“Come out, sweet Isabelle, I don’t want to fight.”
A warmth settled in her chest from Rul’s soft voice, and she pinched the skin of her thigh hard, trying to remember her place.
When she opened the door, an unbidden smile pulled at her lips, the view of him naked with his arms outstretched making her feel lighter than air. He pulled her into an embrace as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom, the press of warm flesh against warm flesh forcing her muscles to relax, and she slipped her arms around his waist.
“Don’t worry so much. I want to own all those bad thoughts in your pretty little head, crush them until the only thing left is bliss.”
His voice was so seductive, the sentiment equally so, especially when she knew he was capable of doing just that.
When he pulled away from the hug, he cupped her cheek, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
“Bellinor could not have found a more perfect companion. You deserve every second of decadent pleasure we can provide for you, just as you will provide it for us.”
First a plaything, now a companion? Her head was spinning, all the contradictory emotions floating to the surface and making her chest tighten.
“I don’t deserve that,” she said quietly, and Rul curled his mouth into a frown.
“Because of things out of your control? Because your goddess says so?”
Isabelle didn’t respond, tears welling in her eyes and a lump catching in her throat. It was Celeste, but it was more than that. It was the sick way she derivedpleasure from pain, that she even craved sex in the first place. It was the way she’d given up her morals so quickly in the pursuit of pleasure. And worst of all, it was the fact that she was the reason both of her parents were gone, a curse from the very moment of her birth.
“I want you to say something nice about yourself,” Rul continued, his command surprising her.
“What?”
Her hands immediately began to shake at the mere thought, the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
“You heard me. Just one little thing.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Well, you have to. I won’t give you clothes,” he said, pausing to spiral his tail around her leg, petting her inner thigh with the heated tip. “Or touch you the way you want until you do.”
He raised a brow expectantly, and she considered what to say, finding nothing worthy of note.
“I really can’t–”
“You can,” he said firmly, interrupting whatever rambling excuse she would have tried to come up with. “And you will. For me. Because you’re a good girl, and good girls do what their owners ask.”
She cleared her throat, her face flushing with the worst kind of embarrassment she could imagine.
“I… devote my free time to serving others at the temple of Celeste.”
Rul sighed deeply, but nodded, petting her cheek with a smile.
“You are a very giving person, and you did a good job by sharing that with me. Now, there are clothes for you on the bed. Get dressed, and I’ll get you something to eat. You have some painting to do.”
CHAPTER 14
THE DAY PASSED BY in a blink, Rul once again lounging on her bed while she struggled with her still life. The flowers hadn’t wilted a bit–the magic of le Voile, she supposed–but that didn’t make it any easier to block in the forms and colors. He brought her breakfast and dinner, kept her stocked with coffee and snacks anytime she needed a break.
After hours of toiling, she’d had enough, finishing the last pink macaron Rul had offered her in one bite. The good thing about agonizing over the painting was that it had pushed other thoughts from her mind, the same sensation that being dominated by the demons gave her.
She was disturbed by the darkness of le Voile, that deep black hole still vibrating in her chest as if her own body would swallow her in one gulp. Rul hadn’t made a move, and she was both relieved and disappointed, though the sensation of his fingersrunning through her hair while she lay her head in his lap was positively divine.
“Does he always do that?” she asked, drawing the attention of his piercing gaze.
“Doeswhodowhat?”
