Maximus's POV

I should have killed her, nobody dares talk to me like that and live, but that woman—that woman looked me in the eyes and told me ‘no’.

No one has ever raised a hand on me, not even my father when he was alive. Yet she slapped me.

Hard.

The sting didn’t matter.

It was the look in her eyes that set me ablaze. Fire—unfiltered, rebellious fire. Not fear. Not submission. Not the broken obedience I’d been used to. No. This one had claws, and she wasn’t afraid to use them—even when she was backed into a corner with no weapon and no way out.

She wasn’t like...