Whether that was true or not, I had no idea, but I couldn’t really focus on that. Not when the strain of the chain was sending jagged shards of pain down my neck. “Then I’m of no use to you.”
“Not true.” He leaned away from me, reaching behind him. “You have so many uses to me, you have no idea.”
Aric pulled something out of his back pocket. In the golden light of the torches, my heart stopped in my chest when I saw what he held. A long, slender blade that came to a wickedly sharp point.
My gaze flew to his, and my breath caught as his hand and the blade it held moved out of my line of sight. “What are you doing?”
He continued to smile at me. “Pulling out your feathers.”
There was a good chance my heart stopped.
“Scream as loud as you like,” he offered, and I felt the tip of the blade press into my skin. I bit down as the slight pressure turned to pain. “Because no one is coming for you.”
Chapter 34
My body was on fire, and for once, I wished for that bone-chilling coldness that had greeted me when I first came to in the chamber.
And when was that?
Had to be…days ago. Definitely days. Maybe five if I based it on when Aric arrived. Twice a day, I believed. Possibly the morning and the night, and each time he stayed…long enough to do what he needed, which was to take me outside to do my business like a dog on a leash, and then do whathewanted, which was to turn me into a living, breathing pincushion.
And to feed.
He generally fed on the second visit, and I was always left unconscious when he left, waking the same way I had the first time, my head throbbing and feeling disoriented. And each time, it seemed to take seconds longer for me to remember how I had gotten here.
Why I was here.
My painfully empty stomach grumbled as I stared at the withered vines by the door. It had to be at least three days since Aric had tossed a bag of cold McDonalds at me. I’d scarfed that grease-soaked crap down and then promptly vomited it all back up. Now, I’d probably murder someone for a stale and cold cheeseburger.
Working on a dry swallow, I tipped my head back. Water would be nice, too. I was given enough to survive, but nowhere near enough to quench my thirst.
A full-body dip in lidocaine would be great also.
I sighed, not daring to move too much. The heavy chain pooled on the floor beside where I was propped up against the base of the stone slab. My wrists and ankles were always unlocked after the feeding, allowing me to roam as far as the chain would allow.
Which wasn’t all that far.
The only thing I knew was that Aric had no plans to kill me. At least not yet, and despite how…horrific all of this was, alive was better than dead.
I kept telling myself that. Repeatedly.
I probably shouldn’t be sitting on the floor, considering my body was one giant, open wound, and God only knew what kind of dirt and water was getting into the hundreds, if not thousands of tiny slices that covered nearly every inch of my body. I was probably going to contract some kind of flesh-eating bacteria.
Dragging my gaze from the vines, I looked down at my legs and winced. Purplish bruises mottled the pale skin, left behind when Aric had bored of me fighting back and secured my legs and arms. They were all pretty gnarly, but they were by no means the worst. The cuts were worse.
Dozens and dozens of them on each leg, on the front and the back, all methodically two inches long and carved into neat lines just a touch beyond shallow. My arms were the same. So were my chest and a good part of my back, which was why I was on the floor and not lying on the slab.
The back…those were fresh.
Another grumble echoed through my stomach. I’d thought I’d known what hunger pains felt like. I, of course, had beenfoolishly naive to think that skipping a meal could cause these gnawing, strong contractions that nearly doubled me over.
I wasstarving, and thinking about food was surely the worst thing I could do. So, I focused on my butchered arms and counted the slices starting at my shoulder.
One. Two. Three. Four….
I hadn’t given Aric what he wanted. Not the first or the second time.
Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen….
