The guard held a look of perplexity for a second then gave a subservient bow, stepping back and closing the door as he did so.
And there it was….just the two of us.
“Are you going to start interrogating me now?” I asked, half wanting to do something with the suffocating silence and half curious, “You might as well go straight to torture because I don’t think I’ll give you the answers you want to hear,”
“You’re oddly calm about all of this,” he said, clearing the distance between us with casual strides.
I shrugged, “I wouldn’t say it’s the first time, you get used to it after a while.”
From the moment I was forced into the slave market pushed Into the slave market I became a punching bag with a heartbeat more often than not people made it to believe they owed me easily found relaxation In stomping out their frustrations of my skin.
There were no raised eyebrows about this- nobody questioned it.
Until of course this man.
He gently stroked my cheek with the back of His fingers as he reached me, Electricity shot from my skin and I nearly bolted up from surprise.
Instead I smothered it all with a nonchalant smile, then I leaned into his touch.
“You know this bed is a tight fit but if we try we can make it work,” I say to him stroking The mattress I was sitting on which could easily be confused at any point in time with a pancake.
His expressions soured But something at the edge of it It looked like…
sadness…
disappointment?
This might be true but I also might just be projecting What time wants him to feel onto him.
“If you’re not here to torture the answers that you want out of me Or to sleep with me Then why did you come?”
Was genuinely curious there, He nodded for some reason and sat next to me.
“I thought about it for a very long time And I came to the conclusion that you would not betray me,”
I clapsed my fingers together, Part of me wanted to make a joke something to water down the moment so it didn’t feel like it was reaching down my throats and pressing it together.
My mouth opened to release another joke in poor taste but instead what came out was; “Why?”
Growing up nobody had so much wanted to hear my side of the story, much less believe me.
“I..I just know you wouldn’t do that you’re not that kind of person,”
Couldn’t fight the urge to scoff, but I could already feel the tears beginning to sting the corner of my eyes.
“That’s bold of you to assume when you’ve hardly known me for that long… And the poison was found in my room too, So wouldn’t it be silly to believe me?”
Razor was on my back hearing this.
” Selena are you listening to yourself right now?
” What If he’s trying to trap us?
Get us to lower our guide so that he can see something that he will be able to misconstruct for his people?”
” And what if he’s not what if he actually believes you and wants to know your side of the story?”
Now the tears were threatening to pour.
He takes a deep breath and then wraps my fingers in his own.
” I know you’re not that kind of person because even when you had the chance To live a comfortable life Or by yourself you wouldn’t do because it wouldn’t benefit your people…” He gently stroked a piece of my head that had fallen on my face away And tucked it behind my ear, Each contact from him felt like it burnt But instead of pain it was like it lit me up.
“… That’s why I need to know Everything you know, How did it end up in your room. Did somebody go and plant it there themselves?”
He looked like he genuinely wanted to listen, And I thought about Razor’s words.
Then I made my decision.
If he was already going to tag me guilty Then it didn’t matter if I defended myself or not.
But if there was a chance that he was not pretending, That he was really Willing to listen to my side then I should tell him shouldn’t I?
I curled my fingers on his own and began to explain, carefully Counting my words one after the other Gauging his reaction to all that I said.
I told him about how Cassius approached me, The elder Eugene that was also working with Cassius, I was half expecting him to just scoff and leave me Instead he reached over and stroked my hair Gently moving his fingers through strands of red And I felt the muscles in my body Finally relax after subconsciously tensed for the next attack.
I shouldn’t be relaxed like this around him, At the end of the day Made Bond or not He was still the enemy…
Right.
“I’m going to take care of this,” he said carefully, “… But in order to prove your innocence to others I’ll need your help.”