Page 73 of Her Tortured Beasts

Somethingsoprecious it needs to be locked up.

Xander leads me to the underground facility where Ghoul, Solomon, and the scientific team wait.

To my great dissatisfaction, today, Mace Naga, Damien Agnis and Flores Drakos are also present. Whatever they think of my nudity is kept to themselves. In fact, everyone is quiet and deadly serious. There are no throwaway jokes or smiles. Even Ghoul has nothing to offer me as I cross the threshold into the lab with the steel table.

“Lie down, Miss Boneweaver,” Solomon says gravely.

“What are you going to do today?” I say, moving towards the table as slowly as I can. With the way the table is set up, my feet are facing the viewing window where everyone sits. It’s an awkward way to lie, especially with my father sitting right there. I perch on the side of it and Eugene flaps up next to me.

“Today we document your condition,” Solomon says. “Please lie down.”

My heart pounds and I break into a sweat. Reluctantly, I swing my legs up, careful to keep them pressed together as I rest my head on the steel.

“The time is oh-nine-hundred,” Solomon dictates, and two serpents document by hand and on laptop. “On November the first.” He peers into my eyes. “Condition of the subject, Aurelia Naga-Boneweaver, is as follows. Forehead: unmarked, both eyebrows present, both eyes are present, irises are cornflower blue, sclera are white with small broken capillaries bilaterally. Bluish bags under eyes. Nose, unmarked—” He squints. “Ruler, please. Oh yes, two millimetre pimple right side of nostril.” To my great dismay, they go on in detail about the condition of my body, down to tiny hairs and blemishes, even beauty marks. They’d done something similar on my first day, but not inthismuch detail. He briefly mentions my nipples, which is bad enough, but it’s not until he gets to my lower stomach that I start to panic.

“You’ll need to open, Aurelia.”

My eyes snap towards Ghoul, who has silently watched on this entire time, towering over me like a shadowy giant, no sign of the beast who’d fucked me senseless just weeks ago. “But everyone will see.”

“That’s the point,” Solomon declares without emotion. “But if it makes you feel better, Lord Ghoul will temporarily block the sight.”

“Thanks,” I say dryly.

Ghoul casually strides towards the end of the table before crossing his arms. I thought he’d face away from me, but of course the bastard wants to see.

I pull my heels up before flopping my knees out. Solomon whacks on gloves before spreading me open with two fingers. He’s gentle enough, but it’s fucking torture regardless. My toes and fingers curl in disgust. Eugene is sitting by my head, still invisible, and he presses his warm body against my cheek.

It occurs to me then—what they’re doing. The same thing the owner of furniture would do when listing an item for sale online. Documenting that all my parts are present.

That darkness consumes me. The one that’s cold, deep, and black. The one with dangerous gnashing teeth and the eyes that see just a little more.

My feelings get pushed out and away as I sink into the cold.

Solomon is quick, as if he doesn’t want to do this either. “Virginity is not preserved. Vulval anatomy presents as normal and unmarked.”

Normal Aurelia would have snapped her legs shut and glared at the men present. Cold, great white shark Aurelia closes them slowly. Solomon documents the condition of my legs and feet before they draw blood from me. Next, one of their eagles scan my internal organs and they document every one of those as well.

My greatest fear, the one that as thirteen-year-old had me waking up in the middle of the night thrashing and screaming, is going to happen tonight.

The auction.

The key stakeholders are here and their guests will arrive this evening.

I wonder if it will be like what I saw of Scythe’s virginity auction. I’ll have to tell him all about it when I see him next. I also wonder what sage advice he’d give me if he were here.

‘Let them know you’re not prey,’ or perhaps ‘Don’t let them play with your mind.’

“An auction of monsters,” I muse out loud in a cold, deadpan voice.

“The worst,” Ghoul agrees, still standing over me and blocking the view of the onlookers.

“To breed the Boneweaver,” I continue.

Solomon glances at me uncomfortably. “She’s gone cold again. We should consider the obsidian shackles.”

Mace Naga gets to his feet. “Obsidian for tonight, after Lady Hyena has completed her spell.”

If I couldn’t protect myself from my own mates, someone needs to do it for me.

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