“Ah, so glad you could join us from the dream realm,” Luka’s muffled voice rang through the wool.
I wished I had some witty response, but the energy was not there.
It was like I was in some kind of fever dream. Paralyzed.
When we entered the building the sickly sweet smells of florals overwhelmed my senses, and I lurched. It wastoosweet. Like it was masking some other smell.
“Throw up on me, and I will drop you,” he threatened.
He carried me up some stairs. I counted thirty-five steps, a plateau, then twenty-five steps. He pushed open a door with his hip before kicking it shut behind him.
I swiveled my head, desperate to see. He let go, and my back smacked against the floor with a hard thud.
“Hell!” I shouted, my body stiffening. The air was knocked out of me when I landed on my restrained arms.
“Whether this is or isn’t hell will be entirely up to you.” He yanked the wool cover from my head.
It took a second for my eyes to focus on the dark, looming figure above me. I leaned up, but he placed a boot on my chest.
“Good morning,” Luka said sweetly. “Welcome to the Nest.”
I refused to answer him.
He leaned down, grabbing my face and forcing me to suck in my cheeks. “I saidgood morning. What do we say back?”
I stared silently.
“Alina”—his tone was sweet, but tinged with venom—“I don’t think you want me to be your trainer. It never ends well.”
“I am not a dog, you devil.”
“Wrong answer.” He dragged his boot forward to my injured shoulder before pressing down.
I yelled out in pain, tears forced out of my eyes.
“Let’s try again.Good morning, Alina!” he said enthusiastically, a carnal delight in his expression.
“Good . . . morning,” I struggled to breathe out.
“Good girl.” He removed his boot and tilted his head at me innocently. “Oh, don’t be discouraged, little one. You’ll get used to the way things are around here soon,” he said, then the door swung open.
Three maids fluttered in with bowls and fresh linens.
He reached down and pulled a knife from his waistband, placing it under one of the ropes. “I’ll reward you by taking these off, but I have no problem wrapping you in knots if you can’t behave,” he warned.
I nodded reluctantly.
He cut the ropes, and they slipped off my limbs. He picked me up and sat down on the edge of the bed with me between his legs.
“Unhand me.”
“This is for your own safety and that of others. I have to make sure you don’t hurt the staff, you feral thing.” He hummed, tapping my nose playfully.
Unamused was the most polite way I could describe how I must have looked. He just laughed, positioning me so my back was against his chest, and I faced the maids.
They started to use wet cloths to wipe my body down and clean me up. A bowl of milky liquid was placed off to the side. It smelled like vanilla and was soft on my skin. One of the maids had some type of liquid that she spread over my skin after they scrubbed it. I looked at my arm where she had put it and studied the oily substance. It smelled floral. When they were finished, two maids left, and one remained, but this time she pulled out something that clinked together in the box beforeher. She reached in and pulled out what looked like a goldcollar.
My eyes widened, and I moved to get up, but Lukas’s arms wrapped around my waist and placed me firmly back down in a seated position.
