Page 42 of Oracle
My jaw ticked ever so slightly, but I wrenched my eyes down, focusing on breathing in and out slowly through my nose.
“What do you see when you look at these?” he asked while pointing to his leather shoes. A seemingly innocent question, but I wasn’t falling for it. There was nothing innocent about this monster.
I see a shoe that I’d like to shove up your ass, you piece of shit.
Lux’s joke was exactly what I needed to keep my composure and not bite back at him
I’d answer for the sake of compliance. “Shoes.”
He huffed a breath out of annoyance, as if I was an idiot for not understanding his point without him explaining it. “I see the spot you belong at. At my feet and beneath my heel. A docile weapon for me to control however I deem fit.” He walked around the small cell before stopping in front of me and gave a sharp nod to the guards to back off. They did so immediately.
At my silence, he asked, “Will you willingly drink my blood now, pet?”
Nodding ever so slightly, so he didn’t become suspicious of my current change of heart, I made it seem as if I was too bloody and bruised to have an ounce of energy. He’d get the bare minimum response and reactions from me.
Leaning in until his nose was just an inch from touching my own, I almost gagged on his scent. “Say it out loud. Tell me you want my blood. That you want to be under my control.”
Does this guy have a fucking hard-on for talking? It sure seems like it.
Lux was absolutely a godsend. She knew that I needed her humor to make it through this without me saying anything. She knew me better than I knew myself sometimes, it seemed.
Reaching for his knife, he leaned away from me and pricked his thumb with the tip of the gleaming metal. The black blood began to run down his finger before he hovered it in front of my mouth. “Say it. Show me how weak you are and that you were never a threat to me.”
My tongue felt like it weighed a thousand pounds as I tried to spit the words out.
They are just meaningless words, Kira. He will eat them up like a power-hungry sadist, but you and I both know deep in your heart that it isn’t true. You haven’t given up and you won’t give up. We will prove to him just how damn strong you are by doing this.
I needed her belief in me at that moment, because I was struggling to believe that I was strong enough to overcome the power of his blood after watching it overcome countless shifters. I refused to be a weapon used against my people.
“Yes, I will taste your blood. I will submit,” I finally relented, keeping my voice monotone as I did.
A wicked glint entered his ruby eyes at my admission and without preamble, his thumb was shoved into my mouth. I couldn’t hide the disgust on my face as it twisted up at the terrible taste of his blood. It was like sucking on a charcoal stone coated in metal.
Resisting the urge to shove his finger out of my mouth and spit the blood in his face, I blinked furiously as he demanded, “Suck it clean, pet. Get every last drop before the wound heals.”
It hit me then. The fog that made my eyelids droop in submission. The haze over my mind that feels like I’m underwater, my thoughts jumbled and nonsensical.
I heard his purr of satisfaction as I sucked on his thumb like he said before he pulled it out and patted me on the head. “Such a good pet. You did so well.”
Why did I smile at his praise?
Why did I want to hear it again?
He dismissed the guards completely and a part buried deep in my mind was blaring at me that this was an opportunity to hurt him. To do something while it was just us, but I couldn’t bring myself to do a damn thing except stare at Satan in awe.
This was wrong, I knew it, but I couldn’t snap out of it.
“You may be at my side after this, but you will never be Lilly. You will never be the woman I loved,” he practically spat in disgust at me as he softly caressed my cheek. The juxtaposition of his words and actions made me whine out loud.
Why was he angry with me?
How could I change it?
“I’ll tell you the story of her death, and maybe then you’ll understand why I have waged wars against your kind for centuries. Perhaps then you will have a true change of heart and not require my blood every day,” he mused out loud. “Would you like to know the story that started this all, pet?”
My eyes widened and I nodded furiously.
This could be important. Fight the haze, Kira. We must take every piece of information we can get.
