Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I couldn’t stop my tears now that I’d started.
Peter gathered me tighter and dragged me onto his bony lap. “Hey, jaanu, it’s okay. You’re okay. We’re all okay.”
Yes, but for how long?
How much longer before—
A noise.
A loud clang followed by heavy footfalls.
No.
Tears froze on my cheeks as Henri stiffened and Peter turned to a statue beneath me.
Please no—
Footfalls came closer, closer, echoing down the dungeon corridors, louder, louder, until…
Four guards appeared.
Crawling off Peter’s lap, I swiped at my tears and glowered at our unwanted guests.
None of us spoke as the guard in front used a ring of keys to unlock our bars, then kicked the door wide. “If you move wrong, I’ll electrocute you. If you try to run, I’ll shoot you. If you try to fight back, I’ll beat you.” The guard pulled free a black remote and gun from his utility belt. “Any questions?”
Henri stood by his bed, his hands balled. “What do you want?”
“Your time down here is up.” The head guard shrugged. “My orders are to take you to get ready.”
“Get ready for what?” Peter asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Waving his gun, the guard commanded, “Unshackle them.”
I didn’t move as the three other guards fanned out. One went to Henri and unhooked the chain from his collar. One to me to free my own neck. And one to Peter.
Once all three of us were no longer tethered to the wall, the guard by the door marched into the corridor. “Follow quietly and obediently, and no one will get hurt.”
Peter went first, the beads of his spine bruised and red from sleeping on such a hard bed for so long.
I trailed him, my bare feet icy and white dress completely filthy.
Henri slipped silently behind me.
A current of connection tingled across my back.
His energy blended with mine like a warm blanket across my shoulders.
So close.
Far closer than we’d been in over a month.
I shivered as his hand landed on my hip. His thumb stroked those wonderful Morse code circles.
“No touching.”
Henri grunted as the guard behind him struck him.
His hand fell away.
We all shuffled in a long line, barricaded by guards and guns. None of us spoke as we travelled down the long pathways of the dungeon. No other cell was being used. BDSM equipment waited in the gloom for players. Torture devices in others stained by previous victims.
I lost all sense of direction as we turned left then right and left again.
My numb toes hobbled over pebbles and grit, my eyes slowly growing used to the brighter light as we reached a staircase. Memories of traveling down them so many weeks ago on the night of the Halloween masquerade came quick and sharp.
The crowd of Masters as we’d been carted like sheep to the slaughter.
The Temple of Facets. The altar.
Swallowing hard, I followed Peter and the first guard.
My heart pounded at the exercise as we climbed up and up and up.
I squinted as light slowly stopped being artificial and became sunshine instead.
I could barely see as we spilled out at the top and stepped into the small courtyard with its spearing tower and flapping flag far in the sky.
Too bright.
So bright.
Not midnight after all.
No stars.
No moon.
Just a glowing golden disc, a cloudless sky, and a monstrous acropolis ready to swallow us whole.
Chapter Five
………………………….
Henri
“YOU HAVE ONE HOUR,” THE head guard muttered as he shoved Peter into one suite, dragged Ily to the next and shoved her inside, then pushed me into a room opposite.
I spun just in time to catch Ily’s eyes as a guard stepped inside with her and slammed the door.
Peter’s door shut with a loud clang.
And the two remaining guards shoved me deeper into my chosen chamber before kicking the door closed and standing by it with their arms crossed. “Wash. Your time starts now.”
“Why can’t I stay with them?”
“Wash.” The head guard—a man with a shaved head and cold black eyes—snapped. “No questions. No requests. If you don’t wash, we’ll be forced to do it for you.” He grinned. “And we won’t be gentle.”
My heart thundered with fear for Ily.
I hated her being away from me.
I’d hated the dungeons too but at least we’d been together.
Now I stood in a room decorated in beiges and blacks and it was somehow worse than the month in a dank, dark cell.
Every inch of me itched to attack the two guards blocking my way. I needed to protect Ily but…it’d taken all my strength to walk up here. My ankle ached beneath my cast, my ribs throbbed, and my vision kept popping with black bubbles.
If I didn’t sit down soon, I’d probably pass out.
Fuck!
Turning on my heel, I studied the suite. With sandstone-coloured wallpaper and curtains, black carpets and bedding, the room seemed regal as well as oppressive. Larger than my old quarters, I guessed—judging by how many floors we’d climbed and general location—this might be on the level beneath Victor’s residence.