Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I tried to stay logical.
Tried to ignore the howls, clicks, and screams.
But as his fingers tightened around my wrist and he dragged me into his smog full of snapping, vicious teeth, I broke again.
“No!” I reeled backward, throwing myself out of his hold and landing in a heap on the floor. “Leave me alone!”
Peter reached for me. “Ily, it’s okay—”
“Don’t you dare fucking touch her!” Henri roared.
His snarl sounded like a dragon. The entire castle shook. Gargoyles chuckled. Lightning forked. My heart pounded and skipped, thundered and squeezed.
I couldn’t get a proper breath.
Couldn’t tell what was real and what was not.
Couldn’t remember why every part of my body begged me to submit to him when the only thing in my mind was run.
Swaying a little, Henri ducked over me again. A black-dripping angel ready to tear into my chest and claim my racing, rancid heart.
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t.”
“Goddammit, listen to me.” Wrapping his arm around my waist, he hauled me upright. “Ensemble, tu te rappelles? (Together, remember?) Please God, tell me you remember.”
I remembered nothing.
Felt everything.
Drowned beneath fear and failure.
“What little pacts have you been making with my jewel, Henri?” Victor asked carefully. “It seems you’ve been keeping secrets, even in the short time you’ve been here.”
“Merely a method of control, Vic.” Henri threw Victor a cocky grin. “That’s all.”
Betrayal sat like venom inside me.
Softly, seductively, Henri pulled me deeper into his arms.
The sensation of maliciousness masquerading as kindness was the worst thing I’d ever endured. Slimy and cold, oily and agonising.
I moaned as Henri gathered me closer.
I shivered as his lips pressed to my ear.
And I shut down as he whispered, “I need you, Ily. I need you to behave for me. To obey me.”
I snapped.
Tearing myself from his sick embrace, I balled my hands and pummelled his chest. “I will never behave for you, you sick bastard!”
And then, the tears came.
Thick, wracking sobs of sorrow.
His eyes flared.
He reeled backward.
He backed away so fast, he crashed into the backgammon table, sending hors d’oeuvres smashing to the floor. Digging both hands into his hair, he tugged the strands as if desperate to rip out whatever mania lived within him.
He let loose a stream of French.
I couldn’t decipher it he spoke so fast, but I did interpret his torment. It matched mine. It made my delusions pause just for a moment.
Oh God.
W-What have I done?
Dropping his hands, his hair stayed in disarray as he wiped his mouth with a trembling hand. “I-It’s late, Victor. I’m drunk and can barely see straight. I’ll shleep it off and—”
“Enough!” Victor bellowed, freezing all of us in place. Fury painted him, rippling in his nightgown and filling his lambskin slippers. “If you do not grab your jewel and strap her on the cross in ten seconds, Ward, so help me God, I will put a fucking bullet in both your brains. I’ve had enough of this ludicrous nonsense!” Snapping his fingers, he waited for a guard to place a loaded pistol into his hand, then held it to my temple.
His eyes narrowed on Henri as he swayed on the spot. “Ten.”
I dropped to the floor and covered my head.
“Nine.”
Peter grabbed me and tried to pull me to my feet. “Get up, Ily. I’m so sorry. Get up, please—”
“Eight.”
I huddled into a ball and screamed as the world became a vortex. Every sense shouted and smothered.
“Seven.”
“Fuck!” Henri’s roar cut through the screeching in my head.
“Six.”
Strong arms wrapped around my middle and hoisted me from the blood-covered carpet.
“Five.”
“Put me down! Don’t touch me!” I kicked and cried. Screamed and twisted.
But it was no use.
Henri didn’t let me fight him off this time. His hold was full of iron and shackles as he carted me across the room and dropped me at the foot of the cross.
Victor followed, keeping the gun trained on me. “Four.”
“I’m doing it, for fuck’s sake!” Henri snarled, his hands quaking as he shoved my left arm out and secured my cuff to a hook. Rushing, he secured my right wrist and then my collar.
“Please. Please, don’t do this. Please!” I screamed and thrashed. “Let me go. Just let me go. I want to go home! I want Krish. I want my brother!”
“Three.”
“Motherfucker!” Henri growled as he dropped to his haunches and grabbed my ankle.
Instinct overrode me. Panic hijacked me.
I kicked him in the face.
The crunch of his nose.
The watering of his eyes.
Life stopped.
Everything went excruciatingly still.
Henri didn’t move for an eternity.
I heard plants growing in pots and flies buzzing around dead creatures. The moon waned and waxed, the sun rose and set before Henri finally sucked in a breath and tongued the streak of blood dripping from his nose.
His back shuddered as he inhaled hard.
His spine rolled as he curled into himself.
Without a word, his hands landed on my ankles, splaying my legs and fastening me, trapping me, buckling leather straps tight, tight around me.