Chapter 83
Lex
EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO
The burning feeling that began yesterday started in earnest this morning, before the torture began.
It was like my innate magic knew, somehow, that today was the day—today it would be allowed to surface.
Though the sensation was painful to the point I felt bile rise in my throat yesterday, it was more muted today.
Strong still, but without the edge of agony.
I was taken directly to my table as soon as we left the cells, bypassing the other men and women as they sat down for their morning meal.
Apparently they’d be getting oatmeal with a side of torture and sex today.
I almost laughed; the thought so absurd.
Today was clearly a “both” day, where the men in black robes poked and prodded us with blades while we fucked our way to an Awakening.
The handful of men and women from the pleasure house already in the room confirmed my suspicions.
The strangest, and most beautiful part, was that no one—test subjects, men in black robes, not even the whores—seemed to remember Faylinn. It was like she never even existed. The thought made me feel triumphant. Like I’d won something in this godsforsaken place.
That realization alone had me practically floating as I lay down on the table without a sound.
I barely felt the straps when they were pulled tight across my chest, head, and legs.
The knife in my ribs and across my torso barely registered, my thoughts so firmly focused on the fact that Faylinn was okay.
She got out.
And I was going to get out, too.
I just had to Awaken first.
I tried to concentrate on the feeling deep inside, tried to coax it further, to stoke the flames into an inferno. But they simply sat in my chest. Moving, but not expanding.
Oh, Pleasure and Pain. The rune Faylinn had inscribed on my neck was supposed to help me Awaken with two affinities, not just one. So, of course the feeling wasn’t going to expand until both pieces were in play. The scores on my flesh were only half of the story, I needed the pleasure as well.
I closed my eyes, willing my dick to respond.
It’d been ages since I’d tried to be aroused naturally. Generally, the men in black robes brought a full-fledged Pleasure Mage into the room and had them release a healthy dose of their magic, causing false arousal in each of us.
It was the only way I could get it up in this place. The only way I could fulfill that part of my magic.
But today would be different.
Maybe I could hurry the process along.
Now that I knew I could Awaken without hurting myself, and that Faylinn was safe, all I wanted was to be done. I wanted to be out of here.
I wanted to live.
I forced my mind to disassociate from the pain that was wreaking havoc on my body, to think back to the last time that I found pleasure in another’s body. To focus on that above all else.
My mind skipped over the jumble of memories associated with sex—some from the times here on the table, some during my brief year in the army, but I kept circling back to Red. My first . . . everything.
The first time we were together was bumbling and awkward, just two teenagers trying to figure out what felt good and which parts went where.
But as we got older, it got better. Red became more confident, I knew what spots made her feel good, where to press, and how deep to thrust to get her to moan and tighten around me.
I groaned involuntarily at the thought of her tight, wet cunt wrapped around me, my dick pulsing on my leg and hardening at the memories. I vaguely realized that the knives were no longer insistently pressing against my skin, and I hazarded a peek through my tightly shut eyes.
Sure enough, my cock was hard, resting against my belly, and the man who was assigned to my torture today was gesturing at one of the women, indicating they should come to my table.
I caught a brief glimpse of flame-red hair, and my eyes shot open fully, swearing that it was a trick of the light or of my mind conjuring what I imagined.
The woman was just out of sight, moving from the line of prostitutes to my table, and I couldn’t see her with my head fastened tight.
Red?
My mind had to have conjured her, playing tricks on me as I rifled through my memories of her. There was no way she was here, no way I wanted her here.
My stomach sank with a lead weight as silky soft skin delicately caressed my thighs before I felt brief pressure as she hoisted herself up on the table.
Please, don’t let it be her.
I kept my eyes squeezed shut, praying over and over again that Red was not here, that she was the Madame somewhere else and not stuck in this hellhole.
The scent of sweat and roses flooded my nose as the girl situated her pussy over my hardened cock.
She grasped it in one tiny fist before notching my head at her entrance and slamming her hips down.
I was too large and her cunt too tight for her to take me fully in the first thrust, but she quickly bobbed until my cock was fully seated in her pussy, my hips resting against hers.
Instantly my eyes flew open—this scent was too sweet and the feeling of her cunt wrapped around me was all wrong.
Her pale blue eyes met mine as she flashed a thin smile through equally thin lips.
It’s not Red.
The air gushed from my lungs as my body relaxed into the pleasure of a tight, wet cunt wrapped around my dick.
I was certain that when this was all over, I would feel incredibly remorseful for this one moment of relief because, surely, using this unnamed woman to get off so I could Awaken was just as bad as Red being trapped down here.
The girl’s hands landed on my abdomen, her fingernails inadvertently digging into the slices that ran haphazardly along my torso, before she began rocking her hips, adjusting to my size.
“Fuck him, whore. You’re not here for you, you’re here to do a job. So do it,” one of the men in black robes spat.
I ground my teeth at his tone, but said nothing.
The girl sighed almost inaudibly before rising up on her knees and pushing her pelvis back down again. As soon as her clit brushed the skin above my erection, she pushed her hips up again, rising until just the tip of my cock was lodged inside her pussy before pressing all the way back down again.
It was a wonder she was even wet enough to fuck me.
She continued in the same manner for some time, and I watched, unable to move, as her breasts swung in my face. I wanted to reach out and grab one, twist her nipple between my fingers as I rocked my hips into hers, but I couldn’t move.
It was a different type of torture, watching a woman get me off without being able to stimulate in return.
The woman’s pussy began to dry, and it became difficult for my dick to move freely, the lack of lubrication causing my erection to inadvertently deflate.
Fuck.
Her motions paused, her hips resting against my own, as she looked around for a man in black robes.
“Can I have—” she began, gesturing to where we were joined.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as a Mage came over, a small ball of liquid gold grasped in his palm.
He lifted his hand to the girl’s mouth and she greedily lapped at the magic.
Almost instantly I felt her pussy relax, arousal suddenly soaking my cock as her nipples tightened and her pupils dilated.
Pleasure Magic.
She began to rock her hips in earnest even before the Mage stepped away, plucking at her nipples as she bounced hard and fast on my cock. The sudden gush of wetness, coupled with her now apparent pleasure, had my erection returning in an instant as I groaned.
“Release his hands,” one of the men said, but I barely heard him over the moans of the woman writhing on top of me.
Seconds later, the straps holding my arms to my sides released, and I instantly reached up to grab her hips, my grip hard enough to leave bruises, and I rocked her over my erection before lifting her just to slam her back down again.
My pants, her moans, and the sounds of my dick roughly entering her wet pussy were all I could hear as I brutally fucked her.
The faster I finish, the sooner I could leave.
I trusted Faylinn, trusted her rune, and if I wanted to leave here today, I needed to Awaken.
“I’m close,” I gritted between my teeth as sweat beaded on my forehead, causing the strap to chafe against my skin.
“Begin,” one of the robed men commanded, and I felt a litany of knives entering my skin from multiple angles. I ignored the pain as a few overzealous stabs scraped against bone and tore through muscle, focusing instead on the pleasure zinging down my spine.
My balls began to tighten, drawing closer to my body as I felt the telltale signs of my impending orgasm. I thrust into the girl once, twice, three times, and just as fire shot down my spine, I felt it.
Pure euphoria as the magic in my blood reacted to the external stimuli.
I panted and groaned as I shot my cum into the girl, holding her down with a punishing grip, refusing to let her off of me until I had spent every last drop inside of her.
She slipped off me immediately—I had barely finished coming—with a quick kiss to my temple and lips before retreating from my table, out of sight.
Almost immediately, my body began to convulse, my muscles involuntarily tightening and releasing as my innate magic began to wake.
This is it.
I vaguely registered hands as they worked to turn my body back onto the table.
“Strap him down,” one of the men in robes said, and I soon felt the bite of leather as the belts were refastened and tightened above my head, chest, and legs.
No sooner were the belts fastened than I felt my body shake uncontrollably. But there was no pain.
After watching countless deaths from this exact process, I thought it would be sheer agony. But all I felt was a strange wave of warmth and euphoria. It started in my chest and spread through the rest of my body with each thump-thump of my heart.
It was sheer ecstasy, and I swear I moaned from the feeling.
There was a bright flash of light, and then it was over.
All at once, just as quickly as it started, the euphoria retreated back to the center of my body and nestled beneath my sternum, quietly thrumming, just out of reach.
My mind came back to my body, and I was suddenly acutely aware of how tired I was. Not just the physical exhaustion, but the mental and emotional exhaustion from the last few months. Those emotions caught up to me and manifested as silent tears as they tracked down my face and into my neck.
It’s over. It’s done.
I wept from the sheer relief of that thought.
“Did . . . did it work?” one of the men in black robes whispered in awe.
I opened my eyes to see the entire room—or what I could see from my prone position—staring at me. No one dared to move, scarcely anyone dared to breathe.
One of the robed men cautiously approached my table with two crystals in his hand—one was a beautiful gold, like molten honey. The other was an iridescent purple so dark it was almost black.
I startled as I realized both called to me—it was like I could feel them. I tentatively reached my hand out, and the man quickly released my binds so I could move more freely.
Cautiously, I rose, not wanting to overwhelm my system, and reached again toward the crystals.
“Do you feel them?” he whispered.
All I could do in response was nod.
I did. I did feel them.
As soon as I touched the crystals, one in each hand, a sense of rightness washed over me.
I tentatively reached out with the warmth in my chest toward the crystals and sucked in a surprised breath when the colors responded.
As I watched, the color drained from each until I could feel it humming just beneath the surface of my skin.
My eyes rose involuntarily to the man standing in front of me, and I saw a look of utter shock and amazement on his face.
“It worked. It finally worked!” he exclaimed.
All at once, the room erupted in chatter and whoops of congratulations from the men in robes. But my eyes were drawn to the other men and women in the room. It may have worked for me, but it wouldn’t for them, and my heart sank at the thought.
I had a rune that allowed their sick experiments to work. They didn’t.
No doubt, the men in black robes would double down their efforts, increase their torture with a new fervor because they had knowledge of its success.
But it wouldn’t work again.
The realization hit me with the force of a thousand bricks.
I just condemned them all to death on a false promise.