Free Web NovelChapter 53: Chapter 53
"Let go of me! Where are you taking me?" Circe hissed, her voice low but seething with fury, as he began tugging her towards the door.
Ragnar didn’t respond. He didn’t acknowledge her words, or even the fact that she was speaking to him. He didn’t speak until the bedroom door clicked shut behind them.
"Where else, if not our bedroom?" he said coolly, not bothering to glance back at her as he spoke. He was already dragging her across the hall with determined strides.
Circe dug her heels into the ground, resisting with all her strength. The polished floor offered little grip, but she used every ounce of defiance she had to slow him down.
"Let go of my arm! I’m not going anywhere with you!" she snapped, twisting and jerking her arm in a futile attempt to break free. "Are you daft, or do you have cotton stuffed in your ears? I said let go of my arm!" She knew from their previous fights that his grip was unshakable.
"A pity we can’t always get what we want," Ragnar replied, his voice maddeningly calm, laced with wry humor.
His words poured oil on the fire already raging inside her. Circe seethed. She would kill him, she swore silently. She would kill him and mount his stupid, smug head on a pike for the crows to peck at.
When he realized that Circe was intentionally making the task of pulling her along more cumbersome by digging in her heels, he immediately changed tactics. He was insane, but Circe didn’t know to what extent till that very moment. His stubbornness was wild enough to rival hers.
What happened next robbed her of breath.
Without a word, without even a warning glare, Ragnar hoisted her off the ground and tossed her over his shoulder as though she were nothing more than a sack of grain.
She let out a choked sound of surprise. Her mouth gaped open, her eyes impossibly wide. He made sure she wouldn’t slip and fall, placing a heavy arm over her waist to secure her and make sure she remained in place. When he continued walking, he did so like he didn’t have a grown woman draped over his shoulder, like she weighed nothing to him.
His long strides were swift and purposeful, as if carrying a furious woman over his shoulder was the most natural thing in the world. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Circe was so stunned by what he just did that words eluded her. Her mouth stayed wide open but nothing audible came out. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest.
How dare he manhandle her like this, touch her so callously? Husband or jailer, it didn’t matter which role he wanted to embody right then, it didn’t give him the right to treat her in such an unseemly manner.
By the time she snapped out of her shocked stupor, they were already halfway to his bed chambers, his long legs quickly eating up the distance. Her body bobbed with every step he took, her fists clenched in barely suppressed rage.
Her skin itched to get back at him. Without a second thought, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked. Ragnar let out a surprised chuckle at the sudden action, his neck tilting back but he didn’t stop walking.
His voice was deep and husky when he spoke.
"Little do you know," he murmured, his voice low and amused, "but I actually like it when women pull my hair."
Circe was aghast. Her shock quickly twisted into fresh rage. She yanked again, harder this time, her fingers twisted tightly into his hair.
This time, Ragnar winced. He let out a foul curse that would’ve made any sailor proud when the pain in his scalp got too intense, a growl of pain rumbling in his throat.
So much for noble breeding, she thought darkly.
They reached his chambers and he shoved the door open with one hand. Without ceremony, he tossed her onto the bed as if she were burning coals he could no longer bear to hold. Her body bounced against the mattress, the impact knocking the breath from her lungs.
She sat up quickly, her chest rising and falling in sharp, ragged breaths. Her hair was a wild mess, and fury shimmered in her eyes.
Across the room, Ragnar turned to lock the door behind them. One by one, she watched as he slid the bolts into place, the heavy clicks echoing, trapping them both inside.
Only once the final lock was engaged did he turn to face her.
His gaze lingered on her heaving chest for a second too long before lifting to meet her glare.
"This is where you’ll be sleeping from now on," he said, his tone flat but final. "You’re free to wander anywhere within the manor during the day. Explore to your heart’s content. But you must return here each night before midnight." He shot her a pointed look. "If you fail to obey that one simple rule, I will find you, wherever you choose to hide, and I will drag you back here myself. So, for both our sakes, save us the trouble and do as you’re told."
Circe bared her teeth in a snarl. A vicious insult burned at the back of her throat, ready to be hurled at him but Ragnar had already turned his back, muttering under his breath about how mad she was. As though he wasn’t the unhinged one between them. freewebnøvel.coɱ
She watched him warily as he walked around the room with an odd sort of ease that she never noticed before. She spent hours in the palace watching him without doing much of anything else and she had never seen him without that perpetual hunch he always had on his shoulder, like the mere atmosphere in the palace was weighing him down.
She didn’t notice the change in him while she was throwing things at him earlier that day but now it was all she could see.
