I pictured my mother from my wedding day, the cold calculation in her gaze, the warnings of my purpose to keep Graystall safe.
No. She’d tell me to endure it. To bend over and take it. But who could survive such cruelty? Why me?
The second lash of the belt slammed across my back. Its sting seeped into my pores, and I bit down hard on my lip to suppress the scream dancing in the back of my throat. I tasted blood where my teeth had penetrated the soft skin.
Another blow followed, forcing me to bite down hard on my lip. Blood pooled in my mouth from how hard I clamped my jaw shut as strike after strike tore through the fabric of my dress to meet my bare skin.
My entire body swam in an agony so painful I lost my sight for a short moment, only to be brought back by the feel of leather against my shoulder blades. It would be so easy to slip away, to fall into an unconscious state, but then what would happen? Would Lavios torment me into awareness? Yes. I knew he would. And then he’d destroy my mind.
“Use that fire, that pain, that anger. Memorize it. Cultivate it. Sharpen it. Because it’s the fury that will keep you alive.” Adrik’s voice played through my mind, his words causing my heart to race.
He’s near.
I frowned. How do I know that?
Cultivate the fury, I heard him saying. Fight.
I shook my head to dispel the thoughts, blaming my predicament for my lapse into dreamland.
“You take punishment well,” Lavios praised, drawing me back to the present and the sting against my back.
What’s happening to me?
Lavios threw the belt onto the pillow beside my face and yanked on my dress, forcing me closer to him. “A pretty pattern for a pretty whore,” he murmured against my abused skin, his tongue lapping at the trails of blood his belt had created. “Delicious, too.”
He ripped off the remainder of my dress, exposing my ass. His teeth sank into my globes, causing me to flinch. This can’t continue. I have to do something.
Fight, Adrik whispered again, confusing me greatly.
How are you in my head?
“I’m so damn hard right now,” Lavios groaned. “This first fuck will be quick, but we’ll experiment more later. I’ve got a whole cupboard of toys designed to teach you how to better please Necros. Guns, knives, any weapon I own can be used in a cunt, in my mind. You’ve just got to know what to do with it. How to make the pussy bleed.”
Lavios forced me to my back—the fabric burning as it met my tender flesh. Tears filled my eyes, the
need to shriek taunting my throat.
And then he freed his length from his trousers.
Oh… fuck…
The bastard had modified his cock with spike piercings covering his length and giving it the appearance of a morning star mace.
Lavios would rip me apart if he fucked me.
“No,” I protested, my thighs squeezing shut.
But it was futile. I had no say. This was my world until Necros grew bored and killed me. All this to save a country I didn’t know.
I hated my parents.
I hated Caluçon.
I hated Necros.
But most of all, I hated myself for allowing this to happen to me.
Cultivate the fury, I heard Adrik saying again. Fight, Valora.