Page 745 of Coal Hearts

I went cold. Empty.

I accepted the ridicule and torment.

I cleaned up the mess at Victor’s command.

I bent over his chair at the end of the evening and let him flog me sixteen times just because.

* * * * *

“Eat, my sweetling.”

I blinked and looked at the perfectly seared piece of steak in Victor’s fingers. Juicy and rare, my mouth watered for such a delicious morsel.

Without a word, I leaned forward on my knees and accepted the gift.

My eyes snapped closed with ecstasy as the flavours exploded on my tongue.

Pleasure didn’t come often anymore, but when it did, I gave myself over to it completely. I didn’t judge myself. I stopped suffering shame for clinging to tiny moments that kept me sane.

I no longer burned with humiliation that Victor kept me naked.

I stopped existing as a man and accepted my place because I needed to protect Ily.

Out of all the Masters I could have had, Victor was true to his word. Even if that word was psychotic.

He didn’t once lay a finger on her if I jumped to his command. He barely even looked at her as long as I behaved. He never gave her to another Master, and she and Peter spent most of their time chained to the wall of the ballroom or in their quarters, far away from me.

“You’ve done so well these past few weeks, my pet,” Victor crooned, tucking my longer hair behind my ear. “I keep waiting for you to snap, but I do believe you’re truly in love with that girl if you’re willing to go this far for her.”

I kept my chin down.

Bile gushed up my throat.

“You haven’t earned my trust yet, but...I do believe you’re ready for the next stage of your training.” Victor wiped his hands on his napkin.

I hid my flinch.

Up till now, my lessons had been purely physical in their abuse.

Whippings, floggings, beatings.

Not a single whiff of sexual prostitution or pushing me into places I honestly didn’t know if I would survive.

“You’re aware Rachel will soon be unavailable as she nears her time of delivery. And I’ve promised her—for being such a good jewel—that I won’t touch her for two months after she has given birth to my son.”

My heart stopped.

I almost retched the steak back up.

Physical abuse I could handle.

His psychological warfare of holding Ily’s life over me slowly undid me as a man, but hearing his unspoken promise—the images he painted in my head—

“I will need a replacement while Rachel heals. It’s serendipitous that you’ve become so obedient.”

Fuck.

Fuck!