A naked woman appeared not half a beat later with a knife poised at her wrist. I flinched as she cut herself and began refilling his glass.
She stared blankly at the liquid pooling in the crystal stemware, her ashen skin the only indication of her body’s reaction to her actions.
Either he’s compelling her, or she’s trained not to feel,I thought, my stomach clenching.
Ismerelda,Cam whispered into my mind.I?—
“That’s enough,” Cane stated flatly, his gaze on me. However, the words appeared to be for the human. “Now kneel and serve your purpose.”
“Yes, my liege,” she replied robotically, her shaking limbs bending as she adhered to his request.
“Are you sure, my liege?” Michael drawled. “She seems rather… ghostly.”
Cane finally looked at the brown-haired woman. Then he shrugged. “Seems capable enough to me.”
I swallowed, a sense of dread churning inside me. Not because of the act unraveling before me, but because of thatvoice. I recognized it.
I’d heard it over and over again in my head for what felt like years. Except it’d only been days.
“Seems fitting enough to me…”
“If she fails, perhaps I’ll taste my brother’s whore, find out why he fancies her so,” Cane continued.
Michael grinned. “I’ve been dying to determine that for myself, my liege. Unfortunately, I missed my opportunity.”
“Yes, you did,” Cane replied, his green eyes—one of the few physical differences between him and Cam—meeting mine.
Cane… Cane’s the one who sent me to be…I couldn’t finish the thought. But I didn’t have to.
Cam had already followed the concept to completion, his resulting snarl sharp and loud in my mind.It wasn’t a hologram. It was my fucking brother.
I trembled, unable to handle his anger and Cane’s scrutiny. They were both so intense, so overwhelming, but in entirely different ways.
Pull yourself together,I told myself.This is Cane. You know Cane. He’s Cam’s brother. He would never hurt…
I nearly frowned, that last thought a blatant lie. Because Cane had tried to hurt me. He’d impersonated Cam and left me with Michael, his malicious intentions clear.
Maybe this isn’t really Cane…?That stray consideration was too close to the one I’d initially conceptualized about Cam.
And Cam had turned out to be very real.
Cane’s green irises glittered as he held my gaze, the female’s palms grazing his thighs as she went to unfasten his belt. From my prone position, I had a perfect view of her pulling out his cock.
Which I very much didnotwant to see.
I pushed upward, my stomach rolling with the motion.
“You should be bowing,” Michael remarked, his expression hard.
“And you should be dead,” I grated out, the retort one I couldn’t swallow. Becausefuckhim andfuckthis. “Why am I here?”
To be reminded of what our world has become?I thought darkly.To watch a human service a vampire in the most degrading of ways?
Cane said nothing, his body completely relaxed while he sipped his wine. He didn’t seem all that interested in the female bobbing up and down between his sprawled thighs.
Michael stood, malevolent energy pouring off of him as he stepped forward. “Bow.”
“It’s fine,” Cane drawled. “Let her misbehave. I’ll enjoy punishing her for it later.”
