Page 27 of The Devil of London

“You don’t or you don’t want to? They are vastly different things. Love doesn’t ask us before pricking us with its spell. You should head out before Nasir arrives to determine why you’re not at his feet, waiting for his orders. Wash the smell of the Shadow from your flesh before you go though. You reek of it now.”

Chapter Eleven

Somethingwokemefroma dead sleep. Pushing up from the pillow I’d faceplanted into earlier, after being unable to put down the newest release‘Boneyard Tides’from Amo Jones, I listened for the disturbance. A rumble of thunder sounded overhead, before violet light lit up the blinds covering the window inside my room. Dropping back down to the pillow, I groaned before flipping onto my back, staring up at the colorful light display from the Turkish lamp on my nightstand.

The last twenty-four hours had sucked, mostly. Admittedly, I’d felt more emotions during them than I had in the last decade. It had been nice to see those I’d come to think of as family, but I couldn’t go back. It wouldn’t be the same as it had been before. Plus, I was currently planning to bring down Khaos’s kingdom.

Thunder clapped loudly, and I kicked off the comforter and stretched out on the bed, whispering the spell for the oil burner to ignite as a dim glow spread around the room. Lifting my knees, I felt the cool air drifting through the thinly laced midnight-blue pajama shorts I’d thrown on after showering.

Shutting out the sounds of the storm rolling through the valley, I drew up the memory of what had occurred today. Khaos had never been closer to fucking me than he’d been this morning. He’d fucking stretched me, and I’d almost come from the warmth of his cock pushing against my opening. It had been glorious until he’d ruined it all by tossing me away like trash he couldn’t discard fast enough.

Tears pricked my eyes when I remembered what he’d uttered before leaving the bedroom. To him, I’d never been good enough to fuck. He’d made me feel wanted and then told me I wasn’t. It broke me down until it destroyed me, which was part of why staying away had been easier for me.

“You are a masochist, Aderyn. You never learn.” My whispered words echoed inside my head as another clap of thunder shook my room. Sitting up, I slid my legs over the side of the bed and then jerked as something rolled toward me on my bed. I reached for whatever it was, but I paused when my fingers brushed over what felt like . . .hair?

Whispering a bevy of curses, I rose from the bed, staring at whatever had ended up in bed with me. The moment the lights turned on, the blood drained from my face and a scream tore from my lungs. I was staring down at a severed head. Backing up from the grisly skull, I bumped into something hard and solid, which caused yet another shriek to tear from my lungs. A palm covered my mouth, forcing me to struggle in the arms of the assailant.

“You don’t like my present?” Khaos whispered darkly against my ear.

My fight died within me as anger replaced it. His grip on me was immovable as he forced me back down on the bed. I twisted to try to get away from him, but he held me still with one hand and reached for the severed head with the other. The stench of death and the tang of blood assaulted my nostrils as panic rushed through me.

“I thought you’d be more appreciative to finally meet your lover in the flesh, per se?” His taunt caused my hackles to rise. “Don’t play coy, slut. Conner wasdyingto meet you. You are being rude. Give him a kiss at least,” he demanded, forcing my head to remain in place as he pushed the lifeless lips against mine. “What? No tongue? You are such a boring slut when your cunt is not dripping to be plowed by cock.” Lifting off me, he laughed coldly.

Wiping my mouth to rid my lips of the blood he’d smeared on them. I released an angry cry. “You sick motherfucker!” My hand lashed out as the loud, jarring crack from my palm assaulting his cheek filled the room.

The blood drained from my face as I realized what I’d done. Khaos’s head turned back slowly, murder simmering in the endless cyan depths as flecks of gold burned within them. Stepping back, I looked for a way to escape him.

“You wouldn’t make it past me, Aderyn,” he warned in a cold, lifeless tone.

“I wasn’t thinking.” My heart pounded against my ribcage. It thundered harder than the thunder outside, which boomed as if fueled by Khaos’s rage. Stepping back from him, I grew dizzy with the memories of the last time I had assaulted him.

I’d slapped him repeatedly, and he’d let me. Right up until he’d gripped my wrists in one of his viselike hands, and then pushed me into the icy-cold bathwater within my chamber. He’d continually forced me beneath the watery surface. He had done so until I’d damn near drowned. Only then would he pull me from the water, and then repeated it once more until he had freed me to spew up endless amounts of dirty water.

My back hit the wall, forcing a cry of shock from my parted lips. Khaos prowled forward with angry strides. As I moved from the wall, his palm gripped my throat, forcing me back against it.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” he demanded.

“Not your bitch,” I growled as I brought my knee up, landing a solid hit to his balls. As he went down, I leaped over his prone body. A hand shot up, wrapping around my ankle which caused me to land on the floor. I barely got my hands up before faceplanting the plush carpet of my bedroom floor.

“That was foolish,” he hissed through clenched teeth. Fingers threaded through my unbound hair, then wrenched my head back as he forced me up with him. Tears stung my eyes as he twisted it to the side painfully. “Obviously, I’ve been neglectful of you, or you wouldn’t think you were capable of fighting me, you stupid bitch.”

Releasing my hair, he picked me up and slammed me onto the bed. The air rushed from my lungs as he pressed a knee against my lower back, forcing me to cry out as he held me in place. His other hand yanked my shorts down, and his palm landed against my cheek with a deafening slap. I screamed out as pain shot up my spine. The other hand ripped the thin straps of my top, then forced it up until it sat around my throat. Fear shot through me at the thought of being strangled with my pajama top.

Khaos forced it up farther, then as it covered my mouth, he yanked it back, using it as a gag to quiet my screams as he pummeled my ass. He enjoyed spanking my ass, since he was convinced it was the only way I ever learned anything. By the time he stopped spanking me, my ass cheeks burned like the fires of hell had scorched them.

Khaos still held my cries at bay with the material covering my mouth. His fingers danced over the sore, abused flesh before one slid against the opening between my cheeks. Stilling as he spit on it, I winced as one pushed deep into my ass. The intrusion caused pain to rip through me as a new fear replaced the last. It felt foreign and wrong as he pumped his finger to his knuckle and chuckled darkly.

“I should fuck this ass of yours until you’re begging for mercy, slut.”

“Ahh,” I cried as I tried to argue against it.

“What was that? We couldn’t hear you, Aderyn. It sounded like an invitation,” he stated hoarsely. “I bet you’d love being fucked in this pretty ass. Wouldn’t you?” I shook my head, even as he snorted with derision, then pushed his finger deeper until I was gasping as it stretched my ass with a painful burning.

“I won’t ever beg you for anything again!” I snarled in a shaky, weakened reply.

“If I wanted you to beg, you’d fucking beg.” I hadn’t asked for mercy since the day he’d murdered Maxwell inside the church we’d been speaking our vows in. There was no point in asking for mercy from Khaos. The sadist sociopath held none in his cold, apathetic heart.

“I won’t,” I whirred through the swelling in my throat.

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