Page 55 of Taken By Touch and Torment

SCARLETT

The born congregated in the dungeons tonight, which were half entertainment lounges like Aristelle’s feeding clubs and half literal dungeons, for torture of a non-sexual variety. I couldn’t tell which screams belonged to prisoners, slaves, or consenting vampires.

It all melded together into a depraved underworld of sex and violence. I couldn’t deny it was an energy that felt natural inside my veins.

I was my Dark Mother’s daughter, after all.

“They envy you,” I whispered to Kole as vampires watched us enter the space together.

Kole straightened. His eyes were alight as his ego puffed up. “I can see that.”

Candles and witch lights flickered, the atmosphere dark, mysterious, and decadent. A statue of Lillian stood against a far wall, a human-sized altar before her. I quickly looked away.

Durian and Brennan were upstairs somewhere attending to clan matters. This was my chance to gain a foothold with someone who didn’t belong to Durian’s clan, despite his sympathy for their cause.

Kole could help me. He had the power to change my fate. And maybe I had the power to change everyone else’s.

A blonde figure emerged from behind two vampires—one with a ball gag in his mouth, drool dribbling down his chin, and the other a woman in a shiny black miniskirt and corset.

At first, Kole’s attention was on the submissive man and his domme, his desire predictably flaring. Then it landed on the blonde walking toward us, her hair in perfect loose curls, a beauty mark just above her full lips.

Her dress was tiny and made of white fur, a bold fashion choice that perhaps only Rosalind could pull off.

“Hello, Scarlett,” she said.

She was oozing sultry allure, no doubt feeding off this room as much as I was. In her eyes, I detected a hint of relief, a flash of curiosity.

I’d thought she hated me after my night of chaos and destruction, but it seemed I was wrong about a lot of things lately.

If anything, she looked happy to see me. Her shoulders relaxed, and her smile appeared genuine.

“Hi, Rosalind,” I said. “This is my new friend, Kole. He’s traveled all the way from Ravenia.” I pretended like that was the most fascinating fact I’d ever heard in my life.

Rosalind mirrored my enthusiasm, her whole face lighting up. “That’s incredible! I’ve always wanted to visit.”

Our shared spectacle nearly made me snort with inappropriate laughter.

I would take comedic relief wherever I could steal it, at this point.

Kole took Rosalind’s outstretched hand and kissed it. A few things fell into place all at once, the background hum of my always-thinking, always-processing mind coming to a screeching halt.

During the meeting, I’d learned that the communication between the kingdom and the turned had been compromised. Kole had said that the meeting wasn’t as it was originally planned, and the turned had accused Durian of treason. I’d been working out what had happened based on all that had been said, and it seemed clear that Durian had almost pushed the turned out of the meeting entirely.

But he hadn’t succeeded. The lines had been restored.

And that meant…

I looked at Rosalind and then at Kole. A scheme took shape. I smiled wide.

Kole had a way to communicate with Rune.

I had a way to communicate with Rune.

Rosalind and I giggled as we fawned over Kole in a secluded seating area, entertaining him as we fed off this powerful dignitary’s desire. We sat on the wide arms of a spacious chair with Kole in between us.

Strangely, Rosalind was a comfort. It was nice to have backup, even if I wasn’t exactly sure why she was helping me. It was soothing to be with someone who understood what I was—who saw me and accepted me for my true nature, when everything else about my existence was currently a lie.

So far we’d avoided being fed from, giving Kole a steady stream of blood and elixir from chalices instead.

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