Something about him was darker than even Caliban. She was deeply unsettled by him. Caliban was predictable in his torturous treatment of her, but Ambrose seemed wild. She remembered the cliffside, his hands on her, the hateful, licentious words he’d spewed.
Ambrose had wanted to do things to her, to take her innocence, so Caliban couldn’t have it? And for that, he had been punished.
"I had to kill a village. An entire village. My home. I swept in on a dark horse, and they all cried when they saw me—it had been so long. They never expected me to gut them as they greeted me. But godsdamn it all to the Below, I relished the sound of their screams, because no one there loved me like my master does."
Ambrose stepped back and fit the key into the lock. It clicked. The bars clanged as they swung open from the barest touch of his palms.
Luella scurried back until she felt the wall against her wings.
He stepped inside. She eyed the open door behind him. He was the only thing standing between her and escape.
"So you ask how I survived? There is no surviving the Tenebrae. Only being made new. He made me into this. And you will be made new, too."
Her breath came fast and short, leaving her gasping. She surreptitiously tried to shift her ankle, feeling it twinge. To hide her wince, she bit the inside of her lip so hard she tasted blood.
"I want to ruin you. Because then he’ll have no one else to turn his sick obsessions on, save for me. And I will be there for him as he holds your broken body. When your innocence is taken and your blood covers my cock, he will have no use for you. Because what good is a female if not for corruption? Your onlyworth is what lies between your thighs. And I will make it so that becomes fucking worthless."
His hand reached into his pocket, and his eyes glanced downward. It was just a moment, a breath of time?—
Luella pounced.
She wasn’t sure what had come over her—or who she was becoming. The Luella of days past would never have tried to escape, but was tired now. Angry. Maybe even a little mad already.
Her ankle nearly twisted beneath her, but she pushed through the pain as she ran to the cell door.
A sharp laugh echoed off the stone as arms wrapped around her. She kicked out and found her right hand twisting painfully, fingers curled into her palm, leaving her vulnerable as Ambrose locked his arms around her, easily subduing her.
His breath was warm against the side of her neck. "All this time trapped here, and you still have fight left? Look at that, you’re doing better than I did in solitude. I broke rather easily, but then, I didn’t have anyone out there looking for me." He pulled back, arms still tight around her wrist, crushing against her ribcage and her wings. "Those godsdamned fools will die trying to find you, and then you’ll see their heads on spikes. Their eyes will watch you suffer."
"No—let me go!" Luella gasped in pain as her fingers nudged his chest in her struggle, sending lightning bolts of pain up her arm and shoulder. Her head tipped back. "Ah!"
Ambrose released her, sending her staggering back to the ground. She crashed into the stone with a high sound of shock and desperation.
He lifted the thing he’d procured from his pocket: a tiny vial, barely the size of her pinky, filled with light pink liquid. He threw it and caught it in a hand, then, before she could try to fleeonce more, he was upon her, kneeling over her legs and crawling up her body as he pulled the stopper free from the vial.
His hands pressed into the stone by her shoulders, caging her as his knees pinned her hips into the ground.
He was going to?—
"I’m going to take your innocence first before my master can. I’ll be the first to get between your thighs and tear into you. Don’t be scared, heirus." He held up the vial. It was pink like a sunset, unfitting for the horrors of this prison. "This’ll make it feel better for you. I can’t tear you too much. He’ll be mad, you see. Open wide." His fingers gripped her jaw, trying to pry open her lips.
Luella pinched her lips closed, breathing heavily through her nose. She tried to twist her head away, but his grip was too tight. Pain bloomed in her gut as he punched her. Her mouth opened reflexively with a gasp, and he poured the liquid into her mouth. She choked, trying to spit it up, but he pinched her nose, forcing her to swallow it all.
He threw the empty vial to the side, and the glass shattered. She was barely aware of the sound. His hold loosened slightly, and she turned her head, gagging, wishing she could throw it up.
"What did you give me? What was that?" she asked, trembling.
"Something to make you wet."
No sooner had he said the words than a strange sensation bloomed in Luella’s lower stomach. She began to feel heat slip through her veins, coiling tightly right under her navel. Her breathing grew labored. She wanted itout—wanted the feeling to go away.
She fell back against the ground, skull thudding. Her vision blurred as all her focus narrowed in on the heat between her thighs. Her shift was rolled up; she felt it but didn’t care.
She almost begged him to take the feeling away.
A wetness began to dribble from between her legs as the intensity increased. Her back bowed as stuttered gasps fell from her bitten lips. Her body betrayed her. Heat coiled low, and she wanted to claw it out of herself.
"Please," she begged—for mercy, for death, for escape, for the feeling to abate.
