Page 136 of Taken By Touch and Torment

Rune’s eyes locked on mine, his lip itching to curl. “Don’t do that.”

I didn’t blink, holding his intensity.

“You know we’re all sitting here to help you. If your mind is set, there’s nothing we can do but prepare you the best we can,” Rune said. He visibly fought the raw emotions underneath the surface that threatened his impassive leader persona.

“I’m sorry, Scarlett,” Snow said. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way. I’m sorry you feel betrayed. We only wanted to protect you. Most of all, I’m sorry Durian has been doing any of it to begin with.”

“He’s punishing me,” I said. Rosalind’s face eclipsed my mind’s eye, and I felt nothing but pure rage. “Even if he thinks I was taken against my will, he’s punishing me, anyway. He wants me back, and he wants me broken, entirely dependent on him.”

Rune’s shadows crawled toward me, one of them wrapping around my wrist.

“I hate what you both kept from me,” I said to Snow and Rune, given they were the ones I expected the most honesty from. “But I understand why you did it. I’m not going to leave angry.” My rage melted, and my lip trembled. “I just want this all to be over.”

Rune nodded, his shadow tightening around my wrist as if unconsciously. Snow’s green eyes were watery.

It was time to focus on the task at hand. I steadied myself with a deep breath in. “I have new ideas.”

Rune forced me to sit in his lap at dinner with everyone, and even though it was mildly embarrassing, I couldn’t help but obey him. The humiliation was driving heat between my thighs, which only made my cheeks flush even brighter pink.

This delighted Rune, of course.

Several inner circle members joined us at the long dining table. Snow, Sadie, and I were the only non-turned other than the willing courtesans feeding guests.

Uriah was sitting extremely close to Snow at our right, shooting a feral glare at anyone who glanced at her seat at the table questioningly.

I looked up at Rune. He jolted when I lightly brushed my hand against his cheek.

“I need you to feed when I’m gone,” I whispered.

His jaw ticked, his hard stare piercing straight through me.

“I need you to stay strong for me. I will never see it as a betrayal. You need to do what you need to do so that you can protect me when the time comes, okay?”

Rune nodded. “Yes, baby.” He smiled sadly, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear.

A turned man, Dev, entered the room. Rune’s focus strayed to him.

“We’ve orchestrated a weak spot at the border, by all appearances,” Dev said. He glanced at me for the briefest of seconds.

Rune’s grip on me tightened. “Good, thank you, Dev.”

Everyone pretended they hadn’t heard a thing. My escape was being carefully planned on both sides of the border, unbeknownst to the born.

Rune kissed my forehead. I gave him my wrist.

He stared into my eyes as he brushed his lips against my skin. At the flash of his fangs, my core turned molten.

He sunk down into my flesh, and I saw cosmos, heard music that sent pleasurable chills down my spine.

Someone cleared their throat.

“For the love of the gods,” a male voice said.

Rune stopped feeding, homing in on the source of the comment—a turned man now staring down at his chalice of blood. The ire in Rune’s eyes was downright murderous.

Uriah coughed, quickly rushing to his comrade’s defense. “Look, you two stir up some intensity, you know…” His knuckles were white around his utensils, and Snow was staring at him like she was in heat.

I giggled, and Rune’s possessive wrath was replaced with amusement.

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