Page 17 of The Queen's Serpent

Pathetic.That is what I am. Who else would crave the villain who abducted them from their family, took them away from all that they have ever known, threw them into a life filled with perils and danger, and only remembers her when he needs to come?

Me, that’s who. Right now, right in this very moment, I swear to myself that I will be stronger, that I will resist him and his devilish charms. I need to find my Stratford backbone, or I will always be Diego’s prize. A victim to his whims and desires, with little or no choice in her future.

I struggle in his grasp, raking my jagged nails down his arms until he releases me, and I stumble onto a huge four-poster bedcovered in netting, and bounce with the impact. The sensation of landing so hard is jarring, and makes me bite down on my tongue, my mouth filling with the taste of blood. A reminder that he would have me shed even more of my blood to satisfy his depraved needs.Fucking demon.

I watch from the corner of my eye as I slowly crawl to the other side of the bed, as he walks back to the door, locks it with a key from his pocket, and turns his sights back on me. His intense gaze penetrates me to my very core, causing a slight tremor to race through my body.Fuck, how am I going to get that key?

“You can stop with all your scheming to escape, Issy, you’re going nowhere. Even if you somehow managed to get out of this room, which is doubtful, and past the guards in the house, you wouldn’t make it five feet outside of the compound before my men were on you, never mind the beasts that inhibit this jungle.”

He moves slowly, a sleek predator assessing his prey towards the opposite side of the room, his perceptive gaze never leaving its assessment of me. His words give me pause. Is it a scare tactic, or is he telling the truth?

No, he’s lying, trying to scare me. He would say and do anything to keep me here and as his. There has to be a way out of here. A way back to freedom and all that I love. This can’t be my fate, and I refuse to accept that it is.Fight, Issy, fight!

A deep, aggravated sigh leaves his lips, his shoulders hunching forward as he continues towards an open doorway. Seconds later, I hear the sound of rushing water filling the space. He walks back out of the room, and before I can even think to escape him, he’s surging forward and grabbing me by the arm, yanking me back into his strong embrace and dragging me into what must be the bathroom. I try to kick my feet, landing shots to his shins and attempting to yank myself away from his demanding hold, but he doesn’t relent. Instead, his fingers tighten until I am sure I will have bruises in the shape of his fingers tomorrow.

“Release me, you fucking demon!” I scream, trying to headbutt him.

“Stop acting like a fucking child, Issy.” He gives me a shake that has my teeth rattling, and drags me through the doorway.

Once my vision stops spinning, I take in the space, which is shockingly beautiful; the floors are all made of rough, warm, neutral stones, and the walls are made of the same material but done in a beautiful mosaic pattern that has an indigenous feel, and represents the sun and the jungle, with detailed glass work imitating fauna. A large glass shower with pebbled floors and the same stone walls is off to one side of the room. A rainfall shower-head cascades water into the space, and looks inviting and cool.

Damn, if he weren’t forcing me into this room, I would race to get under that water, but because he is, I have to fight my visceral need to get clean.A whimper leaves my lips at the thought that I will never get to use it.

The vanity isn’t really even a vanity, but a beautiful piece of dark stone suspended against the wall with a sink carved into it, and a black faucet sprouting from the stone wall. In the middle of the room, a huge sunken copper tub that could easily fit three or four people sits, ready to soothe your sore muscles. The sun shines from the glass skylights in the ceiling, and the large open windows in the space. The humid jungle air gives off a fragrant smell, nature calling you forward to relax in this impressive space.

It’s devastatingly beautiful, yet I have to act like it’s not. I can’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how much I want to use these amenities, how they call to the spoiled privileged girl inside of me. I wrap my arms around myself and refuse to look his way, or at anything, preferring to stare at my dirty, bare feet.

“Get undressed, Issy, and don’t be a brat, or I will fucking rip that dress off you.” He moves away from me towards a wood-paneled wall, which opens with a click of his hand. Inside of it,you can see row after row of neatly folded white, fluffy towels ready for use.

Because I am a brat, and a disobedient one at that, I ignore his command and inch towards the vanity, searching for anything that I might be able to use as a weapon against him. I get momentarily distracted by all the beautiful glass bottles on the counter, which look suspiciously like the bottles of the products I used back home.What the fuck?

“I told you not to be a brat.” He releases a rough sigh of frustration and grasps onto the back of my dress, and before I can stop him, he yanks and tears the material straight down the middle, leaving my back and asscheeks on display to him.

Mortification fills me at his treatment, and I try desperately to hold on to the fabric, keeping it clutched to my body, but he pulls me towards his chest, my hot skin landing against his fabric-clad body with a bang. “Are you being shy now, my little slut? What happened to the woman who, just days ago, was willing to give herself to a complete fucking stranger,hmm, Issy?”

His words are sharp daggers piercing my skin and my heart. He’s right, and knowing that he is brings me further shame. I was so desperate for a hit of the drugs that I didn’t think through my actions. Actions that it seems, Diego will never forgive me for.Why do we even care? He kidnapped us?

The knowledge that he witnessed my weakness, that he was party to my humiliation and desperation, stops me from fighting his grip. My heart begs me to give in, and my mind stops its incessant call for escape. With just a few cruel words, he has once again laid waste to my defenses, bringing me low, like he intended.You’re a whore, a dirty whore.The soiled fabric falls down my arms, exposing my chest to his waiting eyes.

He roughly grabs me by the back of the neck and marches me towards the shower, opening the door and shoving me inside, while I splutter at the warm water that instantly soaks me. Iflail around, almost losing my balance and falling to my ass, before I use the stone wall to steady me. Diego doesn’t laugh as I expected him to. Instead, he mumbles unintelligible words under his breath, closing the glass door and moving towards the bathtub without a further look in my direction.

With his back turned to me, I quickly drop the remaining pieces of the dirty dress and slip under the cascading water, rinsing the grime off of me and rushing through, washing my body the best I can with my back turned towards him.

My eyes connect with a stone ledge on the shower wall, and on the surface, I view bottle after bottle of the shampoos, conditioners, and body washes that I use.What the fuck?How did he get all of this here? How did he even know? It’s not like he was ever in my room with me back at my sister’s.

I quickly grab the bottle of fragrant shampoo and wash my hair, roughly cleaning my long tresses to remove all the grime. When I’m done rinsing it, I throw on a messy glob of conditioner, and reach for the body wash and a loofa hanging from a hook. I wash my body as quickly as possible, taking extra care not to reopen the insect bites that litter my skin. When I go to spread my legs to wash between them, a groan sounds in the air, and has me pausing and looking over my shoulder.

“Don’t stop on my account, baby, I was enjoying the show,” he smirks, his green eyes twinkling mischievously, and for a brief moment, I see the Diego I was first attracted to. The naughty, playful man who made my heart race, and the blood in my veins feel like hot lava spread within them. A ruthless psycho lived under that facade, as I have unfortunately had to discover the hard way.

I bare my teeth at him as a growl leaves my lips, and I turn back around, trying to ignore him, even though I can feel his heated gaze on my skin, and it causes my flesh to pebble.

“Where does the water come from, and how is it heated out here in the jungle?” I question, needing something to distract me from the fact that he’s watching me clean myself.Fucking pervert.

“Solar panels are stationed all around the compound, and we have reservoirs to catch rainwater, which then goes through a purification process, so it can be used to bathe, drink, and cook with.” His voice changes, and I can hear pride and excitement in his tone, which has me turning to look at him over my shoulder once again.

“It’s a system I designed, one that I want to bring to Columbia, where I grew up, so that the poorer communities can have eco-friendly access to clean water, that they can use to survive and grow their own foods. I… I want to help the folks who have very little, and struggle daily even to get clean water.”

He turns on the tap in the bathtub, and clean water pours into the tub. The sound of it hitting the copper tub creates a pretty melody, that has me relaxing further into the warm water cascading over my skin. I quickly rinse off the conditioner and body wash as he continues speaking, the loss of his gaze somehow cooling me, even though I would never admit it out loud.

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