My breathing is heavy, labored, and my pulse kicks when she gags.
“Try not to swallow it,” Agatha instructs, bearing down against Sapphire’s feeble attempts to whip her head away from this evil fucking baptism.
That slight twinge of guilt hooks into my chest because it’s her getting the beating again. Not me.Her. It makes my stomach twist and turn sour. But she brought this on herself by running that mouth again. These are the consequences of her actions. I’m not responsible for her if she decides to be an idiot in a dire situation that could cost her life. It doesn’t matter that we grew up together. That my mother would wring my neck for not protecting Aunt Skylenna’s daughter. This girl means nothing to me.
Sapphire tries to scream again, but the sound gurgles and is abruptly blocked by the old woman’s hand. I nearly peel the skin off my wrists by straining violently against these restraints.
Finally, Agatha tugs the strap off Sapphire’s head and steps away. Sapphire convulses, flopping her head to the side to spew vomit to the floor. It splashes to the ground as saliva and clear liquid,certainly because we haven’t been given food or water. She attempts to say something, curse probably, but only whines and moans come out. It seems she has cottonmouth, or her tongue is severely injured. Both are likely.
She got herself into this. She got herself into this. She got herself into this.
That heavy mop of sweaty, honey-copper hair hangs off the side of the mattress. She’s speechless. Awake but eyes lost somewhere deep in her own mind, glazed over and out of focus. I’ve never seen her this way before. It’s… disturbing.
The old woman turns and studies me like an insect on display.
I maintain a dead expression. Though a murderous impulse dances behind my eyes, and I let her see it. Unblinking. Unflinching. I could break her neck. All she would have to do is free me.
Agatha scoffs like this isn’t the first time someone looked at her with homicidal thoughts. And I remember how her demise turns out. I know it comes from the hands of Skylenna’s father. I can imagine she’ll see this glare again from him.
“Don’t look at me like that, young man.” She walks toward me, a little wobbly from the exertion she put into Sapphire’scleansing. “I’m doing you a favor.”
I stare at her long enough to make her shift on her feet.
“Oh?”
“You see that mouth?” She points a gnarled finger.
My gaze slides to Sapphire’s swollen lips quickly, uncaringly, then I shoot it back to the old woman with boredom forced over my features. Every part of me hides how I had to hold my breath when I looked at her.
“I do.”
“By the time I am finished with her, that mouth won’t be of a whore. It will be of a wife.”
Oh god.
Sapphire’s dry gasps and wretches distract me for a moment, and I have to hold my breath again.
“Yeah. Not at all interested,” I respond to Agatha.
“Well, not now, no.” The old woman gives me a once-over. “I have work to do on you as well, boy. You don’t think God sees all? Even when you touch your penis to the sight of this girl?”
I stare blankly.
“It’ll take some time, but I’m going to build you inHisimage. To be a respectable husband. Train and maintain your wife. Discipline. Coitus for reproduction only,” she states.
A small crack fractures my cold exterior. I can’t help it. Laughter falls from my mouth abruptly. “I’m sorry, what?”
Agatha pulls her shoulders back, attempting to hide a layer of insecurity.
“Oh,” I say, lifting my chin. “I get it. I get it. You haven’t been fucked in a while, huh?”
I am just as stupid as Sapphire. But fuck, that felt good to say.
Her charged descent to my chair is unsettling. Pinched lips. Wide eyes. Sweat dripping down her temple. A frizzy, gray strand of hair pulled free from her tight bun. Agatha jabs out her hand and grabs me by the balls. I hiss through clenched teeth as she squeezes.
“You will respect me, boy! I could cut these off with a pair of old sewing scissors for using that language on me. Is that what you want?” Her yellow nails bite into my sensitive skin through my drawers as she tightens her grip.
Mmm-hmm. That gets my attention. Consider me reformed like Sapphire.
