Page 26 of A Bond in Blood

“I hate you,” I replied.

The hand on my neck gripped me, not enough to choke the air from my lungs but enough to bring out a shocked gasp from my lips.

“I hate you, Brenna,” he muttered. “I hate your presence in my home. I hate your useless attempts to end my life.Me—a God of Millenia—a beast who could wipe out everything and everyone you love with a snap of my fingers.”

His hand released my neck, and his shadows climbed higher, forcing my hands to my side.

“I hate that I am duty bound to keep you here for the next year,” he continued as his shadows moved me from the dais and toward the middle of the room. “You think youhate me?”

I was forced to my knees, his shadows holding my chin up while he approached me. “You don’t hate me yet,” he laughed.

His fingers snapped and the bodies surrounding me scattered. Heavy footsteps approached behind him and my eyes laid on Olen.

“Yes, your grace?” the beast snarled.

Ulrich grinned. “I think one for each day she’s attempted to end my life.”

My mouth opened to cry out, trying to decipher what he was referring to, but his shadows went down my throat, choking out my ability to reply.

Tears sprang from my eyes with the shock of his attack and the cold of the shadows. My hands went to my throat, a useless attempt to fill my lungs once more.

Olen cleared his throat. “Yes, your grace.”

“Prepare her,” Ulrich said with little emotion.

His shadows were gone as quickly as their attack and I fell against the floor, gulping in fresh air. I braced myself, ready for him to enact the revenge I’d been waiting for. Waiting for him to allow whatever he planned to defile me. Only I didn’t expect Olen’s sharp teeth to rip my dress, exposing my back to the crowd.

“Lashes,” Ulrich sang out. “Traitors get lashes.”

More tears fell from my eyes along with the cheering cries of his court.

I tracked him while he held me in place and his shadows lifted my arms above my head. My dress slipped, barely stopping before my breasts would be exposed to the monsters before me. He circled me, his hand brushing against my hair.

“Thirty-one lashes, Brenna,” he whispered and his hands ripped the front of my dress down, exposing me. “Then you will truly hate me.”

I held in my cry from the cold of my exposed skin, ignoring the hungry eyes gawking at my body.

The first lash hit. Cold, hard, biting.

My body jolted in pain, but I didn’t cry.

Then the next one.

Three.

Four.

Five.

I counted each one, my arms shaking in his shadows, tears lining my eyes, refusing to let out the cry he was attempting to force from my lips. The sixth lash pulled a whimper from my throat, and I shook further.

“Kill me,” I whispered.

He leaned over me, pausing his beating. Gripping my neck once, he pulled me against him.

“That’s the easy way out,” he replied before licking the tears running down my cheeks.

I screamed in response, jerking against his shadows when another lash hit my back.

---