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He frowned. ‘I was hoping it would help, yes.’

The hurt yawned wide. ‘And the sex? Was that part of it as well?’

His gaze flared, hot and bright, then the spark in it died. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t get anything out of it. Pleasure, of course, but also you got money for the home.’

For a second she could only stare at him, hurt and betrayal and anger echoing inside her. Then all of them abruptly vanished. He believed that, didn’t he? He believed utterly and totally. Everything was a transaction to him, because he didn’t know it could be something else. He didn’t know or couldn’t accept that his relationship with Neve had never actually been a relationship at all. It had been a system of power and control, exerted over him by a woman who’d manipulated and molded him since he’d been twelve years old.

Her throat closed, sympathy, regret, and understanding replacing the hurt. For the boy who’d been twisted and changed beyond recognition, yet whom she knew was still there, not dead, only frozen. The boy she wanted to wake again, if only she could melt the ice that surrounded him.

Libby walked into the room and over to where he stood and stopped, looking up at him. ‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘I slept with you because I wanted you. Not for any other reason.’

* * *

Kaius wanted to ignore the anger burning sullenly inside him, but he couldn’t. It was a defensive anger, he knew, because she’d seen through his lie about the storms and it had mattered to her more than he’d expected it to. He hadn’t thought it was that big of a deal, but clearly he’d been wrong. He wasn’t sure why that had upset her, though, or when he’d pointed out that she still hadn’t answered him about the marriage proposal. In fact, she’d even seemed offended, though he couldn’t imagine why. He’d told her numerous times that nothing came for free, so she should understand.

But now she’d challenged him about the sex, and that made something shift and turn inside him, something he’d been ignoring for a very long time.

She’d slept with him because she’d wanted him, and he knew that, he did. But there was always a hidden agenda, wasn’t there? Always a quid pro quo somewhere, always a price. Neve had invited him into her bed because she’d wanted pleasure, and since she’d given so much to him, he’d given it to her. She was a beautiful woman, who’d promised him the world, and he’d loved her. Of course, sleeping with her had mattered more to him than it had to her, but that had been his issue to deal with.

But aren’t you manipulating Liberty the same way you were manipulated?

He looked down into Libby’s eyes, strangely cold, even though he was already cold, way down deep inside. No, that wasn’t true. He wasn’t manipulating her. It wasn’t the same thing.

Are you sure? You used her love for the home against her in order to get what you want. Isn’t that exactly how Neve operated?

It felt as if a giant hand had wrapped long fingers around his heart and was slowly squeezing tight, making it hard to breathe, making him hurt.

Neve had wanted a protégé, an heir, that’s what she’d told him. She’d ignored his childhood dream of being a teacher, told him there were better things in his future, and had showed him what those things were. Naturally, he’d wanted them. Power and riches beyond his wildest dreams.

But to get those things, she’d told him, he would have to learn from her. Forget his past and be loyal only to her. She’d paid for his education and he’d had to give her some things in return, such as his body and his soul. Not his heart, though. She hadn’t wanted that.

Yet…was he really doing to Libby what had been done to him? And if so, why did that feel so wrong?

Because it is wrong. It was wrong. It’s always been wrong.

And as the thought came to him, a sudden black rage welled up inside him. A rage that had been there for decades at least, burning all this time, never going out. An eternal flame of fury that he’d suppressed and suppressed, because he hadn’t understood. He’d been too loyal, too defensive.

He understood now, though, because of her. Because of Libby.

The relationship he’d had with Neve hadn’t been what he’d told himself it was, and his subconscious had known that all along. Had known that he was being used and manipulated, and he’d let it happen, because he’d wanted what she had promised him. The money, the power, the influence. He’d been ambitious, and he’d wanted those things, and he’d been happy to pay for them. Happy to lie to himself that it was fine, it was nothing, it was no big deal.

But it had been a big deal and it had broken him.

‘Don’t look at me that way,’ he said roughly, trying without success to keep the rage from his voice.

‘I’m sorry,’ Libby said softly, the look in her eyes somehow making everything worse. ‘I don’t want to push you, Kai, but you need to know that relationships aren’t business propositions or transactions. You do things for other people because you want to do them. Because you love them.’

How she knew what he’d been thinking, he had no idea. She saw far too much, and she was far too emotionally aware, and he hated it. He hated how vulnerable he was, how painful it was for someone else to see what he had not.

‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,’ she went on in the same soft tone. ‘But understand that you were very young and she took advantage of you. It wasn’t your fault and it was nothing you did.’

He wanted to ask what wasn’t his fault? And what did Neve take advantage of? But he knew.

‘I wanted her,’ he said, the words coming out gravelly with anger. ‘She asked me into her bed and I said yes. She did nothing wrong.’

‘She was in a position of power, though, and you were in love with her.’

Libby’s voice was maddeningly gentle. ‘She took advantage of that to get what she wanted.’