Page 23 of Absentia Mori

Raithe stalks toward me. “A woman like you eats men like Fabien for breakfast. With your tight little cunt and your hard nipples, welcoming your predators in like a black widow spider.”

I shake as he towers over me. This man is devoid of any empathy. As I stare into his one good eye, I see only darkness. His rage has festered into apathy and brought him to a state of no longer giving a fuck. This manwillhurt me. Of this, I have no fucking doubt.

“Just do what you’re going to do, Raithe. The drama is boring me,” I bite back. Despite my fear, I willnotfucking cower.

He lifts me off the floor by my shoulders as if I weigh nothing and slams me down on the operating table. “I’m going to have to do something about that vile fucking mouth of yours. You just don’t know when to shut the fuck up.”

I whimper as he slips my wrists and ankles into the restraints, strapping them in tight. “There’s not many things that can keep me quiet, asshole.”

“Oh, I bet I can think of a few.” He picks up a scalpel and holds the sharp pointy end over my mouth. “Maybe I’ll cut out your tongue and then sew your lips shut. Make you my little rag doll.”

I have to slow my breath, or I’m going to fucking hyperventilate. “Now, who’s the little freak?” I snarl.

“I’m anything but little, darlin’. Or don’t you remember how your hand barely fit around my cock?”

The look in his eyes is feral. I shudder as the chill in the air sends goosebumps across my skin. “You’re a sick fuck, you know that? A really top-notch fucking psycho.”

He grins as he slides the scalpel down my panties. “You’re about to find out just how fucking sick I am.”

My legs tremble as he pulls up on the scalpel, ripping my panties apart in one swift jerk. He pulls them off before pressing them to his face and sucks in a deep breath, inhaling their scent.

“I can smell your arousal.” He rubs them across his lips. “Mmm, so wet.” He licks his lips as he stuffs my panties into his pocket.

My stomach flips. Fear mixed with lust has me in a fucking chokehold. My clit tingles, and my nipples are as hard as rocks. Fuck. “You wish,” I breathe.

His eyes darken when he spots Fabien’s name on my thigh. He pins my leg back. “What the fuck is this?”

I chuckle. “A little present from your psycho friend. He did a shit job, by the way.”

Raithe’s eyes flash to mine. “You’re right. Let me show you how I can do better.”

Oh, no. Fuck.

I lurch back, desperately trying to twist out of my restraints, even though I know it’s pointless. “Don’t you fucking dare.”

He tickles the flesh of my opposite thigh with the tip of the scalpel, taunting me. “So pretty. Creamy.Unmarked.”

I will survive this. Just like I’ve survived everything else. He has no idea what I’ve been through. What I’m capable of.

I grit my teeth and suck in a sharp breath. “Stop being a little bitch and just do it. Or are thosebigballs wasted on you?”

He rips his eye patch off before grabbing my throat and lowering his face over mine. “I didn’t scream when the raven took my eye. I wanted to, but I kept my fucking mouth shut. For Nocturnus. It was a sacrifice. Ablessing, they told me. That was days before they turned their backs on us. Before they stripped us of our sigils. I’ve earned every inch of my big balls, darlin’.”

I swallow hard as his grip tightens. “Prove it.” Why the fuck am I daring him? It’s like I have a sudden death wish or something. But I can’t help myself. These men push me to the edge, and instead of holding on for dear life, I just want to fucking leap over it.

“You people make me sick,” he hisses. “With your trust funds and god-complexes, you walk around like the world belongs to you. And the rest of us are supposed to bow at your feet. Butyoudidn’t earn a fucking thing. Everything you have was handed to you on a poison-laced silver platter.”

He’s not wrong, but he’s not completely right either. “You don’t know anything about me or where I come from. You never will.”

He grunts in frustration. “You talk too fucking much. I’d rather hear you scream.”

“Never,” I bite back.

He grabs my thigh and pins it back, edging the scalpel into my flesh. “Let’s test that theory, shall we?”

I ball my fists and brace myself. Fuck, this would be so much easier if I wasn’t sober. I watch as he digs in, tearing through my flesh as he carves the R. I don’t look away. Fuck him.

The pain is excruciating. I whimper as my blood spills onto the table. He chuckles as he continues to etch his name into my skin. Each cut is deeper, harder,hungrier.

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