Page 77 of When Roses Burn

When the lock clicked open, her hand fell to her side. She whimpered when it brushed her skin, but she didn’t move.

Determined to get this over with, I moved faster to undo the rest of the chains before stepping back.

Her eyes fluttered open. When they met mine, the fevered gleam still shone within them, but whereas other casters would have thrown themselves at me, she remained unmoving, her hands fisted at her sides and her face pinched with suffering.

“Now what?” I inquired.

Briar didn’t answer as she sank to her knees and lowered her head to the floor. Stretching her arms overhead, she resumed the position she’d been in when I first found her on the bathroom floor.

When her fingers bit into the cold concrete, she tore open the old wounds and spilled fresh blood, but she didn’t move. The scent of her arousal filled the air, but she did nothing to ease it.

Retreating to my chair, I sat to watch her, but as the hours passed, she didn’t look at me, and her breathing steadied. Whimpers sometimes escaped her, and at other times, she’d cry out before regaining control and settling down again.

My body stiffened in the chair, but I didn’t rise. I couldn’t take my eyes off her; her restraint fascinated me, as did her determination to withstand the call of her Needing.

Not only did she not try to fuck me or run out of here to find someone else, but she also didn’t masturbate. While the casters went through as many eternals as they could in the harem, they were also constantly touching themselves. I had no idea how their dicks and cunts weren’t raw and bleeding by the time their Needing ended.

But Briar didn’t touch herself, and while she had to be sore from retaining the same position for hours on end, she didn’t move. Whenever her breathing intensified and the aroma of her arousal increased, she slowly reined it back in.

Though she remained under control, her body was so tense her muscles and veins stood out. She looked like she might break if anyone touched her, and I suspected she would.

I didn’t know how much time passed before she started relaxing. I noticed it in her fingers first as they eased their death grip on the floor. Blood still trickled from their tips as she flattened them on the concrete and inhaled a shuddering breath.

Then her back eased, and her head turned to the side. A swollen, red mark marred her forehead from where she’d pressed it firmly against the ground. It would soon bruise.

Dumbfounded by what I’d witnessed, I took some time to steady myself as I walked over to the door and opened it. I half stepped into the hall.

“Someone bring me a blanket!” I called.

I wasn’t sure how close anyone was, but someone should have heard me. I closed the door and leaned against it. Briar remained unmoving, her eyes closed, and her breath coming raggedly in and out.

“It’s over,” she breathed.

A second later, a knock sounded on the door. I opened it to reveal Dromon on the other side. His eyes held a thousand questions, but he didn’t voice them as he handed a blanket out to me.

“We’ll talk soon,” I told him.

He nodded before I shut the door in his face. Turning back around, I discovered Briar sprawled out on the floor, her mouth slightly parted and her limbs spread. She was falling into the state of exhaustion that always accompanied the Needing.

I wouldn’t let her sleep on the concrete. I had no idea what to make of what I’d witnessed, or what might follow, but as of now, she’d done the impossible… or at least I’d believed it was impossible. She’d also gone through it faster than any of the other casters; maybe denying herself pleasure had sped up the process.

Maybe the others could help me make sense of what happened. But first, I had to get her out of this room.

When I approached Briar, her eyes fluttered open before closing again. “I’m going to put this blanket over you,” I told her.

She didn’t respond, and I draped the cover over her before bending to scoop her into my arms. When she nestled against my chest, the part of me that I’d believed long dead rose a little as tenderness emerged; I pushed it down again.

She’d expended enough energy to have lost weight during her Needing. The lingering scent of her arousal filled my nose, but it wasn’t as extreme as before, and it had mingled with the aroma of body odor and sweat clinging to her too.

Her head fell against my shoulder, and for a second, I was thrown into the past with her in my arms and nestled against my side as our fingers entwined. Her whispered words of love, tender kisses, and joyful laugh filled my mind before she jerked her head up and stared at me from bloodshot eyes.

Sweat matted her hair to her forehead, and her skin remained abnormally pale as she stared at me. “I can walk,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.

“Can you?”

I didn’t think she could hold her own weight, let alone take a step.

“Yes,” she said defiantly.