Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
What the fuck?
Pulling a small vial out of his pocket, Victor tossed it to me.
I caught it by instinct, narrowing my eyes at the sparkly powder. “What’s this?”
“I told you.” He let Rachel go. “It’s my personal favourite of all the games we play here. I only let a few indulge because frankly, the dust is expensive, and I don’t like others marking my property.” Tapping the tiny bottle, he added, “First you cut them, then you scar them. This is the pigment that makes those scars shimmer.”
Shaking the vial, I scowled. “That’s why you call it Sapphire Scars?”
“Precisely. The body is miraculous in its healing. I appreciate the silver lines left behind after a wound has healed, but sometimes, I want to see my hard work, don’t you agree?”
“So you tattoo them?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
I held the vial up to the watery daylight coming from the high windows. An iridescent blue glimmered. “You’re saying I’m holding a jar of microscopic sapphires?”
“Not microscopic. Crushed. Each time I go to my sapphire mines in Vietnam, I ensure a few of the very best stones are crushed into powder.”
“Why?”
“Because sapphires are my favourite stone and just happen to match my eyes.” He fluttered his lashes with a laugh. “And also, because it makes such pretty markings.”
I didn’t want to know why or how he knew that. Why he’d even come up with the idea or how many times he’d experimented.
“What do you want me to do with it?” I asked.
“Tattoo Ily of course.”
“Excuse me?”
“After you’ve whipped her, taste her blood like you so enjoy, then sprinkle some of this in the wounds. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt her. Gemstones are naturally antibacterial. Did you know that? Ily would being a gemmologist. I’m sure she’d love the opportunity to wear the very thing she’s studied permanently on her skin.”
I shook my head. “She’s already tattooed. Her wand—”
“I know.” He grinned. “But you’re about to whip her. Beginners never get the whip’s pressure right. You’ll end up cutting her. And when you do, I want you to pour some sapphire dust into the wounds. Within a week, her body will heal around the tiny particles and forever glitter in the sun.”
I hated the longing springing inside me. To have her wear my mark? To brand her?
I shook my head, dispelling such darkness. “It’ll ruin her ink.”
He shrugged with a sick smirk. “Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy her wounds as they healed after Ruby Tears, mon ami. I saw you looking at them. I saw the pride on your face. Wounds heal. This scars. She’ll always wear your signature after today. Won’t that be nice?”
He prowled away before I could argue or convince myself I didn’t want this.
Going to Rachel’s side, he whispered something to her, then guided her to the four-poster bed with its shackles and chains.
My eyes met Ily’s.
Our connection flared.
She gave me the softest, saddest smile.
Fuck, how many times would we have to play these twisted games? How long would Ily have to endure such unacceptable things? And how much could I resist before I lost myself all over again?
Fisting the vial, I placed it into the back pocket of my jeans.
When you’ve got her free, then you can have an existential crisis.
For now…keep him happy.
Victor wouldn’t let me leave here without doing what he wanted.
I’d have to scar her. But at least I wouldn’t damage the drawing her brother did or destroy a part of her past.
Victor thought I was a novice at this.
Sure, a couple of decades had passed since my education in these arts, but…I’d been taught by the best. I knew the noise of a perfect swing. I remembered the slice of miscalculation. I might have muscle memory in a boy’s body, but I recalled enough to be confident I wouldn’t hurt her…too badly.
Fuck.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I allowed myself to accept what I was about to do.
I was about to whip a woman I’d fallen stupidly in love with.
My life was about to come full circle, and…the chances of me snapping were sky-fucking-high.
But…she’d agreed to fight me back.
As long as she gave me her fire, I could remember where I was.
But her fight will draw out all that darkness.
The beast inside me would take over.
I’d enjoy this far more than I should.
Merde.
Today might truly be the worst and best fucking day of my life.
The bullwhip warmed in my hand.
My black blood sang.
This was happening.
For better or for worse.
And I suppose I better get started…
Chapter Twenty-Seven
………………………….
Ily
NEITHER OF US MOVED FOR AN eternity.
Hearts pounded.
Energy flowed.
Adrenaline drenched my system.
It’d taken absolutely everything not to scream when Victor touched me. My entire body recoiled and rejected him. I felt psychically sick and horribly vulnerable.
Just because I hadn’t watched him abuse me last night didn’t mean my body wasn’t highly, highly aware that this was the man who’d done it. This was the monster that hurt me.