Chapter Twenty-Four #3
“What do I need?” Henri asked dryly.
“You need to play a little game I like to call Ruby Tears.”
Peter instantly stiffened beside me.
“And what exactly is Ruby Tears?” Henri sniffed.
“You’ll see.” Victor smiled. “By the time dawn crests, I’ll know, once and for all, if this is truly where you belong or if you’ve been playing me for a fool all along.”
“Can’t wait,” Henri muttered.
Victor chuckled and led us deeper into the dark.
Every step, Peter breathed a little harder, hugged me a little closer. The stress pouring off him seemed to be focused on me, not himself.
By the time a doorway appeared up ahead, he fumbled in his trouser pocket and jerked me to a stop. “Wait.”
My eyes shot to his as he fisted something. “What is it? Are you okay?”
Crowding me against the wall, he winced. “This is for your own good.”
“What—” I gasped as his hand slammed over my mouth. Yet another man to gag me, but unlike Henri who kept me silent, Peter forced something smooth and oblong onto my tongue.
My eyes bugged as sourness exploded.
I thrashed under his hold.
I tried to spit out the pill.
“Ily, please.” Pinching my nose and clamping even harder over my lips, he pressed his mouth to my ear. “Swallow it. Do it. Do it now.”
I gagged and gasped.
I struggled.
But he was too strong.
It only took a few seconds for wobbly fog to creep over my mind. For my system to screech for air. For every instinct to go into survival mode.
My lungs burned.
My eyes watered.
“Please, Ily,” he choked. “Swallow it. I beg you.”
Air.
I need air!
My nervous system overrode me.
I swallowed automatically.
The moment he saw my throat contract, Peter let me go.
Just in time as Victor turned to look at us and Henri narrowed his eyes.
Tension whipped down the corridor.
Coughing on betrayal and swiping at tears, I couldn’t look at anyone.
With predatory calculation, Henri sniffed the air as if he could sense something had just happened. He glowered at me, then Peter, but he didn’t ask. Didn’t suspect that Peter had just drugged me against my will.
Breathing hard, hating the tablet lodged in my gullet, I kept my eyes down.
“Everything okay, pets?” Victor finally asked. “Did you fall?”
“I’m fine, Sir V.” Peter bowed his head. “A little trip, that’s all.”
Henri snorted as if he didn’t believe him.
Victor cocked his head, his greying blond hair almost silver in the night. “Do try to be careful.” With an elegant spin that sent his dressing gown twirling around his legs, Victor placed his hand on a brass handle and opened a door thick enough to be the entrance to a vault.
“After you, Ward.” He bowed gallantly and waited for Henri to stop glaring at me. Reluctantly, Henri turned and stepped over the threshold.
Victor followed, both of them disappearing.
For a single heartbeat, Peter and I were alone in the corridor.
I whirled on him. “How could you—”
“That will take effect in ten minutes or so.” He held up slightly shaking hands. “Don’t fight it. Let it take you. You do not want to be fully lucid for what he’s about to do to you.”
My heart stopped. I rubbed my throat where the sour pill still lodged. “Please tell me you didn’t just give me—”
“Psilocybin?” He nodded, rich brown hair flopping over his forehead.
“I did. I watched him fuck you on stage tonight. I saw the pain on your face as he rode you. I have no idea what he’s done to you since he’s had you trapped in his room, but at least I can offer you a smidgen of comfort before he hurts you again. ”
Kissing my cheek, he shrugged sadly. “It’s the only thing I can do. I can’t stop him, and I can’t save you. But at least you’ll be off in a fugue and hopefully pain free.”
Terror pinched my chest. “You don’t know what you’ve done, Peter.”
How was I supposed to keep my wits and play along with Henri? How could I act with him and not go completely off script because of some recreational drug I’d never taken?
“I couldn’t stand by and let you go through this without some help.”
“You drugged me against my will,” I hissed. “That’s not help. That’s—”
“It’s for your own protection.”
Fury burned.
I slipped into my first language as panic billowed quicker and thicker. “Mujhpar nashili dawayein buree pratikriya karti hain, Paavak.” (I react badly to drugs, Paavak.)
His eyes widened; he replied in kind. “Aap theek rahogi —” (You’ll be fine.)
My mind scrambled. Horror tangled. I repeated what kept echoing in my mind. “You don’t know what you’ve done. You’ve—”
“I’ve saved you from a world of pain.”
“I didn’t ask you to—”
“Peter, Ily...come along, sweetlings. We don’t have all night.” Victor’s voice sailed into the corridor, lashing around us and dragging us forward.
Peter sighed and squeezed the back of his neck. “Just...let it carry you away. You’ll be fine. Main vaada karata hoon.” (I promise.)
I should’ve told him the truth.
Should’ve told him who Henri was, what we were doing, and why he’d just destroyed everything.
But it was too late.
The tablet dissolved in the back of my throat, dripping into my stomach, already poisoning my mind.
No...ignore it.
It’s nothing.
“Come on. I’ve got you. I’ll take care of you.” Taking my hand, Peter tugged me—him limping, me unwilling—over the threshold and into a fresh version of hell.