Page 50 of Diamond Kisses

I escaped into dreams where Ily was safe, and I was finally allowed to let death come for me.

It would be soeasyto die.

So simple to enrage Victor enough to kill me.

But…Ily.

Peter.

Promises and hopes and—

So I stayed.

The next night, as I stood bare in front of the Masters—my entire body riddled in round blackened bruises—Victor said I looked a little peckish.

The Masters agreed and threw food at me. An avalanche of asparagus spears, potatoes, and succulent prawns. Some struck me in the face. Some bounced off my shoulders. Melted butter rolled down my chest in sticky rivers.

It was demeaning. Demoralising.

I burned with fucking fury tofight back.

But through it all, I felt her eyes on me.

Herlovefor me.

And I wanted to fucking cry.

I went cold. Empty.

I accepted the ridicule and torment.

I cleaned up the mess at Victor’s command.

I bent over his chair at the end of the evening and let him flog me sixteen times just because.

* * * * *

“Eat, my sweetling.”

I blinked and looked at the perfectly seared piece of steak in Victor’s fingers. Juicy and rare, my mouth watered for such a delicious morsel.

Without a word, I leaned forward on my knees and accepted the gift.

My eyes snapped closed with ecstasy as the flavours exploded on my tongue.

Pleasure didn’t come often anymore, but when it did, I gave myself over to it completely. I didn’t judge myself. I stopped suffering shame for clinging to tiny moments that kept me sane.

I no longer burned with humiliation that Victor kept me naked.

I stopped existing as a man and accepted my place because I needed to protect Ily.

Out of all the Masters I could have had, Victor was true to his word. Even if that word was psychotic.

He didn’t once lay a finger on her if I jumped to his command. He barely even looked at her as long as I behaved. He never gave her to another Master, and she and Peter spent most of their time chained to the wall of the ballroom or in their quarters, far away from me.

“You’ve done so well these past few weeks, my pet,” Victor crooned, tucking my longer hair behind my ear. “I keep waiting for you to snap, but I do believe you’re truly in love with that girl if you’re willing to go this far for her.”

I kept my chin down.

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