Page 319 of Coal Hearts

“Wouldn’t I?”

The way he said it.

No warmth of before.

No connection.

He’d killed our bond the moment he’d bled me in Victor’s massacred menagerie.

“Henri...don’t.”

“Ten strikes.” His hand suddenly left my ass, rising above his head. “Five to kickstart your deliberation and five to punish you for ever thinking you could manipulate me. Once you’ve screamed and your skin is bright red, you will get on your knees and blow me. If you satisfy me, I’ll grant you one request. I’ll repay you for your obedience, and you’ll learn it isn’t so bad to belong to me. If you play with me, I’ll play with you. We can have more than what the others have. We can have sex, but we can also have closeness, and if I’m perfectly fucking honest—which I always stupidly am with you—that’s the part I want the most. I want to feel connected to you while I hurt you. I want to adore you while I heal you. But if you deny me that closeness, then...maybe you’re right. Maybe my suggestion of monogamy is ridiculous, and I should just revoke my exclusivity over you and give you to the others.”

Before I could reply.

Before I could tell him that he terrified me and not just because of the harm he caused my body—

He struck.

I yelped as he planted a bruising hand on the small of my back to keep me in place, then spanked me hard.

So hard.

Far harder than he spanked me with the book in the library.

That’d been for show.

This was for him.

Only for him.

“Henri—” I scratched at the grass as he struck me again. “Ahhh!” Stinging pain. Five fingers of sting. “Stop it. I get your point. Stop—”

A third swat.

Agony layering upon agony.

A fourth, fifth, sixth in quick succession.

Agony, agony, and...an awful kind of thrill.

Seven.

I screamed.

I couldn’t help it.

I cried out as fire blazed, feeding through my throbbing flesh.

“Henri!” I clawed and mewled, trying so damn hard to get away. But he kept me wedged on the grass, my back locked in place, my hips exactly where he wanted them.

“Christ, you look incredible with my mark on you.”

Eight.

I gasped.

Grunted.