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‘Shhhh.’ His hush invades my ears, but he’s not close. Nowhere near. I spin again, now disorientated, unsure of what direction I should be heading in. ‘Stay still, Eleanor,’ he tells me firmly, and I do.
Blue light springs from every direction, and my eyes slam shut, my hands coming up to my face for extra protection. That wasn’t normal light. It was bright and blue and sharp.
‘Open your eyes.’
‘What will I see?’ I ask, nervous. Nothing Becker shows me should be a surprise any more, yet he’s constantly surprising me.
‘You’ll see your saint, princess.’
My hands drop from my face and my eyes open without hesitation. It takes a few seconds of blinking and adjusting my sight, and then I see it.
‘Oh my goodness,’ I whisper.Chapter 22He didn’t lie. Becker really is the first thing I see, still all the way across the room, but there’s something else – something that I have to look through in order to see him. He smiles and then looks around the room himself, giving me the silent instruction I need to do the same. My hand comes to my mouth when they all register. Hundreds of them, everywhere.
Light beams.
They’re not as bright any more, now that my shocked eyes have adjusted. Now they are glowing softly in the darkness. The Grand Hall is a maze of blue shards of lights, all criss-crossing, spanning one wall to the other, floor to ceiling. My mouth is slightly agape as I gaze around, slowly turning on the spot and looking up into the rafters before returning my sight to the space before me. There are only two small spaces free from lights, and I’m standing in one. Becker is in the other. I smile in wonder, remembering Mrs Potts chuckling when I questioned security in the Grand Hall.
‘Are they activated?’ I ask, trying to ignore his nakedness and focus on what I know will be my task.
‘Only in maintenance mode. You’ll hear a sharp chime if you breach a beam.’ It looks impossible. There are too many of them, all randomly crossing. ‘You get one spank for every sensor you activate.’
‘What?’ I gasp, stunned. My arse will be black and blue!
‘One spank, Eleanor. Now hurry up. I’m getting impatient.’
The fucker. This is a win–win for him. If I make it to him quickly and without error, he gets to fuck me sooner. If I make a hash of it and activate any one of these hundreds of beams, he gets to spank me silly, and then fuck me. My arse is still sore. I’m not up for any more thrashings this week. I just want to be violated.
‘And what do I get if I make it to you without setting one off?’
‘You won’t.’ He’s egging me on, and that is the only reason I’m going to make sure I do this. I could run through those beams, set off a hundred and accept my fate, then enjoy being violated. But I want to succeed in my challenge more. Prove to him that I can do this. But . . .
I’m constantly proving myself to him, constantly running his gauntlet and coming out the other side relatively unscathed, doing him proud. When will he prove himself to me? He has, Eleanor! I scorn myself a little, listening to my subconscious. He’s given me his heart, and that’s the grandest gesture of all. Probably even more significant than him sharing his secrets with me. But still. Becker gave me his heart without even really realising. ‘I want to know what I get in return,’ I reiterate.
‘Me,’ he says quietly. ‘Every wicked, corrupt, vulnerable piece of me.’
‘I have you already.’
‘Do you?’ He smiles as I frown, my eyes narrowing in question. He has more to give? Or more to share? ‘Get that sweet arse over here so I can show you.’
Is there anything more tempting than that? I eye up the glowing beams before me on an unsure smile as I tie my hair into a ponytail. There are five horizontal stretches of light to consider within my height range, each a foot or so apart. Studying the one nearest my feet, I lower to my knees as I tuck the loose strands of hair behind my ears. My palms meet the floor and I drop to my tummy, all the while assessing the height of the beam from the floor. Taking only a small intake of air so as not to expand my chest too much, I close my eyes and roll onto my back, waiting for any sound that will tell me I’ve breached the light. It doesn’t come. I open my eyes and see the ceiling of the Grand Hall through the beams above me. I grin. I feel far too proud, and maybe a little cocky, because that’s only one beam down. I have a way to go yet before I can claim my victory, and my prize. What’s my prize? I look left and right, then above me, seeing I’m now closed in from every direction. I’m in the centre of four beams that form a square around me. The beam nearest the floor is lower than the one I just rolled under. I won’t clear it, so I weigh up my other options. I need to step over it, while ducking the one above. ‘Okay,’ I whisper, carefully rising to my feet, holding my breath.
