Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
My ears pricked on that word.
I instantly hated it.
It reminded me of the medieval terms I heard on a daily basis working in the Tower of London. I didn’t care that it was just another word for jewelry box. All I could hear was the word snuff, over and over again.
To murder.
To kill.
To assassinate, destroy, and extinguish.
“Have…” I swallowed hard. “Have you been taken in there?”
He looked away, unable to hide his shiver. “Yep.”
I waited for him to tell me more, but his lips thinned and our complicated friendship frayed. I immediately scrambled for it, desperate to keep our frail bond alive because he was all I had. “I’m sorry, Peter. I’m sorry for what they’ve done to you.”
He gave me a sad smile, his gaze darting back to mine. Another moment passed between us that probably shouldn’t exist before he sighed and shot a glance into the gardens. Bracing his shoulders, he stepped into me. Ever so gently, he tucked loose hair behind my ear. “You asked me if my real name was Peter…it’s not.” He licked his lips and shrugged. “Yah Paavak hai.” (It’s Paavak.)
Purifying.
His name meant purifying, fire, brilliant, pure...
What a cruel, cruel joke to be trapped in the most unpure place on earth.
“Y-You speak Hindi?” I whispered.
“I was born in Leeds, but my family is from Jaipur.” He leaned closer. “But you? I don’t know where you’ve come from, and I don’t know who you are.” He let me go and took a careful step back. “But you have my word, I’ll do whatever I can to keep you breathing. Whoever you are, Ily, forget about her for now. Be whoever you need to be in here. Accept your body’s needs. Embrace the lust that will make you mad. Enjoy being used if you can. Turn off the part of you that judges and says what’s right and wrong. No regrets, no shame. Enjoy it. Hate it. Crave it. Go with it… jeevit rahane ke lie aapako jo bhee banana hai vah banen.” (Be whoever you need to be to survive.)
Not giving me time to reply, he snatched my cuffed wrist and dragged me into the gardens.
Men stopped to stare.
Whispers followed us.
Peter didn’t stop until he climbed the three steps onto the terrace, yanked me to the Master Jeweler sipping on a dainty cup of coffee, then tore off my blue gown, threw it away, and forced me to kneel, naked and speechless, before monsters.
Chapter Thirteen
………………………….
Henri
I SLAMMED TO A STOP as I entered the gardens.
Not because of the beauty of trees and plants, all pruned and tamed within an inch of their natural life. Not because of the many jewels leashed by their collars with golden cuffs glinting. And not because of the many men standing in a mixture of suits and loungewear, their eyes fixed on whatever slave they’d commandeered for the morning.
I froze because of her.
Naked.
Cuffed and collared.
Huddled on bare knees before the man I suddenly very, very much wanted to kill.
Fuck.
Me.
There was a unique difference between touching and looking.
Both were intimate in different ways.
I’d touched her. Fingered her. Almost been inside her.
Yet seeing her?
Naked.
Kneeling.
Subservient.
Her captured beauty shattered my black-tainted mind.
I couldn’t stop sick fucking possession whipping through me.
Mine.
She’s mine.
The way she kept her legs glued together. The way she cupped her full breasts. The way her honey skin flushed a delectable red as she tried to hide from greedy eyes. She tipped her chin down, blocking her face with a curtain of raven hair.
The hint of a tattoo I’d seen back in the nightclub ran down the length of her spine. Delicate and narrow, it looked like a wand capped with a gemstone. The gemstone cast out flecks of flowers, stars, and raindrops, cascading down her ribs before scattering into nothing.
She was beyond stunning.
Undoubtedly the most gorgeous creature I’d ever seen, and I would never get her out of my head.
Never.
The expensive selection of clothes I’d found in the suite’s wardrobe bit into me with teeth. I felt trapped. Imprisoned. My flesh sizzled beneath the white shirt and black shorts as hunger so violent, so savage blazed through me.
I’d never felt anything like it.
Never buckled beneath the primordial need to thump my chest, tear out the hearts of competition, and claim a girl I’d only just met.
I wanted her more than I’d wanted anything in my godforsaken life.
I wanted to grab the leash that’d been snapped onto her collar, land on my knees behind her, and sink myself so deep, so damn hard inside her, she knew exactly who she belonged to, not just for now, but for fucking always.
“Ah, Henri. There you are.” Victor threw me a grin, his hand twining in the leash binding Ily to him. “I wondered if you’d gotten lost wandering the corridors.”
It took every shred of my control.