The Tenebrae stepped back, a cruel grin on his lips. He waved a hand to the saddle.
Right. He wouldn’t help her, then.
She could manage.
Luella hooked her hand around the pommel, grip too weak, as she tried to lift her right foot and fit it in the stirrup. She failed halfway. It was far too high for her to reach on a good day—let alone now, with her battered body.
After many bouts of trying, she rested her head on the leather of the saddle and exhaled roughly, squeezing her eyes shut.
If only?—
If only what?
What could she do if she had her magic back?
She wouldn’t force the horse to bend to her will, not likehewould.
So what could she do?
She felt the crushed petals and trampled stems beneath her feet and wished desperately for the flowers to stretch and grow, if only to help her, or a gentle breeze to stir more fervently, to lift her up and carry her on.
The Tenebrae was silent at her back, waiting.
Luella didn’t turn to look at him. "I cannot."
Even through her cape, she felt a sudden frigidness grow nearer as he covered her back with his front.
"See, all you have to do is ask, and I will do it." He laughed. "Never anything that means something to you, though. Can’t have you getting ideas in that heirus mind of yours. I own you now. Your whims will become mine."
Shadows curled around her and lifted her until she found herself plopped into the saddle, staring down at him. His head brushed her chest from the horse’s height. He placed a hand on her thigh, and she tried to ignore the sick roiling in her gut at the feel—or the way the cape parted down the middle, showing offher bared thighs, from how her legs were forced to part as she sat astride the horse.
A voice called out, making him turn his head.
An Umbra approached. A female, Luella realized. She hadn’t seen many female Umbra. Most of the females she had seen had been forced into pleasure or slavery.
Her hair was white, eyes a shadowed blue, and shoulders straight and proud beneath silver armor. She bowed her head, a braid slipping over her shoulder and knocking against the chestplate of her knightly garb. "Master, we need you to look over the route to ensure its efficacy for the swiftest journey possible."
The Tenebrae’s hand dropped from Luella’s thigh, and the horse shifted beneath her as he stepped back. "Do not leave." The shadows tightened around Luella, keeping her still. "And do keep your mouth shut, or I will follow through on my threat to sew your lips together. Maybe then you will realize my threats are not as empty as you think them to be."
Luellacertainlydidn’t think his threats were empty—her wing was testament to that—but she dipped her chin in acknowledgment regardless, watching as he disappeared into the throng of Umbra.
She was not alone, far from it. The Umbra were close; though, they didn’t venture near the horse upon which she sat.
Until one did.
A male led his horse closer, dressed in a suit of arms similar to the female who had stolen the Tenebrae away. He, too, had white hair, curling around his pointed ears. His shadowed eyes fell to her as he gave a strange half-smile, nothing kind about it.
"The Princess has truly fallen from grace. I still think my master has been too soft on you. What could persuade you to take off that shitty excuse for a cover-up?" He eyed her cape. "I want to see your wings up close and personal. I was there whenhe cut it away. I think of your screams often." He reached down, knuckles brushing over the front of his armor, drifting until they touched the space between his legs, where the suit was more flexible, the dark material of his breeches showing.
There was a bulge there, and he pressed his palm to it.
Whenever Luella thought every horror had been forced upon her, that she couldn’t possibly be more ridiculed and degraded, she was proven wrong.
"There was so much blood. I just wish you had screamed more. Strangely quiet, considering the pain you must’ve felt."
She didn’t speak, didn’t want him to hear the sound of her voice.
"No riposte? Did my master take your tongue, as well?"
