Page 57 of Tarnished Embers
I’m not sure when we became closer than brothers, when our love grew into the kind that brings pleasure, but I’m forever grateful that it did. Otherwise, I’d never have known what it’s like to be held with affection and to be given pleasure because that act brings gratification to the giver.
“You too, Prince.” I dart forward and place a soft kiss on his full lips. He chuckles, swiping his tongue over mine, and my body sings, the tension of the past few hours finally releasing and leaving me boneless.
His hand cups my cheek in a gesture that’s so tender it brings fresh tears to my eyes, but this time they’re not of sorrow. Pure love fills my heart, the emotion overflowing for the man in front of me, who’s given so much to protect us all. Our tongues tangle languidly, neither of us having the energy for more than a sweet kiss between lovers and best friends.
“Thank you,” he says softly against my lips before pulling back, and my lips split into a wide grin. It feels strange on my face, and I realised that it’s been several days since I truly smiled.
“Thank you for always being here, big bro,” I tell him, and he laughs again, swatting my ass as I dance away.
Kit goes up to him, and it’s like watching a battle between two male lions as they size each other up. Kit is the only one of us who will make Prince bow, who can assert his dominance over our eldest stepbrother and win.
Something breaks between them, and then they’re coming together in a clash of teeth and tongue, Prince’s hand tangling in Kit’s hair, shorter than my own but still long enough to be used as leverage. Kit growls when Prince tugs, his hand coming to the front of Prince’s throat and gripping it tightly.
The crash of shattering glass above us has them pulling apart, but it’s the cry of utter anguish that has my heart pounding, looking wildly around.
“Where the fuck is Cas?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
“LISTEN BEFORE I GO” BY BILLIE EILISH
EMBER
Icome to, my body screaming in agony as I move. The soft sound of fabric shifting underneath me has my eyes opening, my vision wavering in and out of focus as I blink and try to remember where I am and what happened.
Pins and needles in my hands have me bringing them down from above me, and it’s then the dark memories surface; of my stepmother locking me in the attic with strange men, all with dead, soulless eyes, and of being chased around by those same men, one hitting me so hard I saw stars. My head throbs with the memory, but the pain doesn’t stop the onslaught of trauma, and I’m thrown back into my mind, feeling my hands being raised and tied to the bed.
I blink the horrors away, knowing that if I stop and think about it, my walls will crumble and I’ll be lost. Numbness is my best friend right now. Then I rub at my wrists, hissing and glancing down at them to see that they’re no longer bound, but there are deep grooves etched into my flesh, as if whatever was used to tie me down cut into me, marking me.
My gaze focuses lower, and a small animal-like whine sounds from my ruined throat when I see the torn material of my T-shirt, one of Oct’s that I’d been wearing when Odette locked me in here. I hate that it’s ruined, my lip trembling at the waste of something that was such a comfort to me. Then my eyes focus on the red patches and bruises littering my torso, but it’s the sight further down that has bile filling my throat.
My leggings are gone, and I swallow hard, my entire body trembling when I spot the crimson mess between my thighs. The area pulses painfully now that I’ve seen it, and I suck in a sharp gasp when I shift again on the bed, agony flaring from the spot.
Flashes of memory assault me, and I flinch as my mind takes me back to last night, to the men who forced their way inside me. I jerk upright to a seated position, ignoring the excruciating pain and wetness underneath me as my frantic gaze takes in the room. Boxes are knocked over and old trinkets and belongings are strewn across the floor. I shiver, trying desperately not to fall back into the nightmare that lurks on the edges of my vision, threatening to claim me once more.
The light catches on something, making it sparkle and shine like a beacon, and my gaze travels over the smooth surface of the glass slipper that I found when I first explored the space. It feels like aeons ago, but I think it was only two or three days ago.
The shoe is broken, the heel a jagged edge that looks wicked sharp.
There’s a way to make all of this stop, you know…my mind whispers just as another flashback hits me, and my hands go to my throat, the touch making me hiss as I meet tender flesh. The mean one with the voice that will feature in my darkest nightmares almost choked the life out of me. I gasp, blinking as the watery light of pre-dawn fills the room, the single bulb adding a sickly glow to everything.
And Odette will no longer have a hold on the guys. They tried to save you, and look what happened…
I can’t stop staring at that glass fucking shoe, at the sharp edge I know would help me purge all these demons that won’t leave me alone. Without thought, I rise, swinging myself to get up, only my legs buckle and I hit the wooden boards hard, my knees taking the brunt of my fall. Pain fills me, white-hot and burning, and I fall to my hands, just trying to breathe through all the hurt.
Without you, they wouldn’t have been hurt again and she wouldn’t have been able to force them. Without you, she can never make them go through that pain, that horror again…
A part of me knows that the voice is wrong, that Odette was hurting the guys long before I came along, but I can’t get the idea out of my mind now that the seed has been planted. When I open my eyes, the first rays of dawn are shining through the window, casting the broken shoe in light that seems celestial.
You will finally be free of all the pain, all the torment…
“But I’ll never see them again,” I choke out, even as I crawl towards the object that fills my vision. My body is no longer mine to command, my hands seeking something my mind refuses to acknowledge fully.
And you think they’d want you after this? That they could love you after those men have been inside you?
I flinch, tears rolling down my cheeks, landing with soft splats on the dusty floorboards, too weak to argue with myself any longer. My breaths hitch in my chest, my chin trembling as tremors rack my broken body.
Then my eyelids flutter, my head bowing as I reach my destination, but I can’t allow myself to sag into the feeling of relief because there is still one thing left to do.