Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Ornix’s hands get tighter on my body immediately.
“Hum. Sing. Do anything to drown them out. Don’t listen to them. They lie terribly, but they do it so convincingly men have ended themselves rather than keep hearing them. They will drive you to despair if you allow those words to gain purchase in your mind. This is the most danger you have ever been in.”
“The most danger?”
“Yes. The worst danger always comes when the inside of us is reflected to the outside. These creatures resonate with the little threads of despair tucked away inside every creature with a sentient mind. They can say the very worst things and make you believe they are true. And once believing they are true, you become vulnerable.”
You are weak. And poor. And ugly. He took you because you were easy pickings. Because you don’t have a father to protect you. He took you because nobody will look for you when you go missing.
“I don’t think I can push them away. I think they’re too strong. I think I’m too weak…”
Ornix hears me whimpering, slides his hands to mine, and looks deep into my eyes. I am on horseback, and he is standing beside me, but we are still somehow almost at eye level.
“You are beautiful. You are wild. You are uncontrollable, sometimes even by yourself. You do not conform to expectations easily, because there is a spirit inside you that burns with a fire that cannot and will not be quenched.”
“What are you doing?”
“Telling you the truth of things so these creatures may be banished back where they belong, to prey on shadows of shadows, not the real minds and hearts of those unfortunate enough to stumble into their domain.” He pauses and flickers a wink at me. “I would never say such things under ordinary circumstances, you understand. It is in my best interests to try to tame you, but even I know that is a futile task.”
We begin to move again, but this time I do not ride the horse. This time he picks me up and puts me on his back, letting me wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I feel his hands steady my thighs, and I feel his voice rumbling through my whole body as he keeps talking, and we keep going. I can still feel horrifying whispers circling around, but I cannot hear them as well now. There are just snippets in the wind.
Loser…
Gonna eat you…
Mean nothing…
Ornix speaks, drowning them out. “I chose you because you are strong, because the transcripts of your exploits told me that you are able to make decisions that go against the grain. You are someone born to lead, not to follow. You are a light I could not look away from, a jewel I could not help but need to possess. The seal I carry now thrums with power, but it is nothing compared to what you emit. When I punish you, it is not because you are bad, or because I think you are beneath me. I do it because I want you to be mine, always and forever. Because there is nothing more important than you and our future.”
He hikes me up a little as we pick up the pace even more. The path seems to be opening up, and there is the scent of flowers on the air, something from the world beyond the forest, the promise of goodness.
“Do you understand the force of my devotion to you? Already? Within a mere day of knowing you I have abandoned the castle and come on an adventure with you, and I would do it again, and again. You are the center of my universe, the jewel in my crown. You are the embodiment of all that matters. Your beauty is sovereign, your body is territory that will never cease to excite me. You do things to me I did not know were possible. My desire for you makes me feel like a young whelp again, gives me fresh eyes, new needs. You are absolutely and eternally everything for me.”
I cannot hear the voices of the shadows anymore. All I can hear is the warmth of his voice wrapping around me. He keeps talking as we move, his deep, resonant voice giving me almost endless praise and hope and devotion. For a woman who has never had a boy say anything more than the fact that he likes my ‘phat ass’ or that I’m ‘not as boring as he thought I would be,’ it is an experience unlike any other.
He doesn’t mean it… he’s love bombing you. You can’t possibly fall for a man who fucks you four times in one day and tells you you’ll never age again if you let him come in you, you fucking idiot…