Page 758 of Coal Hearts

She was right.

Whatever she’d given me had numbed everything.

I felt nothing.

Nothing but the prickly claustrophobia of being trapped when all I wanted to do was run.

My stomach snarled in the quiet ballroom, highlighting my skinniness and the fact that I’d eaten one potato, three finger-sized pieces of fish, and a spoonful of chocolate mousse in twenty-eight hours.

I’d eaten better in the dungeons.

Whatever reward he wanted to give me?

I hoped it was food.

Glorious fucking food so I could get my strength back to kill him.

Standing, Victor clicked his fingers for me to do the same. It took effort to command shaking legs and popping knees to straighten, but I did. Giving Rachel a glance, she winced and looked away.

Her hands cradled her baby bump. She looked plumper and healthier, but the light in her eyes had been snuffed out. The ferocity when she’d lied for me after Emerald Bruises—when I claimed her, Ily, and Mollie as my own—no longer existed.

I hated that she’d given up.

I hated that she was the only jewel who dared make eye contact with me these days and wished she could get a message to Ily. Just a simple message of how sorry I was and just how much I loved her.

“For the past weeks, I’ve diligently proven to you that you are no longer the owner of your senses.” Victor cupped my cheek with a doting smile. “Your ears might be on your head, my pet, but they only obey what I say.”

I clenched my jaw and said nothing.

If he wanted to believe in his lunatic ramblings, so be it.

The only one who truly owned me was the girl chained to the wall. The girl staring at me even now. The girl sending me silent messages that I could feel but never return.

“If you prove to me that your hearing is completely mine. If your senses belong to me entirely, then you will be allowed to enjoy your reward from start to finish.”

I frowned.

An innuendo existed in his voice, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

“All you have to do is listen to my commands, Henri. Do that, and you’ll be glad you did.” He ran his thumb over my bottom lip, his gaze growing wistful. “Behave, and all the pain will stop. You have my word.”

I swayed.

I couldn’t help it.

After so much agony...the mere whisper of it ending...

Fuck.

Looking over my shoulder, he ordered, “Do it.”

Before I could move, a cloth gag wedged between my teeth, and someone tied it behind my head. My hands flew up to stop him—

“Drop your arms,” Victor hissed. “Now.”

Fuck, it was hard.

So, so hard.