Page 661 of Coal Hearts

“This being visiting our jewels and then having to leave them here,” Ben said. “Last time we visited, Abby had been whipped so badly by another Master, she spent most of my time in the recovery ward, and after what they told us about the Temple of Facets? We can’t...we’re not able to...w-we’re done.”

“Done?” I asked.

“We went to Victor and asked if we could buy Pen and Abby off him. We offered a decent price. Not as high as what you paid but generous all the same.”

“Let me guess. He didn’t take it?” I threaded my fingers through Ily’s sapphire-black hair, making it seem as if I held her in place.

“No. He said it wasn’t about the money. He’d love to accept. He’s a businessman, yada yada. He refused to let Pen and Abby off his island because they’d spill his secrets.”

“We assured him we would take responsibility,” Stewart rushed. “We wouldn’t let them tell anyone.”

“Bet he didn’t believe that.” I snorted.

“Nope.” Ben sighed. “We already have the right of their nights. They spend every hour with us when we’re here, but...it’s not enough.”

“It’s not enough because you’re in love with them.” I studied each man carefully.

Both of them flinched. “Can you blame us?”

“Blame? No. Believe? Also no.”

“We have feelings, same as you.”

“I never came here intending to fuck a prisoner.”

“Yet you stayed, and that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

Rage crawled up my throat.

Ben cut through my temper. “Look, all we’re saying is...yes, we came here with unhonourable intentions. But we’ve seen too much. Witnessed too many atrocities. We came here for companionship and sex, but what we get is fear and abuse. Plus, we know what happens to jewels when they reach their use-by-date, and Pen and Abby—”

“We’re not getting any younger,” Penelope whispered over her Master’s flaccid cock. “I’ve never seen a jewel over the age of twenty-nine. I...next year I turn thirty and Abby the year after.”

Abigail kept rocking. “We’ve been helping with the Christmas presents. We...we told—”

“You what?” Ily hissed, swooping upright on her knees. “You told your Masters what we’re planning?”

Both girls slouched. “Yes, but...they’re trustworthy.”

Ily shot both men a horrified look. “Have you...are you...will you tell Victor?”

My right hand slipped into my pocket. My fingers curled around my switchblade, warm and heavy at the bottom.

It’d be easy to kill them.

Not so easy to explain away their bodies.

“You better keep talking,” I snarled. “Now.”

Ben nodded. “We only ever discuss Christmas in the shower. It wasn’t the girls’ fault. We caught them putting something under the bed of the rooms we use. Later that night, I investigated. I have a background in chemistry myself and figured it out without making a scene.” He flicked Stewart a look. “We asked our jewels for the truth, and we got it. We’ll admit we wondered if we could buy Victor’s favour by telling him. Perhaps he’d let us have Pen and Abby, after all. But we’d already offered money. What would information do that money couldn’t? And so...we figured—”

“That you’d help free them so you can trap them in your own houses?” I snapped.

“No.” Stewart stroked Pen’s cheek. “Even if we wanted to do that, we’d be caught eventually with how much we’re watched. The only way it will work is if our relationship is legitimate.”

“Legitimate?”

“Marriage,” Ben murmured.