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Turned out, not a single gem had worked.
Victor slipped each bracelet off me with gentle, almost fatherly fingers, then placed them into his pocket. “I’ll ensure these are added to the jewelry taken from my other girls. You’ll see them again when you’re taken to the jewel quarters.”
“You don’t steal them?” I asked, hating how frail my voice sounded. How sad and forlorn as the pressure of everything squatted heavily in my heart.
“Why would I steal jewels when I have the most priceless ones imaginable?” He smiled gently as he snapped a matching cuff onto my right wrist. A small solid ring of metal dangled off the cuff, tinkling as I moved.
Victor flicked the ring. “These are for the chains that will hold you in all manner of positions. The cuffs cannot be undone without a special key, and the convenience of you wearing them at all times means you’re ready and available to play whenever the mood strikes.”
My knees wobbled.
I no longer wanted to ask questions or learn answers.
Each one was worse than the last.
Victor plucked the final golden circle from the box in Henri’s clenched hands. “Henri, would you be so kind to lift her hair and remove her necklace?”
Shifting directly in front of me, Victor added, “I know most stones, but that one I’m unaware of. Is it jade?”
I blinked at my pendant. A green aventurine flower of life symbol that Krish had bought me online. He’d given it to me for abundance and prosperity after I’d complained of not having enough money to buy all the rocks I wanted.
God, Krish…
I’m so sorry.
I didn’t answer. Nothing on earth could make me share the pricelessness of my pendant with this bastard.
Victor merely shrugged. “No matter. I’ll look it up later.” Cocking his head at Henri, he ordered, “Her hair. Now.”
Dropping the empty box into the grass, Henri came close.
His presence sent my heart hurtling against my ribs, trapping me in a triangle of men. Avoiding my eyes, Henri reached around my neck, undid my necklace, gave it to Victor to add to his pilfered collection, then gathered my thick black hair in his fist.
I hated that his touch invoked stinging threads of awareness.
I hated that my breath quickened around him.
I hated that his energy was so thick, so potent it reached out to stroke mine. He pulsed with power. An invisible power that sucked up my meagre existence, stealing my lifeforce, knotting me to him against my will.
I trembled as Victor stepped even closer, sandwiching me against Roland whose breathing accelerated as I leaned back into him, trying to get away, all while knowing it was pointless.
With my chest aching and heart breaking, Victor snapped the collar around my throat.
The moment the heavy gold metal rested on my collarbones and the lock made the softest snicking sound, my knees buckled.
Roland chuckled as he held me up.
Henri muttered a slur.
And Victor merely said, “Welcome to Joyero, Ily. You may keep your name for as long as you wear my collar. You will learn to love it, as all my jewels do. You will lean into its protection and live within its bounds. You will be cared for and indulged, but heed my warning, my sweetling. Don’t try to take the collar off. Don’t do what others have done and fight your new role. Your past life is dead. You are nothing more than mine.”
Kissing me on the cheek, he linked his hand in mine and tugged me toward the drawbridge. “For now though, let’s go show you your new home.”
Chapter Nine
………………………….
Henri
