“Thomas, you heard him. She belongs to both of you until the marriage. Let her go.”
He snarled under his breath and released my wrist with a finality, but Azrael’s cane remained for another heartbeat before he lifted it.
Thomas immediately clicked his tongue, and I followed after him, my heart beating a little harder than before.
I folded my hands back in front of my hips, trying my best to hide the fact that I was flexing the fingers on my left hand. They were tingling painfully, but I was sure it wouldn’t last long.
“Thank you, Hatter.”
And I could have sworn I heard a whisper back.“You’re welcome, little sinner.”
~ ~ ~
I couldn’t keep it from happening.
My cleaning bucket was right there.
My stomach was rejecting everything they had put me through.
I heaved violently, ejecting everything within me into my cleaning bucket, unable to stop myself.
Thomas snarled viciously in return.
I tried to hold it back, tried to swallow it down, but it only caused me more pain, so I just let it happen, holding my hair back while I threw up in the water I was supposed to use to clean myself.
When I was done, I sat back, my body shaking, and wiped my trembling hand over my mouth. The acid tasted better than the semen.
“Dammit, stay there,” he muttered. “What am I going to do with you if you can’t even keep the cum down?” he muttered to himself as he crossed the room.
I wiped the tears away, pushing my hair back, the bucket sitting just a foot away, the smell making my stomach churn again. I wished he would take it away. The smell alone was going to make me vomit again.
“She threw up in her cleaning bucket.” A pause. “No, I don’t want to deal with it.”
I forced my hands back to my lap, severely uncomfortable in the chair while wearing these horrible clothes. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Every heave of air caused my chest to spill over the leather corset, my ribs restricted. I couldn’t breathe.
“Fine, whatever, it’s going to be miserable anyway. Maybe it’ll make him change his mind.”
A second passed and I heard the door slam shut, causing me to flinch.
I closed my eyes, trying my best to hold my breath, but it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. My entire body shookwith effort, my body leaning back a little just to get away from the stench. I knew I wasn’t supposed to move, but it was so h—
The door opened and I immediately returned to my approved position, taking shallow breaths, trying to remain as still as possible as the hot tears rolled slowly down my cheeks. It was humiliating.
I heard a shuffle and suddenly, the smell became less. A moment later, the door clicked shut. “We’ll let the Leaders deal with it,” Azrael hummed. I heard the strike of a match, the scent of citrus quickly following. “Open your eyes, little sinner.”
I opened them without hesitation, finding a water basin resting in front of me. Far larger than the bucket. There was a small scrub brush in there too. I recognized it from a distant memory I couldn’t quite place. It was far better quality than what usually awaited me.
“And this,” he went on, his hand appearing in my line of sight.
I inhaled sharply and quickly cast my eyes down. I had only seen them once before, and they were exactly how I remembered. Long, strong-looking fingers, veins protruding, the blood red cuff of a nice shirt.
He stepped back. “Look.”
I swallowed, allowing only a second of hesitation before I lifted my eyes again, finding a small glass bottle with a pump on it, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and a new hairbrush.
My eyes widened slightly, my fingers itching to touch it. It was silver, made with beautiful designs that grew off the back of it and down the handle, and inset with red jewels. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“The Queen of Hearts deserves nothing but the finest,” he purred.
