Page 42 of Taken By Touch and Torment

“I’m glad you like it, pet.” He paused, considering me for a moment. “Pets who behave get pretty things and greater freedoms. You have pleased me this week.”

He fingered the O-ring of my collar, pulling me toward him and tonguing his fangs.

“I told you that one day you would have no reason to live but for me. Every promise I made to you is coming true. I’ve seen the way you’ve finally allowed yourself to break, to submit everything to me. And that is the only reason I have kept you.” He gripped my throat. “Never forget to be grateful.”

“Yes, Master.”

He leaned in close. “Now, does my pet want to be a good little slave and sit in her Master’s lap during a very, very important meeting?”

He spoke to me like I was a child. In the past, it had made me feel feral. Now, it was the only source of warmth in the castle. The only freedom from my thoughts of self-loathing and disgust.

“If that would please you, Master.”

He grinned wider than I’d ever seen before. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled in recognition. This was no sociopathic imitation of a smile. And I knew that when Durian’s smiles were real, someone—usually me—was in dire peril.

Yet, I no longer feared the torment. There was no use. It would ensue no matter what I did, so it was better to be pliable, to let Durian bend and shape me into his idealized object of perfection.

“It would please me more than you know. You’ll even get to leave the palace.” He stroked my cheek as I struggled for air under his tight grip. “But not to fret, your Master will be there to keep you safe.”

Durian and I flew on a firebird, flanked by Brennan, two other lords, and two guards. I was shit at geography, so which direction we were headed was extremely unclear. Hatham soon faded from view, and foreboding fog and dense clouds obscured my vision of the ground entirely.

The wind was deafening. I would’ve frozen to death if someone wasn’t using heat magick to keep us warm. Durian’s magick was still a mystery. No one discussed it. He was hailed as Lillian’s chosen, born to secure the borns’ rightful rule. I sensed immense power from him at all times, but it was obscure, shrouded just like the land below this rolling fog.

It was heartbreaking to soar through the sky and not experience an ounce of exhilaration. That was when I knew for certain a huge, crucial piece of my soul had died. With Durian’s arms locked around me, I was merely sick to my stomach until I was back to feeling nothing at all.

My neck was bare. Durian hadn’t placed my collar back on my neck after he’d dressed me. It was strange to be without it, as I wore it almost every minute of every day. Aunt Carol only removed it for bathing, and Durian only removed it to feed from my throat.

One of the guards shouted something I couldn’t hear, and soon we were descending, breaching the fog. I furrowed my brows, attempting to make sense of the land reaching for us.

I jolted when our firebird roared. Durian’s desire was stronger than ever—for me, for Aristelle, for the whole world. His greed slithered around his mental landscape, ever-expanding and volatile. There was a level of anticipation and smugness that broke through my numb, gray walls—sending me on high alert.

The land in front of us wasn’t nearly as densely populated. We were on the outskirts of the city, as if we’d just left Aristelle’s border.

My vision suddenly went dark, and I sensed a charge of magick in the air. Was it Durian’s doing? I couldn’t be sure. Panic twisted my guts, and I leaned into Durian’s strong hold.

From what I understood, there were smaller villages and settlements between the city and the dry lands. These lands belonged to both mortals and vampires, but they weren’t as protected by the rule of the turned nor vulnerable to the whims of the born.

It was where people went who wanted to be left alone.

Understandable.

I bit down a scream as our firebird roughly skidded on flat earth. My vision was restored.

We’d landed in some kind of worn down military outpost, a wide open field for incoming firebirds surrounded by crumbling buildings and training grounds.

I heard the calls of distant firebirds belonging to a different faction, and they sounded angry. I couldn’t see them. Who were we meeting with? And why the hell was I here?

Durian helped me off the beast, his genuine smile back and more eerie than ever. Before us was a tall building, half-crumbled. I thought I heard voices from inside.

This made Durian’s face twist into wrath. “How did they beat us here?” he spat at his men.

My ears tingled, and my neck seared heat. My whole body began to tremble. I could no longer hear the voices around me, and Durian had to all but drag me forward until I regained control of my body.

The warning bells were screeching now, and I was worried my heart was going to leap from my ribcage at the rate it was pounding.

We weren’t headed inside the mess of patchy stone and faulty foundation. No, we walked around the side of the building, where there was a long table set with food and chalices in the middle of the field.

The first thing I saw were giant, bat-like beasts resting in the distance, their wings webbed and skin black as night. Another lone firebird was nestled between trees separate from them.

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