Marcus stared at them. Meredith didn''t know how long he had been here, or what he had witnessed, but the look in his  eyes was the most painful thing she had ever seen.


    Marcus''s shoulders slumped and his face twisted in dejection as he watched her. He seemed to ponder over what to say to her. He looked at her, his jaw tightening and his red eyes glistening.


    "Marcus..." She whispered , and he looked at her with such sadness in his eyes that she was afraid of what was about to happen next.


    Her heart thumped hard against her ribs.The lump in her throat was unbearable. She was still frozen on the spot, not believing that he had seen them.


    She didn''t want him to see this. It was cruel for him.


    "I''m so sorry, I didn''t mean to - fuck, I''m sorry''"


    Marcus finally spoke frantically as Meredith stayed  frozen in the spot.


    She stared at As with wide mortified eyes,but he only stared back at her with a smug smile.


    "It''s okay, you didn''t interrupt anything." As replied with a hint of a smile in his voice.


    Marcus red at him and blurred out of the room without any word.


    Meredith''s heart fell into her stomach as she looked at the expression on As''s face, his smile looking gloat and almost spiteful.


    Did he do this on purpose?


    Did he really touch her because he knew Marcus


    woulde and walk in on it?


    She swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared at the tiled floor, tracing her eyes around the patterns on each of them to try and distract herself from the emotions lodged at the base of her throat fighting toe out.


    The small moment she had of feeling happy was crumbling into a thousand sharp pieces lodging into her chest.


    She felt humiliated, that he had just used her for


    something like that, just to feed his stupid ego. Her eyes started to burn with tears.


    She felt too ashamed to even look at Marcus again.


    As knelt in front of her and wiped the tear on her cheeks, "Hey….what''s wrong?"


    He asked, grabbing her hand.


    Meredith pulled her hand from his grip with such force, like his touch was poison. And there in  those blue eyes flickering with gold glints, She saw more pain.


    Meredith stood up, anger brewing inside her.


    "You knew right?"


    As stood up too, confusion marred on his face.


    "What?"


    "You fucking knew he woulde. You nned all of this to feed off some stupid ego didn''t you? You humiliated me in front of him because you wanted to exhibit how I am a slut for you!"


    Meredith kept  backing away until she reached the wall and slid down, burying her face in her hands as she tried to make sense of all of it.


    As just stayed silent watching her.


    Meredith didn''t even know what she felt about what he had  done, She was not angry at him, but she didn''t know how to describe it and the empathetic part of her understood that he felt the need to do something,to show Marcus that she belonged to him.


    Maybe it was his own twisted way of showing dominance?


    Meredith felt  As'' presence in front of her, and she didn''t  dare look when she sensed that he was  crouched down in front of her.


    "Angel.. can you please look at me.."


    The anguish in his voice was the only thing that gave her the nerve to pull her hands away,it was funny how she could never say no to him. It was like her body had been programmed to obey his everymand.


    Meredith looked at him. He pressed his lips together firmly, reaching his hand out apprehensively to touch her face but pulled it away  as if she had pped him when she flinched.


    "Please don''t do that…I''d never hurt you" he said


    solemnly.


    "How do I know that? I never thought you could do


    something like this, and you did"


    She croaked , bringing her hands up to wipe the tears under her eyes.


    As gave her a pained look, as if he wished she


    would let him do that instead.


    "Because you''re the only person I don''t want to


    hurt"


    He searched  his eyes over her face, and the


    sincerity in his voice was wavering the part of  her that was so disturbed by him.


    Meredith didn''t say anything, She didn''t know what to say.


    "I''m not a good person Meredith, I never pretended I was. You know me." he stated, watching carefully for her reaction as he reached his hand out again "but you make me want to be better, to be good for you..."


    Meredith closed her eyes, squeezing them as her heart constricted  when he cautiously cupped the side of her  face, swiping the pad of his thumb across her cheek to get rid of the moisture.


    "You know I''m always selfish when ites to you."


    He let out a breath that almost sounded relieved,


    that she wasn''t pulling away from him.


    "I saw him, yes but I didn''t humiliate you to feed my ego or to make him jealous. You know how twisted I am but I won''t do anything to hurt you.


    I was thinking about pleasuring you before anything else and he seemed to be enjoying the show so I let him. Also from where he was standing he couldn''t see your nakedness. Just hear your moans and see me kneeling in between your legs.


    As shuffled closer, resting his other hand next to


    her on the floor. "It seems our dear prince has a kink of his own and I had discovered that. That''s why I was smiling, not because of anything else. Knowing someone''s weakness is power."


    Meredith furrowed her brows and let out a sigh that cracked in her voice as she rxed her  face against his hand, hanging her head to try and hide how everything he just said was not making any sense and he brought up his other hand to cup her jaw, continuing to caressed his thumbs against her cheeks.


    "Your people are waiting for you. Once you finish the ritual I will exin in detail the reasons for my actions to you okay?"


    Meredith gave a subtle nod, "Okay."


    "Trust me." As added softly.