Chapter Two #3
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.”