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Tall glasses of white wine perched before both men, as well as before my own table setting.
This moment was giddy with possibilities—of BDSM and blood, of dismemberment and death. Were the doctor or Cassius monsters, murderers, or men with unspeakable desires? All of those would have made for fab alliterated news headlines.
Was I exaggerating by calling them unspeakable? The room swayed a tad. And…was I drunk? To that question, it was a probable yes.
I walked onward, aware of my bare feet, the slight wobble of my breasts, and the ache in my nipples. It was one of those occasions where being female was excruciating. Feeling desirable was a given. I couldn’t avoid that, not with these two men staring. Wearing a hessian sack and being ignored would be less hazardous, and less likely to make me want to chew all my nails to the quick.
Cassius had noticed my lack of shoes. The doctor negotiated the corner of the table and pulled out my chair, a carved timber one like theirs.
Before I sat, I looked around, at the walls covered with paintings, the antique sideboards loaded with silverware, the amber-filled decanters, and the golden cutlery. The windows showed the thickness of the walls of the tower and this adjoining house. My Inigo stood beside the entry.
“I feel like a princess at her first ball,” I dared to say, aware that I was the most vulnerable in the room. “Do I get a pair of glass slippers or a beast with a library?”
Cassius merely took a slug of wine. The doctor inhaled loudly then chuckled. “The shoes, no. No, dear girl, I want to see your bare feet. Unless you go outside, then you will wear shoes. The only ogre here is me, and perhaps Cassius?” He looked down the table. “Cassius, you have yet to show your colors, and Jacob never employs sweet, innocent men or women.”
Inigo set a plate before the doctor, then me, then went to fetch a plate for Cassius. It wasn’t until his was before him that Cassius replied. Cool and collected, definitely. I sensed a challenge in the air. Not a pissing contest but similar.
“I’m not innocent, no. I’ll also call a no on the ogre.” He smiled thinly at me. “In general.”
“Have I seen you before?”
“At the CNC Fraternity party last August, yes. I remember you also, doctor.”
Cassius too? It should not surprise me, though he might have been security and not a participant.
“You were fucking that girl with the nipple decorations?”
“I was.” Cassius offered his usual dead smile. “You were sewing up a girl’s eyes.”
He what? That was him?Emme had told me about seeing her, but I’d never thought it could be this man. Maybe it wasn’t the same woman?
“I was. That was an unusual request. Such a fun night.” He raised his arm, clicked his fingers. “Let’s begin, Inigo.”
“Sir.” He nodded and left.
Before this, his island had been iffy and perilous and other bad stuff I could not put into words. But this…this was beyond your average sadistic kink. I’d seen similar onFetlifebut had never been attracted to doing it. What might he decide to do to me? Putting stitches in humans was a doctor thing, and so was a whole branch of surgery.
Fuck. Monster alert.
I shuddered. I’d given him carte blanche, or close to it.
“You wore my collar, Charity. Good girl.”
I blinked.Good girlonly worked when I trusted the man saying it. “I did.”
“I can see something has changed.”
Fear trickled in, a spider with its long, creepy legs on tiptoe. His words were too knowing. He’d picked up on my tone. I stonewalled and shrugged.
The doctor leaned away, perching his arm on the back of his chair, and studying me. “Here are the rules on this island. I expect you to obey them.”
Inigo had returned with a bottle of wine, and he poured some for Cassius.
“What are they?” I was sure I’d not like these rules.
“One. You don’t board or touch the boats or the helicopter. Two. You ask permission to enter the library’s Inner Sanctum.”
“What is—”
