Prologue
***Please be warned that this book will contain graphic scenes as well as non-consentual sex and/or mentions thereof. Do not read if this is a sensitive subject for you. Thanks
All that's left of her, is an empty shell where her heart used to be. She'd withdrawn so far into herself that she barely registers everything happening to her. But she knows when he's coming. It's the only time when she feels something. It's as if...
All the air evaporates from the cell beneath the castle. Her soft breathing becomes even slower and shallower. And just when she thinks she's going to lose consciousness, he's reached her door. She doesn't look up. She doesn't want to try to look at him through her swollen eyes. But she doesn't have to - his features have been burned straight into her soul.
He unlocks her cell and moves agonizingly slow toward her. When he turns her chin to face him, she wants to shut down once more. But he looks into her eyes and waits for her to see him. He has an uncanny ability to know when she's checked out of herself.
"Ready, my love?" He demands softly and a whimper escapes her throat. Releasing her from her bonds against the wall, he catches her when she tumbles forward. It's this gentleness when she's not on his table that eats her alive. This time will be bad if he's using small endearments. Her body starts trembling in his arms when he picks her up and leaves the cell.
"Don't fret too much my love. Today will be special, I promise." He whispers into her ear as his Chamber of Fun looms ahead.
"We've come to the end of our fun together," he says as he straps her onto the stone slab - his table. "Do you know? Today marks one year that I've had you all to myself. Happy anniversary, my love. So beautiful when you scream. I'll miss you forever." She knew right then she wouldn't leave this chamber alive.
When he finished with the restraints, he came to stroke the hair from her brow, gently tracing her cheek and jaw. Then he leaned down and kissed her, coaxing her mouth open and cupping her face between his hands. He kissed her passionately, like she was the sole purpose of his life. There was no mistaking the light in his eyes as he pulled away...
She retreated to that smallest of small piece inside herself when he started undressing her. Knowing that raping her would be the least of her pain today - since he started with this method. She wondered how he would end her though, she couldn't help but look forward to after... Whether she'd be at peace or not didn't matter, she only prayed that nothing came after death. That would be complete bliss - nothing.
Saber felt herself being pulled back to her body. This must be it, she thought with more feeling than expected. Then she felt it, felt all of the pain he'd caused her during his administrations at once. Unbearable agony almost sent her back to that hiding place. She knew the buzzing in her ears were her own screams - that didn't lessen anything she was feeling. He was watching her face expectantly when she could manage her eyesight again.
"Most wouldn't last one hour with me, but you've lasted twenty hours for every day for a full year. You're remarkable - to say the least. Now, before you bleed out completely, my Queen wishes the location of the Heart. Please tell me, my love, it is my wish for you to die quietly. To slip into the void of nothingness with nothing to hold you here."
His words made her heart ache for the the first time since all this became her normal. She croaked and he brought her some water. She tried again, "You were all misled. Your queen killed the Heart when she killed our pack." He brought the water closer and she sipped gratefully. "Collectively, our pack was the Heart of the Wolves, and when I die, there will be nothing to keep the other packs from turning rabid."
"You're telling me the was never an artifact?"
She barely heard his question as she closed her eyes. They burned, complete agony was her whole existence for the past year if she could believe him. No wonder she felt dead inside. It was a good thing she was dying anyway. She could never be alive again.
Just before the darkness took her, she could've sworn she heard the fae monster say, "Happy birthday my love..."
