Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 510(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“It’s definitely the way to break them into unsalvageable pieces.” He smiled dotingly at me. “If you keep spouting feelings at her, only to whip and fuck her like a beast, she’ll be so confused and lost, she’ll be yours before the month is through.”
Henri paused for a horribly long moment before licking his bottom lip. “In that case, I’ll make her so lost that she’s only found when she’s with me.”
“Said like a true fucking author.” Victor strangled the back of the lounger before pushing off and shoving his hands into his short pockets. “Dinner is at seven. Another show will be provided, and the treasure hunt I had Peter arrange was postponed until you could participate. You’re welcome to join us or…I believe a few of my guests have arranged a friendly competition in the billiard room.”
“Competition? What sort of competition?” Henri asked.
“Come and you’ll find out.” Victor smirked. “It’s fun. Bring Ilyana. She can play too.” Backing up, he dropped his eyes to Henri’s crotch. “A word of advice from a seasoned Master to a new one? If you’re hard, make her work. Never give up a good erection, mon ami. Besides, she’s owed some chastisement for her little outburst. You can’t let infractions like that go.”
Henri shivered and fisted his hard length. “I appreciate the advice.”
“Have fun, you two.” Victor blew me a kiss. “Break her in for both of us, Mercer. I want her well and truly tamed by the time I have a ride.”
A flush of absolute hatred made my mouth twist into a snarl.
Victor didn’t notice.
Walking away, whistling like an asshole, he left Henri and me alone again.
Henri didn’t move until Victor strolled out of listening distance. For a second, my heart leapt with hope that he was going to whisper this was all a massive, massive mistake. That there was still a script, still a stage, and a curtain, and a hidden director.
But as he sat down on the lounger and threw me a lazy smile, that hope died.
Once and for all.
In a blaze of burning cinders.
His fingers strayed to his boxers.
He fondled himself through the black material.
And then, with clenched teeth and elegant, monstrous hands, he shifted his hips, removed his underwear, and tossed them onto the grass.
Our eyes met.
My heart thundered.
For all my hatred, my body grew hot and heavy.
It wasn’t fair that he looked like a demigod on the outside and was a deviant on the inside. The muscles, the shadows, the piercing silver-shadow eyes.
Biting his bottom lip, he fisted himself and dragged his gaze down my t-shirt-clad body.
“Enlève-le.” (Take it off.) Pressing his thumb onto his crown, he cocked his head as if daring me to refuse.
Bare.
Dressed.
Made no difference.
Rising on my knees, I swiped the hem up and over my head, cursing the thick cuffs as they caught on the sleeves.
His eyes immediately landed on my breasts. “Christ, you’re gorgeous.”
A compliment.
A worship.
It made me feel seedy, dirty, and stained by every touch he’d given and every word he’d used to control me.
He squeezed himself. “Rampe jusqu’à moi.” (Crawl closer.)
“Fuck you.”
“I intend to fuck you. But only once you’ve sucked me.”
“I’d rather bite.”
He moved too fast, inhumanly fast.
One moment, he sat on the lounger with legs indecently spread. The next, he grabbed my hips, tossed me onto my hands and knees, and tipped me forward. “I’m warning you now, little nightmare. If I feel the merest graze of your sharp little teeth, I will hit you so hard you’ll end up in the moat outside the walls.”
“Do it,” I snarled. “Beat me so we can both stop pretending you’re any better than the other bastards. Prove to me that every sentence out of your mouth is bullshit.”
He stiffened.
I tried to fight his hold. “Do it. Go on. I dare you!”
He just knocked my wrists out from under me and pressed my cheek to the grass.
I hated how effortlessly he manhandled me.
I hated the dynamics of weak and strong, slave and Master.
“I curse you,” I hissed. “I curse you with every misfortune imaginable.”
He paused as if staring at the wand inked onto my back. “You know…I believe you’ve already cursed me.”
“Free me and the other jewels, and I’ll uncurse you…how about that?”
He exhaled heavily. “I’m sorry, but no. I’m done trying to be a hero.”
“I hate you,” I whispered with rancid-dripping passion.
“Don’t be so sure.” His fingers dipped between my legs, bold and brutal.
I cried out as he sank two inside me.
“Wet.” He groaned. “Want to tell me again that you hate me?”
“I hope you burn in hell.” I squirmed as his fingers hooked on that traitorous little spot.
“If I’m burning, you’re burning with me.” He bent and bit my hip. “Anything else to say?”
“Let me go, you bastard.”
“Nope, never letting you go again. Anything else?”
“Yes.” I looked back at him, a nasty recipe of despair and helplessness making me far crueller than I’d ever been. “No one loves you because you’re utterly unlovable. You deserve to be alone and—”