Page 51 of Heartless Prince

He leaned down, hot mouth only inches from my left ear. “I know you lied to me. That’s all you are. A filthy little liar.”

My brows shot up. “No, I’ve never lied to you! Everything I said the other day is true!”

“Christ, you just can’t help yourself, can you?” he said, his eyes lit with savagery. “You need to be fucking punished. I should’ve done it sooner.”

“Why?” I choked out.

He didn’t reply. He grabbed my right arm and roughly dragged me inside, across the ballroom and out into the hall beyond. I wailed as he pulled me down the hallway, begging him to let me go, but he stayed silent, his fingers bruising my arm.

A red door opened, and he pushed me into a dim room with crimson walls and no windows. There was an X-shaped frame on my left and a wooden beam suspended from the ceiling directly ahead of me. On the right was a table with ropes, chains and other objects I didn’t recognize. Above it was a thin black rack with whips hanging from it.

However he intended to punish me for my so-called lies, it was going to hurt.

“I’m going to give you exactly what you deserve tonight,” Elias hissed in my ear, fingers twisting in my hair. He dragged me kicking and screaming to the beam, and he tied me onto it with my arms high above my head, my back exposed and vulnerable.

“Please don’t hurt me!” I cried as he stepped around to look at my face. A knife had appeared in his hand, presumably from his pocket.

“Don’t try to struggle, unless you want to make it worse for yourself,” he said, eyes blazing. He moved so close I could feel his warm breath on my cheeks as he sliced my beautiful gown down the side. I sobbed as the fabric fell away, leaving me naked aside from my torn panties and jewelry. It was cold in this room, and goosebumps cropped up all over my bare skin as I shivered in place.

“I’ve waited a long time for this,” Elias continued. “I wish I hadn’t. I wish I’d done this the night they brought you here.”

His eyes coasted over my semi-nude figure. My nipples turned stiff and pointed. I told myself it was just from the frigid temperature in the room, but deep down, I knew there was more to it than that. It was the same as last night’s incident in my cell. Despite all his nasty words and cruelty, I was intensely attracted to Elias.

I hated myself for it.

He walked over to the rack and selected a black tasseled whip from it. With a cruel smirk, he headed back over to me and stepped behind me, running his free hand over my back. “I’m the only one who will ever touch you,” he growled. “Either here or at the Lodge. I’m going to be the first and only man inside you, and I’m going to break you down like the nasty little whore you are until you’re begging for more punishment.”

He trailed the tassels of the whip across my skin as he spoke. My back automatically arched against the sensation, wanton and desperate. I cursed myself inwardly, still hating how much I responded to his cruelty.

Elias chuckled. His hand moved around to my front, pinching my left nipple until I whimpered. Then his hand moved lower, fingertips stroking between my legs. I bit my lip, knowing what he would find there.

“You’re soaked,” he muttered. “I knew you would be.”

I let out a humiliated sob. He was right. Somehow, all the fear and shame was making me wet and tingly. The closeness of this sinfully-gorgeous man, the stark hatred in his voice, the fact he could do absolutely anything to me right now and make me take it all… it was all twisting into a cocktail of wicked delight, sinful pleasure brewing deep in my core.

There was something seriously wrong with me.

“You really are a little slut, aren’t you?” Elias went on, his lips hovering over my left ear. “Or maybe you’re just wet because you know this is exactly what you deserve.”

“I don’t deserve to be hurt,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “You don’t have to do this. I never lied to you. I swear, Elias.”

“You did. Just like you lied about Ben Wellington,” he said in an angry hiss. “And it’s Master to you. You don’t get to call me by my name anymore.”

I bit back a strangled moan as Ben Wellington’s name echoed in my mind. Shit. Elias knew all about my past. He knew what I did.

I closed my eyes as rolling waves of guilt and shame hit me all over again. “No…”

“Oh, yes. I know all about that, you little bitch. He wasn’t just my second cousin. He was also one of my best friends. Until you murdered him.”

“I didn’t!” I cried out, struggling against my restraints. “I’m not a murderer!”

“Yes, you fucking are!” He suddenly hit me with the whip. Sharp, red-hot pain slashed at the sensitive skin of my upper back. I shrieked, and he did it again, hitting me slightly lower this time.

“Please!” I screamed. “It was an accident. I didn’t lie!”

“I’ll get the truth out of you one way or another,” Elias said, raining down another two strokes on my back. “And I’ll make you feel what you’ve done.”

“No,” I mumbled. Tears rolled down my face and into my mouth, so many I thought I might choke.

---