Page 126 of The Harbinger

Mia tugged on my tightening grip, and I loosened it when she kept her lips closed.

“I need some time to get it together.”

With a nod, he scurried away into the adjoining room, leaving me alone with Mia. I twisted my hand out of hers and gently guided her toward the cushioned seat across the desk. “Take a seat.”

She sat, the leather creaking under her dainty weight as she swallowed, her gaze frantically taking in the room as if it’d provide the answers I hadn’t. “I won’t ask this of you. I demand it because you are mine.” As I sat beside her, she flicked her gaze up toward me and wrapped her hand around my own. Leaning in, I braced my elbows on my thighs, drawn irresistibly towards her like a moth to a flame. “One day, you’ll understand this, but until then, just know it was necessary.”

Mia drew in shallow breaths, her chest rising and falling with punctuated inhalations that ended far too early. Her pulse stirred into a frenzied rhythm beneath my touch. “You’re scaring me.”

“I’m only fulfilling my vow.”

She continued her search around the room, her gaze landing on Dmitri.

He wouldn’t help her. No one would. I was her only hope in this situation, and my mind was made up.

Mikhail leaned into the room, his hand braced against the wall. “We’re ready,”

My shoulders sagged as her gaze bounced between the door where Mikhail was to me. I stood and pulled her along with me. “Remember what I said.”

A tear dribbled down her cheek, and I kissed them away, savoring her salty terror before dragging her into the secluded room at the back.

It had grown since the last time I’d been here. Or perhaps that was due to the revamped paint job, turning the walls from black to a creamy beige. He’d also removed the heavy drapes and substituted them with white, sheer lace, permitting natural light to penetrate the murky facade.

In the middle of the room was a modest bed resembling a gurney, granting him easy access to any body part.

Mia spun around and catapulted herself towards me, her hands pressing against my chest. “I don’t know what you have planned, but no.”

“You will.” I grabbed her and walked her backward until she leaned over the bed. “There are no other options.”

Tears glistened in her eyes as she shook her head, glancing at the bed behind her, then back to me. “Please don’t make me.”

“Not another word.”

The tears spilled over as she stared at the brass-covered stick sticking out of a container specially designed to hold liquid nitrogen. Her staccato breaths faltered as I pulled her shirt over her head, then laid her down.

“Where do you want it?” Mikhail asked.

I pressed my finger just below her right clavicle and circled the soft flesh there. “Here.”

“I’ll need to do it in two parts. So make sure she holds still.”

Her suffering would only reinforce the understanding that it was either me or the grave.

I motioned for Dmitri, and he grabbed her legs as I stationed myself at the head of the bed, her hands twisting against her belly. Tears pooled in the shell of her ears as they rushed from her bloodshot eyes.

“I’m here, Mia.” I cupped her chin as I stared at her from above, her features upside down but still as perfect as can be. She shook her head, her lips moving with silent protests as Mikhail wheeled over a small tray with the two brass branding sticks and antiseptics. “Keep your eyes on me and hold still.”

Her knees bobbed, and her shoulders shook as she pinched her eyes closed, disobeying my direction. “Please. Please. Please.”

“Eyes on me,milaya.”

Her eyes shot open when Mikhail stopped beside her, ripped the antiseptic package, and wiped her bare skin in the space I’d indicated. She moved with shaking fingers and covered her breasts, her modesty refreshing yet unnecessary.

Mikhail glanced at me and nodded as he tossed the wipe into the bin, then pulled out the frost-bitten brass from the bucket, the milky gas evaporating off the stick adding to the lurid atmosphere.

“Be brave,” I whispered as he pressed it against her skin.

The taciturn sizzle of her skin sang along with her cries, her hips pinned to the table, my lips pressed to her cheeks, forehead, then lips. Ten seconds and the freeze brand sealed into place on her skin, the perfect binding sigil set for eternity.

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