Page 5 of The Magic of Eternity
The man between my legs, with my cock in his mouth—it wasn’t Sloane. Fuck. I jerked, trying to get away, but this imposter held the chair still so he could continue his assault on my body.
“Get away from me!” I screamed, my voice hoarse.
“Listen, pet. Just tell them what they want to know and then they’ll let you out of here. We can be together.” His hand snaked between my cheeks, and tears broke free. I’d never been assaulted like this. My mind was spinning and my traitorous dick was still hard as stone in this man’s mouth. A man who wasn’t mine. A man who had stolen Sloane’s identity.
My thoughts raced as he touched me, and I tried to go to the void in my mind. The place where Faris used to be. If I could get there, I could block this out. I wouldn’t have to be present.
Use him back,a voice whispered through the darkness of my psyche. Was it my own subconscious? Maybe if I played this right, I could feed them false information and use it to my advantage. I’d just have to detach myself completely. As I looked down and saw his dark head bobbing, I wondered if it would’ve been better or worse for me if they hadn’t stolen his image to manipulate me. If this was just a rape by a stranger and not someone wearing the face of a man I loved.
It was fucked. The ways my thighs trembled, despite not wanting this. Not wanting him. Whoever he was.
And then there it was. The void. The darkness. I’d never fallen into it as quickly and as determinedly as I did in that moment. Numbness enveloped me and I welcomed every second of it. I felt the sensation of nothingness creep over every facet of my mind, my body, my fucking soul. I just hoped that when all was said and done, I’d be able to pull myself back out again.
“Laurie,” I grunted. His mouth released me. Not that I felt it. Not anymore.
“Laurie?” he asked, puzzled, wiping his bottom lip with the back of his hand.
I let my eyes flutter shut, a dark smirk pulling at the corner of my mouth. “You know this; we’ve talked about it. Promise me you’ll stay away from her. It must’ve been something she did to me. When she killed me. Her magic.”
I’d never lead them back to Saige. They clearly had no idea she was the one responsible for bringing me back to life, and splitting me and Faris. And I was going to guarantee that. If they suspected Laurie had something to do with it, they’d go after her, and hopefully leave my woman alone.
“I bet you’re right, pet. You’re so smart. Such a good, sweet pet.” He went back to his work and I felt a complete sense of disassociation. It was like I was actually standing in the corner, watching. Waiting. Observing.
Sometime later, awareness came back to me. I wasn’t in the chair anymore; instead, I was strapped to a long table. The fake Sloane was gone, but Don was back, and the last thing I saw was his face before pain exploded in my ankle.
It went on like that for what felt like an eternity, though time was irrelevant to me at this point. Don would torture me. Fake Sloane would soothe me. I’d feed him false intel. When he’d take what wasn’t his to take, I’d fantasize about gouging his fucking eyes out, ripping his balls off, and shoving them up Don’s ass.
They thought they’d won. That they were stronger than I was. One night, as I lay on that cold table, my broken ankle throbbing with infection, my fingers—most broken now too—screaming in pain, my ass raw from being used over and over... I grinned. I don’t know how I knew, but the air was different tonight. Charged. My brain lit up with little bursts of light. Green light.
Then I heard it. Oh sweet gods, I heard her.
‘Please. If you can hear me, know that I’m alive. The babies are alive. I love you, and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to get you back.’
Oh, sweetheart. She was alive. The babies. I allowed a single tear to slip out.
We’re all doing whatever we have to do to get back to you.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven. The number of steps I could take from wall to wall in this cell. Back and forth. Seven, fourteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight...
The cell was very dimly lit, with a light that flickered overhead every ten point seven seconds. My hands sank into my wild, filthy hair. How long had it been since I’d had a shower? A growl rumbled in my chest, and I dropped to the floor, doing push-ups until my arms burned with exertion. There were no windows, so I could only guess how much time had passed. My beard was my only clue. It had to have been weeks. And I was starting to lose it.
I dropped down on the flimsy mattress and stared up at the ceiling. That fucking flickering. I’d almost rather be left in total darkness than deal with that shit.
The first few days in here, I’d done nothing but rage. Scream. Each day, the guard would drop off a tray of food and a glass of water, sliding it through a small opening at the bottom of the door. And every day, I threatened that person, whoever it was, with promises of the most gruesome deaths I could imagine.
I ate the food and drank the water though. I continued exercising because the first chance I got, I was going to strike. It didn’t matter that I had injuries from the fight, though thankfully nothing had been broken. I was just battered and bruised.
They had my little witch. My fists clenched on my stomach as I thought of her. My pregnant woman... Darker thoughts often tried to infiltrate my mind, like the fact that she may not be pregnant anymore. I’d caught a glimpse of her on the stone floor as we were wheeled out of the throne room. There’d been blood. A lot of blood.
No.
I wouldn’t entertain such thoughts. I couldn’t. And my brothers. Deep guilt twisted my heart as I thought of Sloane. I should’ve done more for him after his capture, more to help him move past the trauma he’d endured at the hands of his father and Asrael. He was still under their spell, exactly where they wanted him.
I’d failed to protect my family. Again.
My jaw ticked, and I had the sudden urge to beat the shit out of something. There was nothing in this shithole to punch though. Unless I went after the wall, and I didn’t really feel like shattering my fingers.
So many times I’d lain here and called out to my family in my mind, hoping that they would hear me. But my magic seemed to be blocked here in the castle. So if anyone ever heard my voice, I had no way of knowing because I never heard anything back. It didn’t stop me from talking to them.
