My heart pounded, my mind racing for an answer that wouldn’t make things worse. “I didn’t evenwantto marry him. I?—”
“Marryhim? What an interesting turn of events.”
The blood drained from my face. Shit.Shit.I had thoroughly fucked up. He didn’t know.
Lord Thorne’s smile widened, his eyes gleaming with amusement. “Ah, there it is. The guilt. The fear. You’re so easy to read, little mouse.” He took a step closer, and I pressed harder against the wall, as if I could disappear into it. “Didn’t want to marry my son, huh? Tell me, what were your plans, then? Betray him at the first opportunity?”
“No!” I shook my head frantically. “I?—”
He didn’t give me a chance to finish. With a flick of his wrist, shadows surged toward me, coiling around my arms and legslike living chains. I screamed, struggling against the invisible force, but it was futile. I was dragged from the room, the shadows pulling me through the air as if I weighed nothing.
We entered another chamber, this one even darker and colder than the last. The walls here pulsed, alive with some dark, malevolent energy. I barely had time to register the grand four-poster bed in the center of the room before the shadows slammed me onto it.
“No! Stop!” I screamed, thrashing as hard as I could, but the shadows pinned me down, stretching my arms and legs until I was sprawled in an X-shape across the bed.
Lord Thorne stood at the foot of the bed, looking down at me with calm amusement, as if this were all a game to him. “Humans don’t belong in my world. Raffaele knows that. You really should have stayed in your place,” he said, his voice silky smooth. “But since you seem so intent on meddling in matters far beyond your comprehension, perhaps it’s time you learned what happens to those who defy me.”
Tears streamed down my face as I pulled desperately at the shadows holding me down. “Please,” I begged. “Don’t do this. I’ll leave. I’ll never come near you or your son again. Just let me go.”
He tilted his head, feigning consideration. “Tempting. But where’s the fun in that?”
I cried out, the sound raw and filled with terror, as he reached out and brushed my cheek. His icy touch repulsed me, and bile rose in my throat. “So fragile,” he murmured. “So breakable. It’s a wonder my son hasn’t shattered you already. I can imagine what you offered him in return for your life.” His lips curled into a menacing scowl.
“Stop! Please! Raffaele will?—”
“Raffaele will do nothing,” he snarled. His eyes burned with a hatred so intense it felt like it might consume me. “He is nothingwithout me. Everything he has, everything he is, is because of me. Do you think he’ll risk it all for a pathetic, little human?”
I closed my eyes, choking on a sob. The bond between Raffaele and me flared, a faint thread of hope in the overwhelming darkness.Please,I thought desperately, though I wasn’t sure if I was reaching out to him or to some higher power.Please find me.
The sound of fabric tearing was a visceral thing, like the snap of brittle bones, and freezing air rushed over my exposed chest. My pulse thundered in my ears as I twisted uselessly against the shadows holding me down.
“Such delicate little things, humans,” he murmured, his voice a low rasp that grated against my nerves. It felt like he was dragging his words across my skin, each syllable a fresh violation. “Easily breakable. Easily discarded.”
Another violent tug from his magic shredded what was left of my shirt. The remnants fluttered to the floor like dead leaves, leaving my upper body bare. Icy dread pooled in my stomach, and I thrashed harder against the shadows.
“Stop!” Tears burned down my cheeks, hot streaks of helplessness. “Don’t do this!”
His laughter was deep and guttural, devoid of humanity. He tilted his head, observing me with the kind of fascination one might reserve for an insect caught under glass. “Oh, little mouse, you intrigue me. So small, so fragile… and yet somehow, you’ve managed to tangle yourself in my son’s web. I wonder, what does he see in you?”
His breath was fetid, a putrid mix of rot and decay that made bile rise in my throat as he leaned closer. “Does he like your pretty little pussy?” he hissed. “Has he become whipped by it? That boy has always been weak, no matter how I tried to carve it out of him.”
Something in me snapped. I spat at him, the glob landing just shy of his face, but it was enough to shatter the veneer of helplessness I felt. “Go to hell,” I snarled.
His lips twisted into a monstrous grin, his teeth jagged and stained. “Oh, my dear, you’ll find I’m already there. And now… so are you.”
With a flick of his wrist, my remaining clothing vanished. Every instinct inside me screamed to curl in on myself, to shield what little dignity I had left. But the shadows were merciless, spreading my arms and legs even wider as if to underline how utterly powerless I was.
Lord Thorne’s gaze raked over me, and I wanted to disappear, to sink into the floor and let the darkness swallow me whole. “Beautiful,” he said mockingly, the word dripping with venom. “I wonder, does my son appreciate you like this? Or is it the way you scream that he enjoys most?”
“Fuck you,” I spat, though the tremor in my voice betrayed the terror clawing at my insides.
“Perhaps later,” he said, his tone so casual it made my skin crawl. From the folds of his robes, he produced a small knife, the blade glinting wickedly in the dim torchlight.
My chest constricted so painfully I thought my ribs might crack. “No,” I whispered, my voice barely audible over the pounding of my heart. “No, please—don’t.”
He climbed onto the bed with an almost leisurely air, his weight dipping the mattress as he loomed over me. The knife hovered inches from my skin, and though it hadn’t yet touched me, I could feel its icy promise. “Screaming won’t help you. No one can hear you down here. My son has seen to that. Such a considerate boy.”
The blade kissed my shoulder, lightly at first, but sharp enough to draw blood. I whimpered, biting my lip so hard I tasted copper, desperate to stifle the sobs threatening to spillout. Lord Thorne tilted his head, studying me with twisted curiosity.
