Page 36 of Heartless Prince

“Good girl. Already doing as you’re told,” Elias said a moment later, watching me with amusement as I lathered up my long brown hair. “I guess all those days in solitary broke you down just enough, huh?”

I swept my hand through the water, splashing his shoes and pants. “I’m only doing this because I haven’t been allowed to bathe until now, and I need to. Not because you told me to do it!”

His eyes went steely and dark, like slate in the rain. “You better watch your attitude if you want to stay in one piece. Don’t speak unless you’re spoken to.”

“Bite me,” I muttered.

“I heard that. Next time you speak, I will fucking bite you, right on your pretty little clit. Maybe then you’ll learn your place.”

What did he think he was, a fucking vampire? Asshole.

I glared at him for a few more seconds. Then I fell silent and continued washing myself, basking in the warm water and sweet-smelling soaps. A few weeks ago, a bath or shower seemed like nothing to me; just an everyday ritual that everyone had to go through. Now it was a special treat to be savored, an indulgent luxury.

Elias finally looked at his watch. “Time to get out,” he said. He strode over to the other side of the room and returned with a fluffy white towel and matching bathrobe.

Against my better judgment, I let him dry me. Let his warm hands coast all over me with the towel, just so I could feel that human touch I’d been craving so badly. I’d promised myself I would never crave it from him, but by now I’d turned so loopy and desperate that I didn’t mind so much. If I closed my eyes, I could pretend I was somewhere else and the man rubbing me down was a beloved boyfriend, not a ruthless psychopath.

My eyes snapped open a moment later as Elias let out a chuckle. “I see the bath isn’t the only thing that got you wet,” he said, eyes focused downward.

I swallowed hard. I hadn’t even noticed until now, because I was too caught up in my own deep thoughts, but he was right. I was wet. Soaking wet and turned on beyond belief.

It wasn’t because of him, of course. It had to be because I’d been picturing another man standing here touching me, caressing me, stroking me. But then I realized with a harsh shock that the man I’d pictured as my boyfriend in my mind’s eye was Elias all along.

I was broken. Something inside me was sick, wrong, bad.

I didn’t have enough time to worry about it, though. Two bulky men entered the bathroom a moment later and hauled me away. Terrified, I looked back over my shoulder at Elias, wishing and praying against all reason that he would stop them from taking me. He didn’t. He simply stood there and watched, cruel amusement radiating from his handsome face.

The men took me into another room somewhere down the hall. High ceiling, molding along the edges, wide varnished floorboards and understated furniture in muted colors. Expensive. Through the paned windows, I could see the forest I caught a glimpse of earlier, stretching out for miles.

I was led over to a vanity table and forced to sit in front of it on a little stool covered in a rose-pink cushion with thin gold stripes. “Stay,” one of the men commanded, like I was a pet dog.

A woman entered the room a moment later. She blow-dried my hair, styled it, and applied some makeup to my tired, haggard features. When she was done, I looked like a totally different person. I looked beautiful.

Despite that, I still hated what I saw in the mirror. I didn’t want to look beautiful for these people.

The men stepped forward again, ripped my robe off, and put me in heavy chains. I didn’t bother struggling against them. They were far too strong for me, and I had no idea what they might do. They could slap me, kick me, beat the living shit out of me. Kill me.

When my hands were limp and useless behind my back, they put a black leather collar around my neck. One of them slapped me on the ass, making me yelp. “She’s ready to go,” he said to the other.

Raw, angry red crept over my cheeks at the violation. At least if Elias had slapped me on the ass, it would make sense. I knew him, sort of, and I’d been told I belonged to him. His toy. Even though he’d barely shown any sign of wanting to play with me yet, I was still his, and I doubted he would tolerate these men touching me like that.

Wait. What the hell?

Stark shock hit me a second later as I fully processed the idea. I couldn’t believe the thoughts swimming around my mind. I didn’t belong to Elias! I wasn’t his toy. He didn’t own me, and he didn’t have any more right to my body than these horrible men next to me.

God, my mind was melting. I was genuinely losing it.

The men led me back through the hallway. It was late now, and everything was lit by a soft yellow glow from sconces and chandeliers.

When we reached a wide set of doors, they pushed me outside into the night air and began to lead me up a path. It was freezing out here. No surprise there, given that it had to be late October by now, if not even later. I bit back tears as stones, twigs and fallen pine needles dug into my bare feet.

I looked around as much as I could in the darkness, trying to figure out where we were. On my left, all I could see was a thick canopy of trees. It was the same forest I noticed earlier. The branches spiked high in the sky, and it was so dark I couldn’t see more than a few feet into the woods. There were small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind coming from within, making me shiver even more.

I could see a wide swathe of inky water to my right, glittering in the moonlight. Foamy crests of crashing waves were the only sound from that direction, and there was no sign of a beach. Only tall cliffs stretching in an inhospitable expanse into the creeping darkness.

I was right earlier. We were somewhere by the coast. That didn’t really narrow things down for me much, though. We could be anywhere. I assumed we were still on the east coast, but it could be the west for all I knew. Hell, we might not even be in the States anymore. We could be in Italy, South Africa, anywhere in the world with a coastline.

The men led me deep into the woods, following a narrow path down a soft incline. Up ahead, the path was lit by tall burning torches along the edges, and in the distance, I could hear the rhythmic pounding of drums.

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