Chapter Twenty-Six #2
“I do.” I let the truth of that darken my voice. “Like I said, you see bad behaviour and something to be beaten, I see it as a red flag to give in.”
“Yes, I’m beginning to realise that. I, too, enjoy the journey from unruly to ruled but...
surely you don’t want her to stay that way forever?
There’s just so much enjoyment in knowing you’re the one to silence them.
You’re the one to mould them. If she never learns to submit, then where is the peace for you?
You’ll never have the joy of a jewel who obeys your every whim, no matter how dark or painful.
You’ll have a war on your hands every time. ”
“It’s that war that turns me on.”
“Yes but—”
“I need her to fight with me, Vic. Always. You saw how I reacted when she kicked me in the nose the night I snapped. I couldn’t help it.
Give me a woman who screams and tells me to fuck myself and I can’t stop what I do in response.
Give me a girl who just bends over and takes it?
Well....” I splayed my hands. “You get what happened last night. A cock that won’t work and the administering of a blue pill that’s just plain embarrassing. ”
Sighing, he nodded along. “You make a decent point. I’d just hate for you to miss out on all the ways a subservient jewel can make you feel.”
Grabbing the brand-new whip from the bag, I tossed it by my plate.
“I won’t be missing out on anything. You gave me this to use.
I’m grateful and I’m looking forward to it, but I’ll only agree to go into the snuffbox with you if you agree to let me do this my way.
You want me to be happy? Give me full rein of Ily’s education.
You’ve had her now. I honoured that part of our deal.
While she’s in your home, she will obey and be polite to you.
I’ll ensure she doesn’t speak back to anyone but me.
She will be the perfect jewel you expect.
However, when she’s under my rule and about to take my cock, she has my permission to call me whatever the fuck she wants.
She can fight me. She can try to hurt me.
I need you to agree that you won’t interfere because this is what I want, got it? ”
For the longest moment, he didn’t speak.
Shit, what are you doing?
I’d shared too much. Given too much away.
But...if Ily and I were going to do this. If we were going to pretend? If we willing engaged in all the depravity on offer in this place, I needed constant fucking feedback that she was still with me. Still playing with me. Still strong. If she turned into Rachel or the others...
It can’t happen.
If she broke, truly broke, I’d use my switchblade to end both of us because freedom or no freedom, if her mind didn’t stay intact there was nothing left for either of us.
Steepling his fingers, he pursed his lips and studied me then Ily.
He looked as if he could smell a rat without being able to see it.
Perhaps he’d seen what happened on the toilet last night.
Maybe he’d heard our pact. Maybe he knew far more than I feared but finally, he stood and held out his hand.
I stood too, placing my fingers in his.
Squeezing hard, he dragged me forward. “I accept your requirements, and I look forward to seeing you step into your rightful place as Master. Shall we get started?” Letting me go, he looked at the sky.
“I know we said this afternoon but I’m suddenly eager to see you in action.
What do you say, pretty Ily? Fancy being whipped before lunch? ”
Her eyes snapped open.
A flash of light in her gaze.
Behave. I glowered.
I’d agreed to hurt her while we had sex, but I didn’t want to ever raise a hand to her without it.
For a second, rebellion twitched her lips, but then she nodded like a perfect jewel. “Yes, Sir V.”
He swooned dramatically, pressing his knuckles to his forehead.
“Be still my heart, it’s a miracle. Polite and demure.
Wonders will never cease.” He waggled his finger in my face with a chuckle.
“Seems you might be onto something. Right...I’ll just go collect Rachel from her appointment with Dr Belford, and we’ll go have some fun. ”
Striding off, he gave me a wave.
I waved back.
The minute he was gone, my legs gave out, and I fell back onto the chair.
Ily shifted closer. Her hand touched my ankle beneath my jeans.
I looked down and caught her stare and prayed to every fucking entity that still listened to help us.
I won’t break. Her eyes shouted.
I might. I shrugged.
Together, we waited silently for Victor’s return.
* * * * *
The snuffbox was pretty much everything I expected.
Tucked down in the eastern most corner of the gardens, past the vegetable patch, behind the glass-fronted orangery, and hidden in the shadow of the battlement wall, the brick and ivy-covered tower looked like a small observatory.
Or a jail...depending on the viewer.
“Here we are.” Giving me a beaming smile, Victor withdrew an old-fashioned key from his pocket and opened the heavy, creaking metal door. It swung inward, sensor lights sprang on, and he led us inside like a sadistic prince.
Unclipping his leash from Rachel, he pointed at a spot on the floor in the centre of the room. “Wait there for me, my pet. I’ll just show Henri the ropes.”
Her blue eyes skated to me, then to Ily.
Something passed between them.
Ily tipped her chin.
Rachel nodded and braced her shoulders.
What had they communicated?
The fact that I’d slept with both women last night repeated over and over again, amplifying my shame and regret. Rachel carried Victor’s baby. He’d so flippantly ordered me to kill her. She’d lived a life of horrors, and now I was going to save her.
Save both of them.
Somehow.
“Run along,” Victor repeated, annoyance on his face for her delay.
“Yes, Sir V.” Rachel dropped her eyes then stepped down the four stone steps and into the pit below. With a barely-there shiver, she kneeled on the hard damp rock and bowed her head. Her teal silk dressing gown splayed around her bare legs like turquoise puddles.
I didn’t dare look at Ily.
I didn’t know if my monster would take charge or my damn humanness would make this impossible for me. The darkness I couldn’t shed slithered on the outskirts of my mind. The bag holding my new whip grew extra heavy.
What if I can’t do this?
What if I lose myself while hurting Ily, and she breaks, after all?
She has a safe word.
As long as I kept listening for it, I would stop.
Khushi.
Happiness.
Fuck, that word mocked me.
Why did she have to be named after two things I’d never earned and so desperately wanted?
Sighing heavily, I glanced around at the high rotund walls.
My eyes widened as I found out why Victor called it the snuffbox.
His theme of gemstones repeated itself. Giant artwork surrounded us at least two stories high, sweeping toward the domed roof above. A never-ending pattern of sparkling, priceless jewels. Sapphires blended with rubies; diamonds scattered on emeralds.
It felt as if we’d be buried under an avalanche of gems at any moment.
“Exquisite, is it not?” Victor puffed with pride.
“One of my first jewels was a world-renowned painter. I managed to acquire her when she accepted a hefty commission to paint for a private collector on his yacht. Unfortunately for her, this collector owed me a few debts, and when I went to collect, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
So...I took her with me.” He pointed at the outstanding art.
“I allowed her to paint these before I ever laid a finger on her. She lived in here for almost two years. When it was done, I gave her the option of becoming my personal favourite or...I could free her for the work she’d so skilfully done. ”
“Free her?” I raised an eyebrow. “You actually let her go?”
Victor chuckled. “Don’t be ridiculous. But I did let her go somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?” I played dumb, stroking his ego, all while my mind raced with the ramifications of how many people he’d killed and butchered.
Just how many body parts had he sold over the years?
“You’ll soon learn, Henri, that sometimes, the only fate available to a jewel is to kill them.
I tried for a year to make Beth behave. I tried all manner of things, but alas.
She would rather get hurt trying to kill me than fuck me, so...
I gave her what she wanted and killed her instead.
Let’s hope a similar fate for Ilyana is still far, far away, hmm? ”
My heart fisted.
Ily didn’t rise to his bait. She gave none of her usual retorts or barely hidden slurs.
I wanted to hug her for that.
Get on my knees and thank her for staying in character.
Tapping his polished shoe on the echoey floor, Victor muttered, “So...you’ve told me what you want to happen, and I’ve agreed to let you play your way, but...
I still expect you to work on the levels of ownership.
I refuse to let her cause discord amongst the other jewels again, especially now my home is rebalanced. ”
I stiffened. “You said it yourself that the purpose of those levels was to break a jewel. I don’t want her broken, Vic. As long as she never speaks back to you, then what’s the harm if she speaks back to me?”
Victor sniffed. “You’re proposing to let her keep her backbone, which never works—as I’ve just shown with Beth.
If Beth had submitted, I would still have an incredible artist. My home could be brimming with stunning art, but I saw her for the infection that she was.
She would’ve stirred unrest in my other gems, just like Ily attempted to do.
” He crossed his arms. “While she’s obedient, it’s fine.
But what about the day she shows flagrant disregard and disrespect again?
What about the day she tries to turn Peter against me again?
I might be forced to step in. And I’d hate to have to pick up the pieces once I was done. ”
Ily sucked in a breath.
I sighed and raked a hand over my face.