Page 34 of Trick Of Light

“But I’ll take you first and shove my razor inside you when I’m done.”

He was a sadist, so I had no doubt he’d follow through on his threat.

I sat there and let him shave me and I was surprised at how deftly, and carefully, he used the straight razor. My beard and mustache were gone quickly, and when Farren was looking at me afterward, it seemed like he was deciding something.

“The baron likes boys, and men who look like boys, so I’m tempted to take a razor to all the hair on you.”

“No,” Jaro chimed in before he dumped a pitcher of ice-cold water over my head to make sure all the hair was off me. “He’s pretty enough with the hair on his face gone. The baron breaks stallions as well as geldings.”

Farren nodded.

Once Jaro was certain I would pass inspection, he threw me several cloths to dry myself off and then he led me to a small room, locked the door on the way out, and left me alone.

Gazing at myself in the mirror above a chest of drawers, I didn’t recognize the face staring back at me. I looked younger without my beard and mustache, if only by a few years. Thirty-two maybe instead of thirty-six. Not a boy, not at all, no matter how much the baron might want one.

My mind started racing. Even if Raphael found me, if the baron had already raped me, would he want me anymore? And yes, I would have been forced, but would that matter to an angel? Would he rather I fought to the death? We’d never discussed anything so revolting, so I had no compass to guide me. Until then, all I could do was wait and watch and look for the opening I needed to escape. At least if I ran, I’d know that no harm would come to Vaya, and I could return with help and rescue him.

I was brought dinner. Cheese and meats, fruit and bread. I was literally having a charcuterie plate in hell. The attire they brought me was ridiculous—a silk robe that fell to the floor. The only good thing about it was that I could move in it. I had used the time to take a sliver of wood out of the windowsill. It came up easily with a little prying with the butter knife. I knew better than to think they’d let me keep any utensils, but I used it quickly and got my little wooden stake sharp enough to do damage.

What was surprising was that when they came for me, I was taken outside, across the courtyard, and up hundreds of spiraling stairs to a room in a tower overlooking the grounds. The chamber at the top had no bars on the open windows, and I could easily make a run for it and jump. But the fall, without my power, would certainly kill me. And if somehow I survived, the spikes below would be my end.

“Oh, look who it is,” a woman said.

Glancing around, I saw a blonde woman dressed in what could only be described as a vampire goth dress. It was all black lace with a plunging neckline, and the long sleeves appeared to be chiffon and tulle but could be black spiderwebs for all I knew. It clung to her ample bosom and all the rest of her voluptuous curves. Her skin was like white marble, and her eyes were a deep midnight blue. The only other color on her was the crimson lip stain, which might have been blood. This was hell after all.

“Do I know you?” I asked her.

The smile I received was utterly full of hate.

“Huh,” I grunted.

“What’s that, warder?” she asked, crossing the floor to me.

“You’re not at all what I expected,” I told Moira.

She nodded slowly. “It’s been weeks, did you know?”

I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of seeing any pain on my face.

“The archangel Raphael…” She laughed then, and it was a vicious sound. “And who could’ve known that? I mean, I should have. What kyrie could kill a demon lord?”

I stayed silent.

“But the archangel Raphael,” she went on, “is said to have gone quite mad after being parted from his mate. He’s inconsolable, and his fellow archangels, including Gabriel, the herald and servitor of the Almighty,” she sneered, “have imprisoned him for his own good.”

My heart sank, but I didn’t let her see even a flicker of my grief. I thought, of course, that he would save me, but that was not meant to be. I would need to save myself. The small spike inside the tie of the robe, now pressing against my back, would have to do.

“I never thought I could actually drive him mad,” she cackled. “I mean, how fortuitous that Gabriel threw you away like the piece of trash you are.”

Stupidly, I’d been so focused on her, I hadn’t noticed the men until they were on me. The robe was stripped off fast, falling to the ground, and I was dragged, fighting, to a large bed where there were ropes, so many ropes. I was put on my knees with my ass in the air and my chest flat on the bed. My arms were yanked back so I was folded in half, and my wrists were tied together, behind my thighs, to my ankles.

Moira clapped when it was done, and a large, heavyset man walked through the door.

Trussed up and helpless, I was trying to drag in air even as I felt the fear roll through me. I wasn’t proud of the sound that came out of me, and that, again, made Moira laugh.

“You shouldn’t laugh, pet,” the man scolded her, then walked over and slapped my ass hard. “It’s not kind to enjoy anothers’ misfortune.”

His words only made her laugh harder.