Page 68 of Deviant

“You think I’ll let you pull that trick?” he murmurs, like I have any idea what that means, like I’m in any state to even respond.

“Hold her.” he orders.

Antonio’s arms wrap around me again, in that same headlock. For a second, I pray that he’s going to remove the bindings, that he’s going to take them off and though I’m fearful about how much it’s going to hurt I want it so much I almost thank him.

But then he comes back, and I see what’s in his hands and reality comes back with a vengeance. I scream out, fighting harder than I ever have. Fear rips through me.

In my head all I can hear is the same word over and over, run—as if I can. As if I can simply walk out and escape.

He holds the brand up, right in front of my face. I can feel the heat of it, I can see the way the metal is glowing bright red.

He straightens the angle, moving it right to the soft skin on my breastbone and pushes it there in one firm, confident, movement.

I scream, I scream so loud I swear my voice box shatters.

Antonio holds me perfectly still.

It burns into my chest, it sears my skin, and the pain is even worse than everything else they’ve done to me, everything else I’ve endured.

When he pulls it away, I stare in horror at where my flesh is melted and marred. It’s Magnus’s crest, his insignia. He’s branded me with it.

“Now you won’t forget your place and what’s expected of you,” he says.

Antonio lets me go. I collapse onto the floor, barely feeling the pain in my breasts, or the agony between my thighs, because this new injury overrides absolutely everything else.

Blood is still dripping out from me, I know I can’t physically take anymore.

The others laugh and shout. A few kick at me, calling me a whore.

One produces a knife, asking if he can carve his name into me next.

My body won’t stop shaking. My mind fractures entirely and all I can think is that this has to be over. I can’t wake another day like this. I can’t take another second.

I don’t care what happens, I don’t care what I have to do. I can’t take any more pain. I just can’t.

Beard man hands out drinks, starts describing in detail what he wants to do to me next, how he wants to clamp my clit and pierce my nipples too. Apparently, there are some nails on the sidethat he’s going to use, driving them in slowly, one by one like little daggers.

Grey hair states that he’s going to fist me again, that clearly, I need the girth to get off on and that’ll make me come harder, as if I did the first time.

But Antonio stands there, watching me silently, like he’s got a plan so fucked up even he’s afraid of following through.

My eyes dart to the others, to Magnus, and tattoo man, and the two men yet to rape me. If I don’t do something, I won’t survive this. But then, that was always the plan, wasn’t it? That was the deal Magnus made all those months ago, back in the cathedral. I have a death sentence, it’s just a question of when Magnus decides to carry it out.

Is that how this night will end? Them fucking me over and over, hurting me, beating me, raping me until I’m so broken that my body actually does give out. The thought of my ending being so near doesn’t feel me with any relief because I know every second will feel like an eternity between now and then. Magnus will make sure of it.

No, I need to end this my way.

The thought hits me like a tidal wave.

I’m done trying to fight, I’m done trying to prove that I’m better than him. He broke me, he’s won. The only thing I can control is this moment here, is my death.

I stare rapidly around the room, trying to find something, anything, a knife or a gun, or something that I can use, something that will be quick, decisive.

But there’s nothing here. Nothing except the thing Magnus used to brand me with and that won’t do.

And then my eyes land on the windows. They’re huge, ornate, so out of place with the rest of this space. When we came in, we must have climbed at least two flights of stairs. That puts us onthe second floor by my reckoning. Would a fall from this height be enough? Maybe if I jumped with enough force?

I glance to the men, none of them are watching me now, not even Antonio. They’re too busy having their refreshment break.

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