Page 38 of Diamond Kisses

A dose of my own medicine but goddammit…I needed it to end.

My organs shut down the longer he shocked me.

Pain became agony and agony became unbearable.

I couldn’t even beg for an end.

Nothing worked.

Nothing existed apart from thwacking, whacking pain, pain,pain.

And then, it was over.

My ears rang.

My mouth full of blood.

My bare body twitched as aftershocks worked through me.

“Chain him to the stage.”

I groaned as hands landed beneath my arms and dragged me over the smooth dance floor. Tossing me face first onto the stage, a length of chain jangled like demons clacking their teeth and locked onto my collar.

The guards stepped back just as Victor helped flip me around and sit me up.

My bare ass stuck to the polished wood beneath me. Cupping my cock and hiding my vulnerability, I spat in his direction.

He danced out of the way as the glob of blood splashed on the floor. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun, you and I.” Bending over, he pressed a kiss to my sweaty forehead.

“Don’t fuckingtouch me.” I wrenched away but he grabbed a handful of my hair and whispered, “Until tonight, Henri. I suggest you get some rest. You’re going to need it.”

Chapter Six

………………………….

Ily

I SPENT THE DAY STARING OUT the window.

I’d traded company in the dark for aloneness in the light, and the only thing keeping me sane was the sunshine. It became my only friend as it crept across the horizon, casting shadows on the animal-shaped hedges below, illuminating Masters tormenting their jewels in the garden.

From my height in the castle, I spied new jewels and old. I witnessed poor Mollie being raped by Roland by the fountain. His pudgy mass crushed hers into the granite of the water feature, his hand on the back of her head pushing her underwater with every thrust.

I spied a few new jewels being electrocuted for not obeying their Master’s whims fast enough, and Kirk refusing to do a damn thing his current ruler requested. No matter how hard the bastard beat him, the jewel who’d watched Suri—the girl he was in love with—shot to death during Emerald Bruises just took it.

He looked as if he wanted to die. As if he gave the Master permission to end him with every strike.

Peter had warned us that Kirk had given up.

It looked as if he was right.

Tears rolled silently down my cheeks as afternoon turned to dusk, and the fairy lights flickered on in the flowers. The battlement walls lit up with purple, gold, and blue spotlights. The pond-shaped swimming pool where Henri liked to write gleamed with the final shards of orange and red from the sun before night fell completely.

And still no one came for me.

I’d tried to leave.

I’d tried banging on the walls in case Henri or Peter could hear me.

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