Chapter Sixteen
...............................
Ily
––––––––
“GUARDS, TAKE HER.”
Uncontrollable fear hijacked every muscle as two suited men picked me up by my elbows and carried me, stiff and terrified, away from Henri and deeper into the gardens the second we left the fortress.
A scream lodged in my throat.
Panic ached in my legs to kick and fight.
I forced myself to stay prone in their hold as they whisked me past one of the manicured hedges of a sparrow and into a small courtyard not visible from the breakfast patio.
Small box hedges ringed the diabolically pretty space.
An almost whimsical glade with a happy angel-sculpted fountain and a perfect wooden podium.
Wisteria flowers curled around a pole jutting from the centre.
My heart pounded, pounded.
Something’s gone wrong.
He knows.
Victor saw through our act the moment Henri licked up my tears, and now he’s going to kill us.
“Victor, what the hell are you doing?” Henri asked from behind me, keeping pace with the guards’ march.
My eyes locked on the podium as it loomed larger and larger.
No...
“Giving you what you desire.” Victor chuckled. “Peter, go tell Gerald to round up my esteemed guests. I have a treat for them.”
“Yes, Sir V.” Peter’s soft voice vanished with grass-quietened footsteps.
“This is where you want me to fuck her?” Henri asked, his voice tight.
“Patience, mon ami. Patience.”
I swallowed choking fear as the guards carried me toward the platform.
My feet skimmed the ground as they levitated me in their strong hold.
Sunshine sent blinding sparkles off the crystal-clear moat ringing the podium, mimicking the larger one outside the citadel.
A small bridge led to the dais; the guards’ boots clomped loudly on the weathered planks.
So much beauty.
So much splendour.
All of it ruined by the tall, thick pole rising from the centre of the platform. A pole smooth from use with unbreakable chains dangling from the top, ending in a vicious iron hook.
My heart leapt into my throat as the guards carried me effortlessly toward the pole, spun me around to face the gathering crowd, and slammed my arms above my head.
I gasped as the golden manacles around my wrists were fastened onto the hook, pulling me onto my tiptoes.
Henri stepped forward, wrenching my attention to him.
His face looked just like all the other deviants standing watch—lazy arrogance, smirked lips, and a nasty glint in his eyes—yet beneath that mask, I sensed the tension in him, the questions, and the resolve.
I supposed our bargain was about to be put to the test.
I’d hoped the first time he took me would’ve been private—or at least, as private as possible in this hell house. I’d wanted to learn how I’d cope, how he’d cope, how this role-play of ours would evolve.
Guess that wouldn’t happen now.
Everyone is going to see.
And if we mess up...
How would a cop handle hurting the very same person he’d just sworn to protect? Would the darkness inside him take control, or would his righteousness do everything it could to save me?
My heart skipped.
He’s an officer.
The law.
Whatever he does to you is in the name of saving the jewels.
As long as I remembered that...I could handle anything.
Don’t blow your cover.
I held his stare, trying to share telepathic commands.
Don’t be stupid.
Whatever connection existed between us didn’t matter. He couldn’t put my life above the other slaves in this castle. He’d come for them. I was just the key that’d let him in.
Help them.
Whatever it takes.
If Peter only knew who Henri was. How the five years of torture he’d endured were almost over as long as Henri could stay undercover long enough for his squadron to find us.
A pinching question made me frown.
Why weren’t they here yet?
Was it because they couldn’t track Henri?
Was Victor’s scrambling technology strong enough to blind an entire taskforce?
My pulse picked up.
What if they never come?
Licking his lips, Henri canted his head to the side, almost as if he could taste my unravelling. He reminded me of Krish in a way. A horrible but also...comforting way.
I jolted against the pole.
Was that what drew me to Henri? Not because he looked anything like my older brother but because, beneath his carefully kept facade, he felt things far deeply, far more intensely than others?
Sunshine poured over him as he stood with his hands in his short pockets, his shirt straining slightly over his broad chest. Tall and proud, violent and beautiful, he fit into this glen far too perfectly.
Tearing his grey gaze from mine, he chuckled at something one of the men said. He nodded and licked his lips again as if he couldn’t wait for a taste.
So many emotions.
So many moving parts.
This was too much.
Too dangerous.
If Victor hadn’t seen past the ruse and wasn’t going to kill me today...then tomorrow, he might. The longer we played this game, the worse our fates would be.
What if Victor makes Henri kill me?
What if no one comes?
What if I spend the rest of my life being raped—
Oh God.
I choked.
Easy, Il.
Breathe.
Just breathe.
My vision turned dark on the edges as I struggled not to give in to another panic attack. As far as I was concerned, the one in the library was my first and last. I couldn’t afford to give in to misery. Couldn’t cry around Henri again. Couldn’t let myself plummet into an abyss of despair.
Henri.
My chest squeezed as my bruised ass pressed against the pole. He’d struck me. He’d delivered agony that I’d never forget. I’d gone my entire life without any form of punishment or abuse and now my body sang with it.
Tears burned my eyes again.
Henri’s gaze snapped to mine, locking onto whatever wet glimmer appeared.
Swallowing hard, I forced them back.
I let my mind drift as more and more men filed into the quaint glade, some with drinks, others with slaves, all of them ready for a show. Henri spoke to a few of them as thoughts of my wonderfully sensitive brother smothered me. He would’ve snapped in this place with so many emotions flying around.
Lust and despair, desire and dread, ruler and enslaved.
Krish could feel emotions like an old woman could feel weather changes in her arthritic bones. He’d been labelled by doctors and psychiatrists as on the spectrum and strange. I’d lost count how many times he’d been told he was this and that and broken.
I hated them for that.
Hated that they diminished him to a condition and tried to sell us a false cure.
He wasn’t strange; he was wonderful and incredible and far more in-tune than the rest of us—tapping into a part of his awareness that made this world far too bright and noisy for him.
Closing my eyes, I blocked out the men, fountain, and glade as I tried to sink past racing thoughts and find peaceful quietness instead.
I might’ve given up pieces of myself for Sam, but I would find those pieces again...somehow. I would find a way to be free from this place, even if it was just in my head.
Henri’s deep laughter cut through my concentration, ripping my eyes open.
My chest swelled with determination.
I’d been tasked to help him bring this perverted palace down.
I wouldn’t fail on our first test.
Victor broke ranks from the milling men, moving to stand on the small bridge over the moat. Someone had given him a tumbler full of ice and amber alcohol.
Taking a sip, he smirked in my direction, then tapped the glass with his fingernails to get everyone’s attention.
“Gentlemen. Friends. Welcome.”
Voices faded. Bodies turned to face me and Victor. He stood proud and cocky with his black shirt cuffs rolled up and greying blond hair slicked back. He was handsome...if it wasn’t for his putrid soul.
Henri avoided my eyes as a few more men appeared from behind the sparrow hedge and joined the crowd.
Grinning at his equally putrid guests, Victor toasted them with his drink. “You may have noticed we have a new friend in our midst.” Arching his chin at Henri, he said, “Depending on how the rest of this weekend goes, Henri may or may not be a permanent addition to our exclusive little family.”
Some men threw him a smile, others a scowl.
Henri ignored all of them just like he ignored me.
“We also have a new jewel.” Victor turned to face me, raising his glass in a mocking salute. “Selected by Henri, baited by Henri, and trapped by Henri, she is, of course, Henri’s until Sunday night.”
A splattering of dissent before Victor chuckled and held up his hand.
“I know you’re all eager to try my new jewel, and I must admit, I’m eager too.
As you know, some of you are part owners of those jewels that sparkle just a little bit brighter, so it should come as no surprise that Ily has already had interest in such an arrangement. ”
The energy of the crowd billowed with intrigue.
My stomach churned as a few men stepped forward and raised their hands. “I would like to register my interest.”
“Me too.”
“Yep, me as well.”
“I’m in.”
Henri’s shoulders tensed. His lips thinned.
Victor nodded as each man stepped forward. “I expected there would be a few of you. That’s why I’ve decided to make this a public offering.”
“A what now?” Henri’s eyes snapped up, locking on Victor. “But you said—”
“I said I’m open to part ownership. And that I might give you that right. I didn’t say it was a done deal now, did I?”
Balling his hands, Henri wisely didn’t speak.
Roland, the large-bellied bastard who’d travelled with us from France, appeared. He smirked at Victor, nodding just once.
What was that look?
Victor grinned. “A friend had a suggestion last night that Ily’s uniqueness—her special interests and fierce intelligence—are not to be squandered. Apparently, I’ve managed to collect a rare gem indeed, so...let’s see just how rare, shall we?”
“One hundred thousand!” a man with a bushy moustache shouted. “I’ll pay one hundred thousand for part ownership.”
Henri’s mouth fell open. “The fuck? This is an auction? I thought we were taking care of—”