Page 35 of Heartless Prince

10

Tatum

Someone finally camefor me about three days after I discovered the secret tunnel leading out of my room. That horrible tunnel which held nothing but salt air and false promises.

It was the same nasty nurse from the first day. She took my temperature, then told me to stand up and follow her.

“Where are we going?” I asked weakly.

She turned her nose up at me. I didn’t blame her. I probably smelled terrible. I hadn’t washed or changed clothes in weeks. “To bathe you,” she said. “Thank god,” she added under her breath.

She led me into the brightly-lit hallway and pulled me along to the end. It terminated in a set of stairs and an elevator. She put a keycard in a slot near the elevator, and it pinged a second later. The chrome doors slid open.

“Get in,” she said, motioning one hand toward them.

We rode the elevator up one floor according to the control panel inside. From the panel, I could see there were four floors altogether.

We stepped out into another hallway. This one was much airier and nicer than the other. It had high ceilings with intricate plaster moldings, oil paintings on the walls, polished parquet flooring and soft natural light. There was a slight scent of salty air in here too. It was pleasant and soothing, and it reminded me of my old summer job back in high school, working at a kiosk down at the beach.

I found myself wondering again if my cell was underground. So far, there’d been quite a lot of evidence pointing to that—the constant warmth despite a lack of heating devices, the harsh, unnatural lighting, and the winding secret tunnel which led steeply upward only to terminate in a ground-level door and window.

As I stepped down the new hall, I craned my neck to look out a window. I couldn’t make out much other than wide swathes of deep green pine trees. Wherever we were, we must be near a forest as well as the coast.

The nurse stopped outside a door and swiped her keycard in it again. She pushed it open and beckoned me in.

I let out a gasp at the sight inside. In the center of this new room was an enormous Roman-style bath, unlike anything I’d seen in person before. I was struck dumb by the imposing sandstone columns all around the square pool, each one linked by an embellished archway. The ceiling was inlaid with gold and the bathwater was made azure-blue by patterned tiles and underwater lights.

It was a shame a beautiful building like this housed such ugly secrets.

“Strip and get in,” the nurse said.

I was about to do what she said when the door opened. Instinctively, I turned my head, and I gulped as I saw Elias step into the room.

“I said strip and get in,” the nurse repeated.

I glowered at her. I didn’t particularly like the idea of being naked in front of her, but there was absolutely no way I wanted to be naked in front of Elias.

“I’ll take it from here,” he said. The nurse bowed her head and left the room. He turned his cold gaze to me. “You heard her, Tatum. Strip and get in.”

The expression on his face told me he wasn’t messing around, and the way he said my name made it sound like a threat. Do as I say or else.

Haltingly, I pulled off the filthy sweatshirt and pants I’d woken up in on my first day here. I hadn’t been given any underwear, so as soon as the clothes were crumpled around my feet, I was completely bare before him, dirty and humiliated. So far below him I may as well be a peasant from the Dark Ages.

This is the fucking Dark Ages, a sarcastic voice in the back of my mind whispered. All these men thinking they can buy and sell women like property. Archaic pricks.

Elias’s eyes roamed over the curves of my body. I shivered under his cold gaze. He was hard. I could see the thick outline of his cock straining against his black pants. I hoped I never had to see it bare, never had to feel it inside me. As astoundingly handsome as he was, he was pure evil, just like his father.

He took three steps toward me, slow and measured, his eyes never leaving my dirty body. Every inch of me was on display for him, and his lips curled into a devious smirk as my nipples hardened. It was only because I was cold. Not because of him.

Never because of him.

“Get in the water,” he said, tilting his head forward to indicate the enormous bath behind me.

I did as he said, feeling his watchful gaze on my back the entire time. The water was warm as I stepped down into it, but I kept shivering anyway. I heard slow footsteps behind me, and when I turned, I saw Elias standing right at the edge.

“Wash yourself,” he commanded. One hand flicked upward, motioning toward some bottles and a cloth on the edge toward my left.

I moved through the water and grabbed the first bottle I saw, a violet-scented shower gel. Tipping some onto the cloth, I scrubbed myself with it until my skin felt raw. Then I washed my hair with the shampoo and conditioner which sat next to the gel.

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