“Naughty, naughty, my pet,” he hissed in her ear and wrapped an arm around her waist, hauling her flush against him. “Now be a good little wife and tell me what you were doing reading suchfilthin that library.”
Rather than respond, Ariadne writhed. At first, Loren chuckled, each movement only proving to excite him more, before she slammed her elbow into his side. The impact thrust a grunt from his lungs and had him holding her even tighter.
“Two can play at that game,” he said and pulled his fingers free of her hair to open the door closest to him. The drawing room spread out around them as Loren dragged her inside. “Want to see?”
Again, she twisted in his hold, and this time, she threw her head back. The crown of her skull connected with his nose. Pain crashed through his face, and the hot metallic taste of blood told him just how successful she had been with the strike. A broken nose would be no good for their wedding portrait.
“Youbitch.” Loren yanked her away and returned the favor from the library by cracking his ringed fist into her jaw hard enough to throw her to the floor. Only when she landed in a heap did he slam his boot into her side.
Wheezing, Ariadne curled in on where he struck, a bruise blossoming across her face. Between them both, he would need to reschedule the artist to come back for their painting. They were quite the pair, and something told him this would not bethe last time they fought quite so violently—not so long as her weak little mind continued to be controlled by that bastard fae.
Gods, he hoped it was not even after he finally put a blade through that monster. This wasthrilling. And to think they could have been doing this for the last several months. They had years now to make up for lost time.
Loren crouched beside Ariadne and grabbed her by the face, forcing her to look up at him. “What do I need to do to make thislessonreally stick?” Her eyes widened at his choice of words, and she tried to pull away, but he only held on tighter. “Perhaps those horned freaks were onto something with how best to tame you.”
With that, he released her and took hold of the hem of her skirt, yanking it high to expose the full length of her legs. In response, Ariadne kicked away with a mortified half-shriek. She pushed back to escape his reach, only for him to grab her wrist and pin it to the floor.
“Perhaps this will make you talk,” Loren snarled, dragging her body back towards him.
“Loren, please—”
His heart skipped a beat at the sound of her pleading, but he did not care to listen to her words. Even as she begged him to stop. Gods, he loved it—that pathetic tone. It only had his erection growing with greater anticipation.
Using one hand, Loren yanked the ties free of her dress. It loosened, the front opening and from it spilling contents that he had not expected—papers.
“What is this, my pet?” He plucked the folded pages from between her breasts and unfolded them.
“Loren, please!” Ariadne made to grab them away, true terror in her eyes, but he batted her hand away. “Do not—please!”
White hot anger flashed through him again. Even now, in his hold, she fought him. It was at once infuriating and exhilarating.Still, he lifted the pages before her face and slowly tore them into pieces as she screamed for him to stop.
Yet in the instant he relieved the pressure from her, Ariadne returned to the untempered opponent he had previously secured. She pushed up from the floor as though to run away again, her dress looser and more cumbersome than before just to have Loren snatch her wrist again and pull her back to him.
“We are not done here,wife.”
Ariadne twisted her arm with deft practice. With someone less trained than Loren, such a maneuver might free her. What she did not expect, however, was him grabbing her at the elbow with his free hand and yanking her to the floor again. She squealed in shock as her knees hit the ground before he took hold of her ankle to drag her to him.
“Loren, stop!” Ariadne cried and tried to kick him with her free foot.
He laughed, forcing her thighs to spread so he could kneel between them. “Stop? But this is what a husband and wifedo, my pet.”
Tears streaked down Ariadne’s face as, again and again, she pushed away only to be jerked back into place. “No, no! Stop it!”
Again, Loren yanked her skirts up before draping his body over her to pin her in place with his weight. “But you look too beautiful for me to ignore,wife.”
At that, Ariadne stilled. She pushed at his shoulder weakly with one hand, the other covering her face as she heaved huge, silent sobs that shuddered her entire body. Damn, those tears were just perfect, each one making her cheeks glisten a little more.
“Good girl,” he whispered as he kissed her damp temple and reached his free hand down to unfasten the button of his trousers.
Then out of nowhere, everything went black.
Chapter 9
Fear-fueled adrenaline that did not belong to Madan dumped into his veins. It choked him from where he stood at the camp, watching his brother vanish on the back of a dragon. If Azriel failed, he would lose two siblings in one fell swoop, for Ariadne would be worse than dead by the time Madan got to her. What Ehrun and his cronies had done to her would pale in comparison.
Because Madan knew precisely how Loren Gard tortured someone. After living through it, he’d been granted but one positive: he couldn’t remember most of it. What hecouldrecall, however, was nothing short of horrific. Loren didn’t just cause pain—he reveled in it. The agony of others made him grotesquely enthused.
“Azriel’s on his way,” he told Brutis, shuddering at a sudden spike in Ariadne’s heart rate that radiated through him like the gong of a bell. “We’re working on Ehrun.”
