Page 34 of Taken By Touch and Torment

“Durian said you held absolutely no information of value about the turned,” Brennan said.

It sounded nearly accusatory, but he wasn’t so bold as to question his superior’s capacities to glean information. I barely remembered that session—it was a blur of scalding heat, venom drunkenness, blows of pain, a dagger carving into my flesh. I was fairly certain I’d cried in Durian’s arms about Rune.

Thank all the gods that it was a faint, messy haze.

“Apparently not,” I said, and Brennan’s eyes flashed at the hint of true emotion leaking through.

Now that I thought about it, it was actually rather insulting I’d never earned a piece of top-secret intel. It was as though Rune had always planned to lose me. Even when he’d smuggled me to his castle from Odessa the secret way, he’d rendered me unconscious.

Over and over, my heart shattered. The night sky that had once been full of glimmering stars went deafeningly dark.

“You’ve settled remarkably well into your new home,” Brennan continued. “Most of Durian’s pets go insane within a week. If they survive that long.”

My lips tipped up slightly, and Brennan’s eyes flew to them and lingered as I spoke. “If you and I had gotten to know each other, you might’ve realized that I’m not replaceable.”

I leaned closer and mirrored him, my eyes on his lips. I pulled back my sexual allure and twisted it into playful innocence—imitating Rosalind’s lighthearted, comforting seductiveness.

Brennan’s arms shot out, his pulse quickening and his eyes alight. “I can scent that, tiny human.”

Tiny? That was a bit dramatic. I was maybe two inches below average, and I was by no means stick thin. These sickos wanted to play into our weakness and innocence to a grossly perverse degree. I was tiny compared to Rune, maybe.

A shard of memory glimmered behind my eyes—Rune’s grip on my throat, his silence no matter how much I begged him to speak.

I shuddered.

“Don’t be frightened,” Brennan said, misreading my reaction. “You may be a servant, but, believe it or not—I actually prefer my women willing and enthusiastic.”

I chose not to believe that. But I rounded my eyes as I stared up at him as if he were the pinnacle of gentlemanly chivalry.

“Are you interrogating me or flirting with me, my lord?” I shifted on my feet like I was nervous, then created a seductive contradiction with my accompanying smile.

Predictably, Brennan was enthralled, his own desire now strengthening the same magick that would later be used against him.

“You’re a little survivor, aren’t you, Scarlett?” he drawled, again showing his fangs. He didn’t answer my question. “Far, far more intelligent than you let on.”

Um, rude. I might’ve been traumatized to hell and back, but I hadn’t realized I’d been coming off as stupid. I supposed Durian hadn’t given me a single opportunity to show anything more than my obedience. Of course, his men would only think of me as a human doll passed back and forth between warring clans.

That was precisely why I needed this time off leash.

And Brennan had now become yet another man secluding me from the rest of the world. Proximity was a killer to any seduction. It was time for space.

“I’m flirting with you,” Brennan finally answered, choosing the classic bold move in our little dance. “Durian has certainly spent more time and energy on you than any of his previous slaves...” He backed away, letting his thoughts trail off. “Ready to play with the others?”

Yes, which was why I’d subtly nudged him in that direction. I nodded with a small smile. It was time to alter my image again. No more cowering. It was time to stand out.

“No need to fear. You won’t ever leave my sight,” he said with hooded eyes.

Again, I thought of Rune. And again, I wanted to cry in the shower. This time I would wash away the remnants of a vampire’s unwanted touch without his attentive care.

I had been right all along. I was always meant to absorb these devastating blows alone.

16

SCARLETT

In one of the opulent lounge areas in a sprawling drawing room, group prayer time with my fellow slaves quickly became a spectacle. When the aunts had us reach our hands out in front of us before a statue of Lillian, I arched my back and lifted my ass high before lowering into the correct position.

This elicited several moans and crass comments from our growing audience.

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