AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d used me as a tool.
He’d dragged me into this nightmare.
But…with one small whisper, he turned all my panic into conviction to help.
My mother always said my empathy helped Krish to trust and confide in me. I’d always been cursed with the ability to not only put myself in other people’s shoes but also their clothes, thoughts, and hardships.
I’d only spent a morning with the jewels, but it’d been enough to see every fracture, witness every bruise, break, and beg.
In a single heartbeat, my allegiance switched from my own survival to theirs. There was no way to know if Henri was telling the truth or if this was some kind of sadistic game, but…I didn’t have a choice.
I had to have faith in something.
It might as well be him.
He didn’t look away the entire time I deliberated. He didn’t let me go. He didn’t grab me for the cameras. He waited as if my answer meant far more to him than I could imagine.
Holding his steel-coloured stare, I whispered, “Do you swear on your soul you’re here to save them?”
“I swear it.”
I studied him.
I did my best to dive into all the pieces that he refused to share. Shadows stared back. Only time would tell if those shadows would consume him. “In that case, I-I’m willing to trust you.”
“Thank fuck for that.” Snatching another fistful of my hair, he jerked my head back as if punishing me. Ferocity glowed in his stormy gaze, and for a second, I feared I’d made a colossal mistake.
His voice turned thick and heavy, as if I’d agreed to something far worse than just trusting him. “You need to act, Ily. Act as if your life depends on it because it does.”
My pulse skyrocketed as he feathered his fingers along my jaw, pushing upward until my spine stretched and I stood on tiptoes. “Play along with me. Pretend with me. That’s all I ask. Don’t cry around me because your tears honestly undo me. The blackness has a hold on me, I can’t deny that. I will have to hurt you to prove I’m like them. I will have to fuck you to stop others from raping you. I know how that sounds, and I know you won’t forgive me, but…don’t retaliate. Don’t argue. Don’t speak back. Don’t show me a single flicker of fire. You do that, and we both might survive.”
I swallowed against his hold, his fingers tightening around my neck. The visual the cameras would see was a Master slowly throttling his jewel. But the way he held me spoke of a secretive partnership.
He bit my throat, his teeth sinking just enough to make me flinch. “As long as you play along with me, I can focus on protecting you. If you fight me, the darkness blinds me. But…if you tug on the good pieces—the pieces I’m doing my best to cling to—then I’ll have the strength to hold on until he arrives.”
“He?” I couldn’t catch a proper breath. My heartbeat pounded in every extremity.
He flinched. “We’ve talked for long enough. I’m surprised someone hasn’t come yet, and we’re running out of time. I’m going to have to do something I’m not proud of. Something that will erase everything else that’s happened in this room.” Loosening his fingers, he nipped at my bottom lip. “I’m going to have to be what they expect. And you’re going to have to take it.”
His nip switched to a mocking kiss, his dark taste exploding in my mouth.
The sharpness of his teeth sent whips of awareness through my blood.
Tearing his mouth from mine as if he hadn’t meant to kiss me, he groaned, “Moan for me. Obey me. Do what I tell you. Suck what I give you. Spread when I command you. Do that and I promise you, I will get you out of here. I’ll get all the jewels out.”
I had questions. Far, far too many questions but his face turned black—partly for show for the cameras and partly because he housed a black soul.
His eyes flashed silver. “We might not have a chance to speak again. So just…trust me, alright? Promise me you won’t fight. Whatever I have to do to you, for the love of everything holy…don’t fight.”
The knowledge that he would have to do things that would bring pain and humiliation made my sense of justice slither and rebel.
Somehow, I’d been chosen as the girl who would help free Peter and the other jewels.
He’d chosen me.
This enigma called Henri Ward.
Through a strange twist of fate, I’d been given this task. If I could end the jewels’ suffering by playing along, then…I would do whatever it damn well took. I would crawl. I would beg. I would suck, spread, and submit myself entirely to him because he was the only one who could stop this nightmare.
