I crouched down, bringing my eyes level with his, the bars separating us just enough to remind him of his place.
“Take a look beside you. I gave you what you wanted.” I murmured, voice dropping to that cold knife’s edge. “See her? Smell her? Feel the heat coming off her skin? She’s alive.”
For now.
Shiloh’s gaze flickered toward Xanthy, then snapped back to me, like touching her with his eyes burned him.
“That’s your first rule,” I went on. “Accept your choice. She’s your salvation, right? You chose her. You want out? You want air? Then you’re going to give me a show of accepting your choice.”
He shook his head hard. “No. Fuck no. Carrington, let us out.”
I laughed then. I was faintly aware of the mania that was touching me by the way my laugh ricocheted off the wall, but I didn’t care. Even my sister shivered, and I still just didn’t care. When I looked back at Shiloh, my body went cold again.
“Oh, you will fuck the whore you chose, Sunshine.” I pressed my lips to the bars, my voice dropping to a whisper that slithered right into him. “Because the only thing worse than making me angry, Shiloh, is finding out what happens when you disobey me.”
Shiloh’s pulse was visible in his throat. A frantic, fluttering thing that begged for my teeth.
“You can fuck her whole, alive and able to participate, or I can break her into pieces right now, and you’ll still fuck her.”
I let the silence thicken until it was suffocating them both. The smoke curled in lazy ribbons around us as Xanthy cried and looked at Shiloh, not daring to look at me again.
“Do you need a demonstration? Put your hands on her.”
Shiloh blinked and shook his head like he hadn’t heard me right. “What?”
“You heard me, Sunshine.” I tilted my head toward Xanthy, who now sat pressed against the opposite bars, her eyes down, her body taut as if bracing for a hit. “Touch her. Slide those trembling little fingers over her skin. Make her remember why you chose her. Show me why.”
“No,” he spat, though the word cracked in his mouth. “I’m not…I won’t.”
“You won’t? You won’t?” I slammed my palm against the bars, the clang making both of them jump. “You think you get to tell me what you will or won’t do? You think this cage gives you dignity? It strips you to nothing. It takes everything until the only thing left is what I decide you are. Show. Me. Why. You. Chose. Her.”
His lips trembled, his eyes darting to Xanthy as if he would save her somehow.
Sweet, stupid hope…I couldn’t wait to crush it like a bug.
“Look at her,” I whispered, my tone colder now, sliding the knife deeper into his resolve. “She’s waiting. She knows what I want. She knows what happens if you don’t listen.”
Xanthy lifted her eyes for the first time, haunted and resigned. She didn’t speak, but the tremor in her chin was enough.
Shiloh’s hand flexed uselessly in his lap.
“That’s it,” I coaxed, my voice softening, slipping into something almost sweet. “Go on. Just a touch. Caress your chosen. Pretend it’s your choice.”
He shook his head. “Fuck you.”
My grin widened. I loved that he still had bite. It made the breaking so much sweeter.
“Already planning to, Baby Boy.” I leaned close, letting my voice sink into his bones. “But first…earn it. Touch her. Hands on her. Now.”
I watched him war with himself, his hatred boiling under the fear, and his shame colliding with the heat of my command. His breathing hitched, and finally, slowly, he reached out to my sister—his darling fiancée.
His fingers brushed Xanthy’s arm, tentative, like he was touching a live wire and asking to fry.
“There,” I purred, satisfaction curling hot in my heart with the slice of pain. “See? Not so hard. You’ve fucked her a number of times, show me. That’s how this starts.”
Shiloh yanked his hand back like he’d been burned.
“Oh no, Baby Boy.” I laughed. “You don’t get to tease me with that pathetic little graze. You’re going to keep going. You’re going to put those hands everywhere I tell you. Show me why you chose her, Shiloh. Let’s see your undying love for your betrothed.”
