Chapter Two
………………………….
Ily
I SCREAMED AS FURIOUS MEN stood over Henri and kicked him.
A mob of them.
A swarm.
A never-ending punishment of savage fists and chaos.
It went on forever.
A sickening eternity.
The heavy thuds of their abuse.
The godawful grunts as Henri suffered.
“ Stop it !” I yelled. “Stop, please !”
The guards only grew more vicious.
Sweat rivered down their temples, bodies wounded, blood drawn, doing their best to kick him to death.
I lost sight of Henri as he stayed down.
My ears rang for any sound that he’d survived.
“STOP IT!” I sobbed.
Peter grabbed my hand and squeezed. Our palms slicked together, smearing blood. His blood. My blood. It didn’t matter. We both wore injuries from our own punishments, and my bones ached from two Masters hitting me.
None of that mattered because if they kill him…
“You have to stop!” I tried to crawl around a few Masters’ legs, barring us in a cage by the cave wall. “Please don’t kill him!”
Victor blew me a kiss from across the temple.
A few guards shifted, creating a window into their ring of violence. I gasped as I noticed Henri prone and unmoving on the ground. His legs at an unnatural angle. His face covered in blood. His back contorted as if someone had snapped his spine.
Nausea gushed.
This can’t be happening.
Please…let me wake up.
Let this all be a horrendous nightmare.
Bowing my head, I closed my eyes and did my best to be anywhere but there.
Would I sense him if he died?
Would my soul slice in two when his slipped free?
Henri, I’m so sorry. So, so sorry I can’t stop them.
I closed my eyes as thud after thud, grunt after grunt echoed in the cave as the guards kept driving Henri closer to his grave.
I rocked and keened, tears flowing down my cheeks even as Peter hugged me close and whispered things I couldn’t hear into my ear.
This was worse than Henri dying.
This was a thousand times worse because he’d be in so much pain, so much suffering. His death wasn’t quick. His death dragged on and on, and if I had the ability to end his excruciating existence by setting him free, I would have. I would take his hand and walk with him into that blinding light and leave this awful, horrible world behind.
And what of the jewels?
“Don’t look, Ily,” Peter breathed. “Don’t look.”
I shuddered as Peter pressed a kiss to my temple, his grief tangling with mine.
I’d stayed true to him and the others all this time.
Everything I did and every day I survived was to save them.
But in that cave, listening to them beat my twin flame to death, I turned selfish.
If I had the choice to stop Henri’s torture and die with him…I would.
I would turn my back on my family and every jewel if it meant Henri would be free.
A wracking sob fell out of me as my eyes flickered open, and through the grimy gloss of tears, I watched a guard pull his foot back and kick Henri right in the jaw. In the forest of legs, Henri’s head snapped back, his body twitched, and then…nothing.
The guards all stopped.
The Masters didn’t say a word.
Henri didn’t move.
His chest didn’t rise.
His eyes didn’t open.
H-He’s dead…
What did that say about our connection that I didn’t feel him leaving me? How was he the missing piece of my soul if I didn’t feel that piece fly away?
I tried to crawl to him as the guards broke their circle and returned to an orderly line by the wall—some hunched and holding the many wounds Henri had given them, some ripping their shirts and wrapping makeshift bandages to staunch the stabbings he’d delivered.
Not one of them looked untouched.
Henri had managed to hurt every single one, and in return…they’d killed him.
Heavy breathing replaced the sounds of abuse.
No one uttered a word.
My skin prickled.
My heart ached.
Victor pushed away from the exit and prowled toward the ruined man on the ground. Sniffing and pulling out a pristine white handkerchief from his breast pocket, he toed Henri and wrinkled his nose. “I said stop him, not kill him.”
“Sorry, Sir.” One of the guards bowed his head. “We were only protecting you.”
“Yes, yes.” Victor wiped his handkerchief along his upper lip as if he already smelled the sickly stench of death. Glancing around the cave, he sighed heavily. “Well, tonight hasn’t gone as planned, has it?”
Larry stepped forward and tore off his mask. He grinned like the devil. “Least he’s been dealt with. Never liked that cocksucker.”
Victor didn’t reply. His eyes returned to Henri twisted and mangled on the cave rock. A flicker of annoyance followed by frustration etched his face. “I really wish you hadn’t killed him.” He raked a hand through his perfect greying blond hair. “I had plans for him.”
Plans?
Ice frosted my spine.
“Sorry, Sir,” a few guards muttered.
Victor’s reptilian gaze met mine.
I flinched and tried to look away, but his pure evil trapped me like a moth drawn to light. “Ilyana. You truly have a knack for avoiding the fate you deserve.” With a twist of his lips, he cocked his head and studied me. His eyes narrowed as if he only just realised how much I despised him. “I suppose you want to die now.” He pointed at Henri. “Now your little lover is dead?”
I choked on a sob.
My eyes fell back on Henri.
He still hadn’t moved, hadn’t breathed.
I gave up hoping for goodness to win. I gave up believing we would get free.
Nothing but blackness existed inside me, and I sank deep, deep into it.
No panic.
No fear.
Just a howling, hollowing emptiness that I wished would suffocate me and finish this.
When I didn’t reply, couldn’t reply, Victor muttered a slur under his breath, then looked at the Masters congregated around Peter and me. “It looks as if there won’t be a Diamond Kiss tonight, after all.”
A ripple of disappointed moans. “Ah, come now, Vic. Just because it turned into a shit show, doesn’t mean the main event can’t take place.”
Roland stepped forward, his belly round and black cape dragging on the ground. “How about we put him on the altar and carve him up? I’m sure his blood will be drenched with stress. We could have a snack before the harvest.” He flicked a look at Peter. “Afterward, we can have our little cleaner mop up the mess and then bid on who will be the lucky one to carve out Ilyana’s heart.”
Peter snarled like a cornered animal beside me.
I waited for the surge of sickness and survival. Would I try to fight one last time? Would I ignore the agony of so many kicks and punches I’d endured and throw myself into a final attempt at freedom?
Or…should I just accept?
Accept and let it happen.
If I die, I can find him again.
Shifting onto my bloody knees, I held my chin high. “Do it, you sick bastard. Do it so I don’t have to look at you anymore.”
Peter choked. “ Ily !”
Roland bared his teeth, stalking into me with fists clenched. “Why, you little—”
“ Enough ,” Victor hissed. “Decorum, if you please. I’ve had quite enough of brawling for one night.” He pinched the bridge of his nose as if trying to figure out how to salvage his diabolical evening. Dropping his hand, he looked at Henri again where he lay half on his stomach, half twisted on his side.
The angle of his spine once again filled me with horror that his back was broken.
Lowering to his haunches, Victor pressed two fingers against Henri’s blood-soaked neck, checking for his pulse.
I stopped breathing.
Peter stiffened.
Every Master and guard didn’t move as Victor slowly stood, and a smile spread his lips. Pointing at a bucket full to the brim with seawater by the cupboard of skulls, he ordered, “Dump that on him. Now.”
A guard stepped forward, grabbed the bucket, then sloshed his way to Henri. “All of it, Sir?”
Victor nodded and moved back. “Every drop.”
With a nod, the guard lugged the bucket with two hands, then tipped the entire icy contents over Henri.
I waited for him to wake with a gasp. To splutter and shed the lingering shroud of death.
Nothing.
He didn’t even flinch.
My entire heart fractured.
Victor was mistaken.
Whatever pulse he thought he felt—
“Again,” Victor commanded. “Get another bucket from the rockpool.”
With an obedient nod, the guard vanished behind the stone-carved podium—heading in the same direction where we’d followed Peter a few months ago while doing our best to avoid Emerald Bruises—then came back with the bucket glistening and dripping.
“Roll him onto his back this time. Dump it on his face,” Victor ordered.
“Yes, Sir.” Kicking Henri’s shoulder, the guard tripped back as Henri’s dead arm slapped against his boot. His legs remained crossed as his shoulder blades landed against the dampness of the cave’s floor.
“Do it.” Victor rolled his eyes. “I don’t have all night.”
Without a word, the guard upended a waterfall of ocean directly over Henri’s bruised and bleeding face.
Peter stiffened beside me.
My heart stopped beating.
And in a moment of sheer joy and absolute despair, Henri groaned and choked. His chest convulsed upward as if he’d been shocked with electricity. His mouth parted and gasping, his eyes flaring wide as he drowned.
And then, the waterfall was over, and the only sound in the entire cave was Henri learning to breathe again and a few snickers from the Masters.
Larry stood close by, his eyes glowing with filth. “Seems he lives.”
“Seems so,” Victor said quietly.
Roland groaned. “Just kill him and be done with it, Vic.” He planted a pudgy hand on Peter’s head, making both of us twitch with hate. “I want to get to the Kiss. Henri’s a traitor, just like he was when he first arrived. Get rid of him so we can have the fun you promised.”
Peter gave me a tragic look. His left eye black and swollen. A red cut striping his bottom lip. His collar glimmered with red specks, and his arms were covered in contusions.
I probably looked the same.
But our injuries were nothing compared to Henri’s.
“Perhaps we should just wrap up this evening and return to The Great Hall?” Stewart said, wrenching my gaze to his. He’d torn off his mask, as had most of the Masters. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather be somewhere warm with a jewel to fuck.”
I struggled to remember the pact we’d all made in the maze.
How he and Ben were on our side.
They hadn’t lifted a finger in our defence.
Either they realised the odds weren’t in our favour or they’d torn up their promises the moment Victor brought us down here.
Throwing Stewart a pissed-off look, Victor scowled. “Always thinking with your dick, Stewart. I have a good mind to revoke your exclusive access to Penelope. You’re getting as pussy-whipped as Henri.”
“Pussy-whipped?” Ben laughed. It sounded genuine, but his eyes flickered warily to his friend and business partner. “Stewart is many things, Vic, but whipped by a woman is not one of them.”
“You know what?” Victor dropped his gentile mask and revealed the absolute monster within. “I am sick to fucking death of people lying to me. Do you think I’m a complete fool? Do you think I’m not aware of how you feel about your jewels? How the games you play with Penelope and Abigail are a fucking joke? Do you think I don’t hear you ask for consent before you whip them?” He shook his head. “You act as if you’re in a relationship with them instead of being their motherfucking Master, and it’s pissing me the fuck off !”
Victor’s tirade bounced off the cave walls.
A few Masters stepped back warily in case they were next in the firing line.
Stewart cleared his throat. “We met you through our dark-web company, Vic. We’re the reason you’re so protected with your technology scramblers that no civilian can buy. You know our background. You know—”
“That you made your wealth being digital warmongers? That you’re the best hackers I’ve ever come across? Yes, I know.” He chuckled. “I also know you hide your wealth in a company that prides itself on philanthropic endeavours and building shelters for women and children. A company that’s public! A company funded by the very underbelly you claim to protect your clients from.” Victor sneered. “I’ve always found you two amusing. It’s why I allowed you to have a membership. But that amusement is swiftly fading.” He tipped his nose. “You’re both getting soft, so don’t think for a fucking moment that I don’t know every single thing that you do. Stop treating me like a fool, both of you .” His eyes scanned everyone. “All of you.” His gaze landed on me. “Especially you .”
His entire face blackened. “I’m sick of all the two-faced fucking liars in this place.” Pointing at me, he laughed. “In fact, you’re the only one who’s never lied to me. You’ve been upfront about your hate for me, even while pretending submission.” Stalking toward me, Victor bent and grabbed me beneath my arms.
I gasped as he hauled me to my feet.
Peter tried to keep hold of me, but Victor merely kicked him in the chest and sent him sprawling. “Tell me, Ilyana, did you truly think you could beat me? That you could ruin my life’s work? You speak too freely and trust too blindly. I know every detail of your planned insurrection. I know you used my kitchens as your little meeting room to discuss how to undermine me. I know you’ve been building little bombs. Bombs that have been gathered and destroyed, by the way. I also know Peter would never have gone along with your stupid plan if he wasn’t in love with you himself.”
Sneering at Peter restrained in Larry’s hold, Victor laughed in my face. “I don’t see the allure, I truly don’t. How did you manage to convince Henri—a man born into this life—to turn his back on his true nature? How did you undermine Peter’s obedience to me? What the fuck is so special about you, huh?” He scanned me from head to toe where I stood lock-kneed before him. He shook me, then let me go and wiped his hands on his trousers. “Tell me that, and perhaps I won’t kill you tonight.”
I wanted to spit in his face, but all I could see was Henri as he passed in and out of consciousness. He wasn’t coherent enough to speak, his eyes hazy with confusion.
God, what if they’d kicked him so hard, his mind was broken as well as his body?
I wouldn’t be able to stand it.
To have Henri alive but brain-dead.
To have him exist but not remember me…
Shuddering with terror, I clamped my lips together and refused to speak to Victor.
I had nothing to say.
“Fine.” Victor nodded as if I’d just confirmed everything he thought of me. “You’re the true rot here, Ilyana. And what must happen to rot?” He leaned so close, his wine-rancid breath gushed over my face. “We cut it out.”
I spoke before I even knew what I was doing. “You want to know why I have more power than you?”
He froze.
“It’s because I’m strong enough to love. Wholeheartedly and unconditionally. That’s what makes me special. That’s why you will never win because love beats evil every time. It will always win. It always has. Love is undefeatable.”
“Well, thank you for that helpful lesson, Ilyana.” He smirked. “But I must ask, are you so sure it always wins? That seems like a big word for an emotion that can end as suddenly as it begins.”
I knew he led me into a trap, but I stepped into it anyway. “ Always .”
“In that case, let’s test your little theory, shall we?”
My heart stopped as he snapped his fingers and barked at his guards. “Stand him up. If he can’t stand, then drag him.” Stepping away from me, he pointed at the altar. “Bind him in place.”
“Wait, what?” I flushed with ice. “No, don’t. What are you—”
“Time for a teeny experiment.” He grinned as two guards dragged Henri upright.
Henri let out a blood-curdling scream.
Roland gagged. “Eww gross, his shoulder is dislocated.”
“So it is.” Victor marched toward Henri and slapped him on the cheek. “Hold still.” Eyeing up the two guards bracing against Henri’s weight, he spun around to face the Masters. “Ian. You are or, rather, you were a rugby coach before you made it big with your online sports gambling sites. I assume you’ve had to set dislocated joints before on the field?”
Ian stepped forward, his dark skin soaking up the meagre flickering light. “I have.”
“Fix him, then.” Victor waved at Henri, slumped and sweating in the guards’ hold.
“Why?” Ian wrinkled his nose. “Aren’t you just gonna kill him? Who cares if he dies with a dislocation or two?”
“Why do you think you can ask me questions?” Victor bared his teeth. “Do as I say.”
With a huff, Ian stepped toward Henri and grabbed his wrist.
Henri choked on an agony-filled groan.
“Hold him steady,” Ian muttered as he guided Henri’s arm up straight in front of him with no care or kindness.
Henri’s head lolled forward; his knees buckled.
I was glad he passed out again.
At least he wouldn’t feel—
He woke with another scream as Ian yanked his arm forward. The pop of Henri’s shoulder locking back into place made my stomach roil.
But relief filled me too.
Now his joint was back in position his spine looked okay.
Thank God.
“There.” Ian backed up. “Happy now?”
Victor smirked. “Very. Thank you.” Nodding at the guards, he said, “Altar. Do it.”
Henri’s left shoe dragged along the ground as the two guards lugged him toward the stone platform. He’d lost his right shoe and his sock.
Another two guards stepped forward and grabbed his legs. As one, they slung him like a carcass, reminding me of how we’d thrown Kyle over the cliff.
The heavy thud of his body as Henri landed.
The dangle of his dirt and blood-covered limbs.
He flickered in and out of awareness and agony. Cradling his newly set arm, he groaned and did his best to sit up but failed.
My heart wrenched in my chest; I couldn’t breathe.
Seeing him on the altar made every part of me howl for help.
Removing his handkerchief again, Victor dabbed at his face as he stood over Henri. He studied him for a moment as if trying to decide what to do.
Henri spasmed. Rolling over, he almost fell off the stone table as he convulsed and spat up a huge glob of blood.
“Easy, easy.” Victor pressed Henri’s no-longer-dislocated shoulder down. “Breathe.”
Henri cried out. He licked his split lip. “Vic—”
“I know.” Victor’s tone was soft and consoling. His touch as he cupped Henri’s bloody cheek fatherly and gentle.
Henri twitched and moaned, his face swollen from so many punches, his jaw puffy, his shirt torn and cape missing.
“There, there,” Victor crooned as Henri sucked in a breath and cracked open blood-shot eyes. He flinched as he noticed Victor touching him. A heavy groan escaped him as he wrapped his good arm around his chest.
Had the guards broken a few ribs too?
What else had they broken?
“He needs to see Dr Belford,” I snapped, gagging on fear all while trying to be brave. “You have to help him.”
Victor sighed and caught my eyes. “Oh, I have to help, do I?” He clucked his tongue. “Did I have to play nice when I knew all along he was consorting with you? Did I have to be the better person when he betrayed me? Did I have to silently forgive him when Kyle’s body washed up covered in stab wounds? Did I have to pretend he didn’t lie to my face about what happened in the caves that day? Did I have to hope that my offer to make him family—to make him godfather to my son—would sway him to forsake you and choose me instead?”
Peter sucked in a gasp beside me.
So Victor knew Henri was complicit all along.
We were so stupid .
So na?ve.
I slouched with horror.
Death suddenly seemed like freedom.
There were so many things far worse than death and I had an awful, awful suspicion that Victor would make us wish for that freedom before he was through.
I choked on a morbid thought.
Peter had offered to kill every jewel by whatever method they wanted—all to prevent them from being slaughtered, harvested, and displayed in that cupboard. He’d been willing to crack his soul if it meant protecting us and how terribly weak of me to want him to do it.
I’d take his gentle hands holding a pillow over my face over what was coming. I would happily say goodbye as he pushed me under water in the large bath if I could avoid the horrors in our future.
“Answer me, Ilyana.” Victor curled his upper lip. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone shy.”
With a heavy sigh, I accepted how terrible everything was and let fury blaze bright. “You’ll pay for this.”
“Is that all you have to say?” He frowned. “Disappointing.”
“Let him go. You have me. You have Peter. You said it yourself that it was us conspiring against you. Henri went along with us because I made him.” I sneered. “You were right. I made him love me so I could win. He’s as much a victim of my dastardly plans as you are.” I stepped toward him, cursing Larry as he jerked me back with my hair. “I fooled him. I made him fall in love with me. I used every weakness I could, and he didn’t stand a chance.” I grinned like a maniac. “But I don’t need him anymore. He failed. Just let him go and—”
“Ily—” Henri groaned from the table.
That one word ripped up my fabrications and left them tattered on the floor.
Oh, Henri.
Tears prickled my eyes as he struggled to sit upright.
Victor actually helped him. Cooing as if Henri was his true heir, he helped him sit and patted his swollen shoulder as Henri dug his elbows onto his knees and buried his face in his hands. The altar was too high for his feet to touch the floor. One dressed foot and one bare. One black, one vulnerable. The exact enigma that was him.
Victor let him go and stepped back.
Henri spat another splash of blood on to the ground before he dropped his hands and looked up. His eyes sought Peter’s. Then mine.
My heart hurt.
God, it hurt so much.
With a doting half smile, Henri braced himself. Looking at Victor, he grunted, “Do whatever you…want to me but…please, on”—he winced and panted—“whatever friendship we shared, just…let her go.”
“You think we were friends ?” Victor smirked.
“Yes.” Henri swayed, almost falling off the table. “We are.”
“Even now?”
He clung to consciousness. “If you let Ily and Peter go…yes.”
“You tried to stab me.” Victor smeared his finger through the blood on his chest. “You succeeded, even if it is superficial.”
“I’m sorry. I…didn’t mean it. It was…a mistake.” Henri swayed, his voice thin and breathless.
“I’m a little over your lies and apologies, Mercer.”
“Just please…” Henri groaned and grabbed Victor’s lapel. “Let…her—” He coughed and jerked with agony. “—go. I’ll do whatever—”
“You ask for the same thing that Ily asks for you.” Victor chuckled. “A little cliché, don’t you think?”
“I…” Henri licked his bloodied lips. “I don’t care what you think. Just…” He groaned and almost passed out again. “ Let her go. ”
“I’m more inclined to continue with my little experiment.”
“Wh-What experiment?”
“Judging the power of love over evil, of course.”
Henri coughed and winced. It took a while for him to get his breath back.
Victor smiled dotingly. “Do you admit you’re in love with her, mon ami ? No lies this time. My patience is at an end.”
Henri hung his head. He took forever to answer but finally, his shoulders sagged. “I do.”
“Are you aware that while you two were playing your little game against me, I was playing one against you?”
I froze.
Peter shot me a look.
But Henri merely sighed. “You’re saying our friendship…that…was—” He swallowed hard and jerked with pain. “The game?”
“It was.” Victor smiled broadly. “I watched what Ilyana did to earn your trust and…copied her.” He prowled around the altar, trailing his finger along Henri’s bloody body. “She gave you companionship, so I gave you companionship. She talked to you in the shower and beneath your blankets, so I talked to you about my businesses.” Stopping before Henri, he grabbed his chin and snarled, “Every secret I gave you, every story I shared was given in good faith. A direct retaliation for whatever secret she gave you and whatever story she shared. Each time I did my best to be your friend, you fucked me off whenever you’d look at her instead of me. How could a silly little girl compete with what I offered you? How could you let your dick control your future when I offered you one of untold wealth and power?”
Letting Henri go, Victor sneered. “I was willing to forget every lie you ever told me. I was willing to trust you even when you gave me nothing to trust. She might’ve opened her heart to you, Mercer, but…so did I.”
Pressing a fist to his chest, Victor smeared his knuckles in the cut Henri had managed to give him. “I played the same game she did and in her eyes. In your eyes…I lost. But…” He slowly lowered his hand and cocked his head. “The thing is, Henri , I don’t lose. Ever. I’ve played your little game, but now, you’re going to play one of mine. You were never going to leave my island. Everything I told you will die with you. You only have two options left and you should be lucky I’m even offering you that.”
Henri spat another mouthful of blood. “What are…my options?”
“Die. Here and now. It wouldn’t take much. You’re already mostly there.”
“Or?” He trembled on the altar.
“Or you finish the Diamond Kiss. Kill Ilyana and this all ends.”
“If you know me—” Henri cut himself off, his breath catching. It took another long moment for him to work through his agony and finish. “—as well as you think…you do.” He swiped at blood trickling down his temple. “You know that’s…not possible.”
“I thought you’d say that.” Victor huffed. “And I will admit, it irks me.”
“Then kill me and—” he grunted and grabbed his beaten ribs “—get it over with.”
Tapping his fingers against his bottom lip, Victor paused. He looked between me and Henri, his eyes shadowed with malice.
“What would you give me if I agreed to let Ily live?” He chuckled. “For now, at least.”
Henri tipped forward, a rush of unconsciousness sending him plummeting to the floor.
Three guards shot forward and kept him on the altar.
Victor tapped his cheek, rousing him again. “Go on. What will you give me after I’ve given you so much? If I’m the bigger man and forgive you for stabbing me. What would you give me in return?”
Henri blinked and met Victor’s gloating eyes.
They held a stare forever before Henri let out a disbelieving huff. His gaze widened as if seeing a truth he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. “You…you want me.”
Victor’s lips twitched. “I’ve been honest about that from the start. I want a friend. A companion—”
“No.” Henri sat a little taller, finding strength from nowhere. “You… want me.”
A ripple of whispers worked around the cave.
“You’re…” Henri flinched; a tear ran horribly down his cheek. “Y-You’re jealous.”
Victor stiffened but didn’t deny it.
Henri laughed painfully. “That’s why you despise Ily…so much. Why you…tried to convince me to choose you…over her.” He shook his head, his entire body shaking. “It makes sense now.”
“What makes sense?” Victor sniffed.
“Why you haven’t killed me.” Henri chuckled with a wince. “I’ve given you multiple reasons to do it. But even now…you hesitate.” He looked Victor up and down with a sneer. “You kept me alive because you want something…you can’t—” He groaned and almost passed out again. “—have.”
Peter gasped on the ground by my feet, no doubt remembering the many times he’d been forced to service Victor. How many times he’d given the Master of this hellish island a blowjob and other nonconsensual pleasure.
I didn’t know if Victor was straight or gay or bi.
I didn’t know if it mattered because he didn’t get off on sex—he got off on the power of owning someone’s life.
Gender didn’t matter.
Their soul did.
And there he was…stealing Henri’s right in front of me.
“Stop it,” I snarled. “Leave him alone.”
“Ily.” Henri shook his head, almost falling off the altar for the tenth time. “Don’t.”
Victor snickered but didn’t look at me, keeping his stare pinned on Henri. “You say I want something I can’t have.”
Masters shifted and guards flicked each other a wary glance as Victor grabbed Henri’s knees and spread his bloody legs. Stepping into them, he nuzzled against Henri’s sweaty neck. “What makes you think I can’t have you?”
Henri recoiled.
Shoving Victor off him, he fell sideways and tumbled off the altar. He landed with a heavy thud, his skull cracking against the stone.
“Idiot.” Victor rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers at the guards. “Put him back please. This time on his back.”
“No, don’t—” I dashed forward. Larry dragged me back with my hair.
The pain couldn’t compete with my other beatings. I fought. I scratched. But it was Peter who touched my ankle and said, “Not yet, jaanu . Not yet.”
I didn’t know what that meant.
Don’t fight yet.
Don’t crack yet.
Don’t die yet.
All of that was impossible when watching the love of my life be tortured.
“Peter, I—”
“I know.” He nodded, his teary cheeks and earnest yearning made all my fight fizzle. “But not yet. Don’t give up…not yet.”
I wanted to drop to my knees and sob.
I wanted to run and never stop.
I couldn’t breathe as the guards picked up Henri and tossed him back onto the stone plinth.
Another bucket of water was brought and tossed over his face.
He came to spluttering and heaving, groaning and trembling.
Once his eyes flickered with awareness, Victor loomed over him and grabbed his hand. Henri went to fight but Victor merely pressed the diamond-hilted blade into his palm and wrapped his shaking fingers around it.
Guards gathered tighter; their guns all trained on Henri now he held a knife.
Backing up, Victor splayed his hands in surrender. “One last chance, mon ami .”
Henri tried to sit up but without Victor’s aid, he couldn’t. Glancing at the blade in his shaking, swollen hand, he grunted, “What do you…want?”
In the shadows where the Masters gathered, my gaze caught Stewart and Ben. They glanced away the second we made eye contact.
They swallowed hard and stood as stiff as concrete.
A flash of hatred filled me.
If they’d joined the fight, we might have won. But even as I thought such things, I knew the truth.
We wouldn’t.
We could never have won.
Victor had guns, we didn’t.
Victor had manpower, we had so few.
It was for the best they’d stayed quiet.
Victor hadn’t called them out—despite his disgust with them—so hopefully, they truly were free from his suspicion.
And as long as they were free… perhaps it’s not entirely over .
“You have a choice, my friend. One final, tiny choice. I will not offer it again. This is your last chance.”
“Spit it out…” Henri blanched as if he’d throw up. “Say it.”
“If you do this, I will forgive your every transgression—within reason. You will be allowed to heal before we discuss your future here. Prove to me that you’re mine and you won’t die today.” He sighed heavily. “Regardless of what you think of me, while playing my little game with you, I found I genuinely enjoyed sharing my hobbies and enterprises. I liked our evenings together. And I find myself rather reluctant to give that up.” Lowering his voice, he finished, “You aren’t my enemy, Henri, but you are under her spell. I truly am doing what is best for you, even if you cannot see it. You are meant for this life. You are meant to be one of us. If you stay awake long enough to facet her, gut her, and chop her into tiny pieces, then I promise you, the hold she has over you will be gone. You’ll be free. You’ll be happy. And all of this can go away.”
Shifting on the table, Henri looked at me.
My heart seized as our connection bridged the gap between us.
I will always love you. He half smiled.
I cried silently and nodded. We’ll find each other again.
Victor cocked his chin at Larry. “Bring her here.”
I cried out as Larry kicked my leg and pushed me roughly toward the altar. I scratched at his wrists where he held my hair. I tried to escape. But it was no use.
Peter stayed silent as Larry tossed me on Henri.
The moment our skin touched.
The second we were close.
Everything I felt for him overflowed.
I felt so honoured to have found him.
So lucky to have been his.
Even for a little while.
I hugged him.
I squeezed him.
“I love you,” I whispered in his ear. “No matter what. Always. Forever. I—”
“Get the fuck up.” Victor yanked me off him and grabbed my nape. My white dress fluttered around me, blood stained and torn. Pinching the delicate column of my neck above my collar, he squeezed so hard my ears crackled and a headache instantly throbbed.
“Let her go,” Henri growled, finding strength to sit up.
It cost him everything.
His eyes fogged with creeping death and pain.
But he stayed upright, swaying and swallowing hard. “Vic—”
Victor dragged me in front of his chest, keeping me pinned. Grabbing my breast and tracing his fingers where my heart pounded, he smirked. “Stab here, mon ami . In your own time.”
Henri shuddered.
Our eyes met.
The world fell away.
The connection between us blazed bright, and I knew.
I saw his decision before he did it.
Don’t. I tried to shake my head.
I love you . He sighed. Always.
And then he flipped the knife so the blade landed in his palm and threw it as hard as he could at Victor beside me.
The glint of the dagger as it spun in the air.
The clang of it hitting the cave wall as Victor ducked wickedly fast, taking me with him.
And the godawful crunch of Henri’s skull as a guard rammed the butt of his gun against his temple.
Henri flopped backward. Unconscious and barely breathing.
This time, the guards bound him.
Buckling the leather straps around his ankles, one of the guards looked at Henri’s arms, flopped wide and loose. “Eh, Sir?” He looked at Victor. “We can’t strap his arms down, he’s not wearing cuffs for the hooks—”
“Roland.” Victor looked at the despicable Master holding Peter. “Grab the spare box in the cupboard, will you?”
Tears streamed down my cheeks as Victor shoved me to my knees.
“Be my pleasure.” Roland snickered and waddled across the cave. He wrenched open the cupboard doors, and my heart pounded as a hundred empty eye sockets stared back. He reached into the bottom shelf, slipped a black box free, then shuffled back to Victor, his tourmaline mask sparkling and cape billowing.
Victor smiled. “Thank you.” Taking the box, he placed it beside Henri’s hip. Tapping Henri’s cheek, he waited for him to wake up.
He didn’t.
Victor huffed in disappointment, but his navy eyes narrowed as the Masters gathered closer.
Ferdinand asked, “You gonna give him the Kiss, Vic?”
Victor shook his head with a regal sniff. “I’m afraid any Diamond Kisses have been postponed for the evening. My deepest apologies.”
“What?” Larry coughed. “But—”
“Why not three Diamond Kisses?” Ian asked. “Her, Peter, and him.”
“Because I have a better idea.” Victor grinned as he opened the box. “And I need them alive. For a little longer.”
My heart fell out of my chest as the glint of gold bounced around the cave.
I froze on the cave floor, drowning in a puddle of icy seawater.
“No.” I scrambled to my feet, but a guard kicked my ankle, sending me down again. “Don’t do this. Don’t—”
“It’s already done.” Victor smirked. With tender fingers, he pulled out the golden collar and, without a word, snapped it into place around Henri’s bruised neck.
I gagged in horror.
I couldn’t breathe as he nodded at a guard who held up Henri’s slack hand. With a grin, Victor secured one cuff, then two, shackling Henri in gold just like every jewel on this island.
Wiping his hands with a smug smile, Victor said, “Take him to—”
“You bastard!” I lost myself.
Soaring upright, I launched myself at him.
I managed to send him tripping backward.
Until something struck me in the head.
And everything went dark.