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“Just like you need to understand that there is no way out of this. You belong to me.'

My heart turned over slowly. 'Don't you mean I belong to the Dark One?'

'I meant what I said, Princess.'

'I don't belong to anyone.'

'If you believe that, then you are a fool,' he taunted, pressing his head to mine before I could lash out. 'Or you're lying to yourself. You belonged to the Ascended. You know that. It's one of the things you hated. They kept you in a cage.'

I never should've said anything to him. 'At least that cage was more comfortable than this one.'

'True,' he murmured, and a heartbeat passed. 'But you've never been free.'

'True or not.' And it was painfully true. 'That doesn't mean I'll stop fighting you,' I warned. 'I won't submit.'

'I know.' There was an odd tone to his voice, one that sounded like... admiration. But that didn't make sense.

'You're still a monster,' I told him.

'I am, but I wasn't born that way. I was made this way.”