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Chapter forty-five
My mother’s voice broke through the darkness.
Be careful of the knights because sometimes the darkest secrets lay beneath their armor.
You don’t need a hero, m’eudail. You can save yourself.
When I heard her, I didn’t feel alone. The pain seemed far away. The malicious words hissing in my ear faded into the distance.
I was content.
And then she disappeared. Her warmth evaporated into the air like smoke in the wind, and everything felt cold.
Searing pain sliced my skin, white-hot and relentless. I was lying face down on something soft. A mattress. The faint scent of urine and vomit burned my nose. A cool breeze swept over my skin, making me shiver. I was naked. He’d stripped me naked and sprawled me on a bed. Something was pinning me down, a heavy force weighing on my back.
“I’m going to mark you just like he did,” Alexander said. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Mark me?
What in the world was he talking about?
The air was stale and hot as I struggled to breathe. My eyes fluttered open, taking in my surroundings. Something covered my face, smothering me of light and air. The scent of rubber and my own breath filled my nose. I knew that scent. I recognized it. This was a mask, like the one I’d worn the night on the altar. Blood trickled over my brow before dripping down and stinging my eye. Through the tiny slits in the mask, I peered over my shoulder long enough to see his face. He was straddling me, pinning me down with his knee in my spine. The bed was parallel to the door, and the windows behind him were covered in a black cloth. That was all I saw before my eyes squinted closed again. My head hurt, throbbing, pounding pain shooting from my temple.
“You’ve been such a good girl so far.” He almost groaned the words, as if he was turned on by what he was doing to me. “You slept so well while we waited in the garden. You were so quiet.” His voice slithered over my skin, slimy and gross.
The thought that I once promised to spend the rest of my life with this monster made my stomach turn.
I tried to move, but it hurt to lift my head.
“I’m going to show the world you’re mine.”
His words brought more pain, burning into my flesh all over my back. I clawed at the mattress underneath me, unable to get a grip. Hatred pulsed through me, pounding in my ears. A scream ripped through my body, but no sound filled the room.
And then something was forcing its way inside me. Cool metal pushing through my folds.The gun.Fear cut to my bone, and everything went cold.
I clenched my thighs together and squeezed my eyes closed tighter.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
I was done being a victim. Every lash he made on my skin sent waves of rage firing over my body. Anger tore through me, feeding my will to fight as I embraced the darkness Chandler had introduced me to.
I will not die in here.
My brain scrambled to come up with a plan. I needed to get him off my back. If I got him to move, I could grab the gun.
“It hurts,” I said, hoping to reach out to whatever humanity he had left.
And then, just like my mother’s voice, Chandler’s face appeared. He was distant and blurry. I screamed his name, willing him to be real.Please be real.
