Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
“Your father’s helicopter is minutes away.” Landon aims his gaze at the floor, clearly uncomfortable with what’s about to transpire.
“No time to waste then,” Pax says to Sebastian, circling a finger in the air, “turn around.”
Five long seconds pass as we stare at each other, though it feels much longer. His blue eyes darken, conveying everything he can’t verbalize.
Love.
And an undeniable command.
He expects me to sit here and silently watch as Pax tortures him, but I’m not sure I can do it. Narrowing his eyes, he sends me one last do-as-I-say look before he turns, his back facing me, and allows Pax to shackle his wrists above his head. The chains rattle and clank with his movement, secured to the ceiling with the kind of strength not even Sebastian can overcome.
The keeper of the dungeon walks a slow circle around him. “I’m curious about something. How many times did you get your ass dragged down here when we were teenagers? I know you kept my father busy.”
“Enough times that your whip won’t phase me.”
Grinning as if he took Sebastian’s answer as a challenge, Pax takes down a black whip from the wall, uncoiling the thin snake-like tail with a flick of his wrist. “You haven’t been on the other end of my arm.”
“I want Novalee’s lashes,” Sebastian says, jutting his chin at Pax. “You hear? Give them to me.”
An undeniable mask of anticipation comes over Pax, and the sight shoots a chill down my back. I scoot into the corner of the cell, as far away from him as I can get.
“I don’t think so. She’s got ten coming, and they’re mine to give.”
“How many am I getting?”
“That’s up to me,” a voice booms from the bottom of the staircase, his sudden presence startling the group of men gathered in the center of the dungeon.
But not Sebastian. He doesn’t even flinch.
Because he knew his father had arrived? I crane my neck to get a better look. The man is an older version of his son, blond hair graying, and eyes that appear a darker shade of blue, like indigo or sapphire. There’s a noticeable unbending quality to his stature that reminds of the front Sebastian puts up for the world to see—the front he let me bust through during our month together when he allowed his real personality to shine.
As Mr. Stone strolls closer to where his son stands shackled to the ceiling, Pax loses some of his triumph. “How many should I issue, sir?”
“Whatever you think he’s got coming, double it. Only way to get through that hard-headed stubbornness of his.”
“I was thinking twenty.”
“Twenty?” Sebastian scoffs. “That’s an insult to the queen and the House of Virgo.”
The instant he uses my title, I know he’s got a hidden agenda.
“How is that an insult?” Pax asks, resting his hands on his hips, the whip curling around his leg.
“I touched what wasn’t mine, put my lips on her when she was most vulnerable. Is that all a queen’s virtue is worth?” Sebastian jerks his chin toward Miles. “You’re the resident virtue thief, are you not? Is twenty enough for the man who stole what was yours?”
Miles sneers. “You deserve that and more.”
“Then double it, and give me hers, too.” He glances at his father from over his shoulder. “Unless you’re too weak in the stomach to observe.”
“Give him the queen’s strikes.”
“With all due respect,” Miles says, stepping out of sync with the circle. “The queen is just as culpable.”
“I highly doubt that. My son is willful and headstrong. He’s never respected authority.” His tone is hard and unforgiving, not a hint of compassion for the man who went though so much…who lost so much.
“Give him the queen’s punishment.” Sebastian’s father nods at Miles. “She’ll suffer enough when he breaks.”
My stomach roils at witnessing the evidence of his father’s cold-hearted approach to his own flesh and blood. How did Sebastian learn decency and empathy growing up under the rule of such a hateful man?
“Very well, then.” Miles steps back in line, the downward curve of his lips imparting displeasure at the legacy member’s veto.
Pax stops behind Sebastian, sending a furtive glance my way, and the room falls completely silent in the seconds before he swings his arm for the first strike.
I jump, covering my mouth, and hold my breath as a painful-looking welt streaks across Sebastian’s back.
“Impressive,” Pax taunts. “You didn’t even flinch. But that’s just the first. We’ve got forty-nine more to go.”
“What the fuck are you waiting for?” Standing on tip-toe, Sebastian grabs the chains holding him captive and prepares for the next lash.
Too many bodies clutter the space to make sense of such silence, but for the next several minutes, Pax’s whip slicing the air and cracking on tender flesh is the only sound in the dungeon. Even my tears are silent, burning down my cheeks, unbidden.