Page 87 of Taken By Touch and Torment

“I wasn’t lying, Scarlett,” Rune said. He stared at me in that way he did—like he wanted to pry open my ribs and pull out my heart to examine it from all angles. “But I wouldn’t be a good man if I didn’t take what has happened into consideration. That doesn’t mean I’m dishonest or pitying. It means I care about your well-being and refuse to let your trauma get shoved under the rug, nor will I ever consciously perpetuate your suffering.”

I shrugged out of his hold and sat up.

“Baby, don’t do that…” Rune sighed, sitting up to rest against the headboard. “You don’t have to face it today. Or even tomorrow. Focus on letting yourself heal and feel safe. Let’s get you showered and in your own clothes.”

His gaze dropped to my chest, and I panicked, quickly pulling the sheets back up to my neck. I’d forgotten I was still in lingerie and a sheer dress.

“I can handle it, Scarlett,” Rune said. “I will employ methods of torture unseen in even the deepest pits of the underworld for every bruise. For so much as an unwanted stare.”

After the healer, most of my marks were likely gone or substantially faded. But I still wanted to hide the weight I’d lost, the way my body had changed.

“I know you will,” I whispered, looking away. “I don’t want you to see me right now.”

“That’s okay. You don’t owe me anything.” He rubbed his thumb over my hand. He dragged his eyes back up to mine, pondering something. “You’re not hiding yourself to spare my feelings, are you?”

I shook my head. I took a deep breath.

“He ruined my body,” I whispered, and I regretted the words instantly, the way they scraped up my throat and hung in the air for far too long between us.

Rune leaned forward, his gaze fierce, certain, inarguable. I couldn’t help but fall prey to his gravitational field of authority, his power thick in the air.

“No. He. Didn’t.” Though his voice was steady and quiet, I could tell he was vibrating with rage. “Scarlett, you are as beautiful as that day I found you in Noel’s Tavern. And I will not rest until you see yourself exactly as I see you, just as I promised when fate intertwined our lives and brought you to my city. You are perfect. You always have been. You always will be.”

Noel’s? I’d nearly forgotten the fact that Rune had been stalking me for longer than I’d ever realized.

I tasted bitterness on my tongue, driving the urge to cower and lash out. “I don’t feel perfect,” I said. “I feel ruined.”

“That’s okay.” Rune kissed my forehead, deeply inhaling. “Feel what you feel. But feelings and thoughts are not always reality. Especially when they’ve been planted inside us by those who wish to make us small.”

I shuddered when Rune’s lips brushed my skin, and I still felt them there after he pulled away. It was hard to believe I was free. This all felt like a strange dream. And Rune’s love was far less understandable than my escape. Flashes of yesterday arose from the abyss, and I struggled to remember every detail.

“It was Snow, wasn’t it? She told you the truth about who I was,” I said, putting two and two together now that I’d had more time to think. Snow had seemed friendly with Rune. More than that—it was like they were actually close.

“Yes,” Rune said. “She barged inside my castle, and she fought for you exactly how you deserve to be fought for. I deeply respect her, and I’m grateful you have her in your life.”

“But, Rune…” It was excruciatingly hard to say, and I was terrified it would lead to me losing him all over again. But I had to say it. I couldn’t live a lie. “Are you sure you truly love me? I know succubi can’t induce love. But what if it’s not love you feel? What if it’s all still a grand manipulation, even if I didn’t do it on purpose?”

Rune smiled, brushing a thumb against my cheek. “Sadie, my mentor, showed me that I’m immune to succubi magick the same as I’m immune to bloodlust. It may damn well feel like you’ve hexed me, but you played fairly. I really, truly love you, Scarlett. More than any man could ever dream of loving you.” He leaned in, glancing at my lips, tracing every angle of my face before landing back on my eyes. “Now go get in the shower. You reek.”

I snapped out of my stunned stupor to glare at him. I huffed and turned my back on him, slipping out of bed and making my way to his bathroom while he laughed. It was only when the door was shut behind me that I realized I’d revealed my body.

I still burned with shame. But not nearly as much as before.

I raised my fingers to my lips as I leaned back against the door facing Rune’s lavish bathroom. I traced the way they’d curved into a small smile.

Everything that had happened, everything that had gone horribly, heartbreakingly wrong—and still Rune’s declarations made me feel like a woman who was hopelessly addicted, endlessly obsessed with him. Everything in this whole fucked up world paled in comparison to his sneaky roots wrapped around my heart.

He was immune to my magick. All this time, I thought everything about us had been a fabrication. I still had many unanswered questions. There was still so much hurt. Yet, our love, our destiny—if he had never been manipulated, then Rune might’ve been the most real, untainted connection of my entire life.

I struggled not to fall to my knees. My reality had shifted back another one-hundred-eighty degrees.

I ripped off the sheer dress and lingerie with little care and tossed them aside. I walked to the grand shower and turned the knobs, letting the cascading water heat as I stood back and watched the steam.

Sadie… who was this woman, and why did her name sound familiar? I remembered now that Rune had mentioned her before, when he was explaining to me why he no longer entered bloodlust. How powerful did she have to be for her to be a mentor to Rune?

Belise’s healing salves washed down the drain, leaving mostly unblemished skin in their wake. I wished the wounds behind my eyes were so easy to erase.

My neck felt naked without Durian’s ugly collar. I found myself reaching for my throat every once in a while, thumbing where that O-ring used to rest.

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