Page 326 of Coal Hearts

I bit my bottom lip as I wedged a hand on my lower belly and cursed him.

Cursed the heat between my legs.

The wetness smearing my inner thighs.

And the terrible, awful knowledge that I hadn’t just felt pain when he’d spanked me.

Oh no.

That would’ve been far too easy.

Far too justified and proper.

If only his hand had just delivered demeaning, dementing pain.

If only his cum on my tongue didn’t grant me power as well as punishment.

If only I wasn’t going as crazy as him.

If only.

If only.

If only my entire body didn’t ache for him to finish what his spanking started.

If only I was numb inside, dead inside, protected from his mind games and confessions.

If only I didn’t feel lust.

Horrendous, horrifying lust.

I’d chosen to claim my sexuality so Henri couldn’t steal it.

I’d vowed to break him before he broke me.

But in return...I’d thrown myself into purgatory.

And ensured, in one fell swoop, that we’d become as fatally sick as each other.

Chapter Twelve

...............................

Henri

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I GLANCED AT ILY KNEELING obediently by my feet.

Her hair shone like midnight cobalt, and her black diamante bra and G-string made her look far too sultry. Dark red lines marked where I’d cut her, healing and visible now she’d removed the band-aids.

Ten minutes she’d been kneeling, exquisitely beautiful and silent on the warm oak floor. Ten fucking minutes and she’d not once made eye contact with me.

Another crack of stone-shaking thunder crashed through the ballroom. A few jewels hunched where they kneeled by their respective Masters. Even a few men flinched, then chuckled at their reaction.

Rain pummelled against the huge floor-to-ceiling windows like liquid bullets intent on mowing through the dining crowd.

The storm had arrived with dark vengeance as the sun set, rumbling distantly on the horizon as I’d sat in the library and chosen a stack of books to take back to my room. By the time I’d returned to my chamber and showered away any trace of Ily’s saliva and remnants of my soul she’d devoured, the entire island quaked.