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“We were at the boutique, and when I was trying on gowns, Ifeltsomeone looking at me. I whipped around, trying to see who it was, but there was no one. It was so sinister, and I wasn’t paying attention to my mental barriers. The utter filth…” I shook my head, shuddering at the memory of feeling naked, possessed, and scraped by the attention. My stomach clenched, and bile rose in my throat. Zuriel already knew about the mark, so I confessed what else had happened there. “And Queen Immonen had a vision. She said that when Kazimir discovers the mate mark, everything will go dark. What does that even mean? I thought once I made the choice, it would all be over. It would be easy. Everything would be okay. But it’s not!”
I was spiraling, down and down and down into a whirlpool of turbulent emotions, and if I didn’t escape the pull soon, I might drown in despair.
I was not okay.
The thought shortened my breaths, blanking my mind of any and all sense or reason, and then there was nothing but blinding emotional pain, so acute, so overwhelming, I wanted nothing more than to crawl beneath the covers and never emerge again.
“Release your legs so you can tap your shoulders. And breathe,” Zuriel encouraged, his attention never wavering for me.
I eased my legs to the floor, crossing my arms over my chest and closing my eyes as I began the rhythmic tap back and forth. The sensation flared again, and I cried out, shuddering as flashes of memory surfaced from the dark corners of my mind where I had banished them.
“Please, no.” The words slipped out before I could stop them, just like one of the worst of my memories. I tried to shove it down, shove it away because it was too painful. I couldn’t do it. I couldn't relive it. I’d nearly died inside the first time, the last dimming spark of light inside me nearly snuffed out from it.
“You’re safe, Izidora. No one can hurt you anymore,” Zuriel soothed. “Feel it. Rewrite it. You get to change the ending now. You get to finish the story the way you want it to be. Give yourself that power.”
Zuriel’s words broke through the thick fog of fear, and when I sucked in a ragged breath, I noticed the dampness of my cheeks.
“O-o-okay,” I whimpered, forcing myself back into that dark corner. I had to confront it to free myself of it.
He nodded, encouraging me, face twisted in loving sympathy.
The taps increased in speed as I mentally walked into the cave and watched the scene unfold, narrating for Zuriel.
“Get on your knees,” the male snarled at a younger version of me.
I bared my teeth at him, planting my feet firmly into the stone ground. “Never for you.”
A second male slipped forward, his torch barely lighting his face in the darkness of the cave. “How about for me, love?”
I spat in his direction without a second thought. The third’s laugh slithered out of the void. “You’re so close to being of age, pretty thing. Maybe we ought to get a taste of you after all.”
I fisted my hands around the chains binding me, hoping I could fling them at one of the males quickly closing the distance between us and incapacitate him. One stalked from my front, while the others closed in on either side, and I felt trapped, helpless, and utterly alone. The other guards wouldn’t help me, no matter how much I screamed.
They would not break me, I told myself.
I whipped one long chain to my right, using my dominant hand to its only advantage, and I managed to whack the male in the knee. But he only laughed and stepped on the chain, pinning it in place as he closed the remaining distance between us. I cried out as my own knee banged against the ground, forced down by his rough movement.
His grimy hand grabbed my tangled hair and yanked my head back so I was forced to look at him. “I think I’ll take that smart mouth first.”
With my free hand, I punched him in the groin, causing him to double over, wheezing and coughing. But my victory was short-lived when his companions were upon me, one taking his place holding my hair while the other delivered a forceful slap across my face. Copper coated the inside of my mouth, and I wasted no time spitting it straight at them.
“One day, you will die. And it will be by my hand,” I swore.
The three of them laughed, and by the sinister tone of it, I began to think that this might truly be the end for me – the time when I lost it all, including my life.
The one I’d punched circled behind me, and every muscle in my body tensed, waiting for his disgusting touch on my flesh. With a loud rip, my tunic was torn away, leaving my top halfnaked and my breasts bared to the two males still pinning me in place.
“Can you believe we’ll be the bitch’s first?” the one holding my hair said, his other hand stroking my face. His touch made me want to vomit.
“Bet that pussy is tight,” the one behind me groaned, and I gritted my teeth, watching, calculating, praying that I could find a way out of the moment.
When the one who held my hair made another pass across my face, I whipped my head to the side, ignoring the sharp sting in my scalp, and sank my teeth into his finger. He roared in anguish, dropping both hands away from me, and I surged to my feet, throwing all my weight backward in hopes of knocking the one behind me off balance and into the hard rock wall. But I missed, tripped over my chains, and cracked my own head, stars bursting in my vision.
I was on my back, chains tangled around me, and completely vulnerable, with three pissed off males looming over me. Tears sprang to my eyes, burning them as I fought to keep my head above water. It pounded furiously, a headache blooming behind my eyes, and as I tried to lift my head off the ground to sit up and defend myself, a wave of dizziness forced me flat again.
“Please,” I croaked, unable to do, to say more.
“She’s begging for it now,” the slapper teased, elbowing his companions in their sides. He crouched over me, hands finding my pants, and he tore those away from my body too. “She’s all mine. Beg for my cock again, baby.”
