Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 557(@200wpm)___ 445(@250wpm)___ 371(@300wpm)
“You’ll have to give them a reason to back off.” His eyes were piercing. “And that doesn’t happen when everyone thinks you’re an insanely dressed freak.”
I was quiet for a spell, and then I nodded. “Okay,” I whispered. “I get it. The nail that stands out gets its head bashed in. I’m starting to get that memo too.”
He gestured to the door. “Shall we talk terms?”
I hesitated, caution and fear rising up in my throat—choking me. Am I seriously going to do this? Willingly enter into a slave contract with a demon I’ve known for barely a month. Is this really the only option I have?
“No one’s forcing you into anything, Hunter.”
My head snapped up at his voice... and the kind, patient look in his eyes.
“I assumed you have your reasons for being in Abaddon, but if you don’t, then there is one more option you can consider for your protection,” he said. “You and your sister can live in my palace in Ignavia.
“Nothing and no one goes against the word of my father, and if Father says you’re not to be touched, that is how it will be. No one in House Belphe will bother either of you, and more than that, you won’t have to deal with the dangers and politics of the academy.”
“Wow, Ronin, that’s...” I couldn’t help it. I was genuinely touched by the offer. That he’d move someone he knew for less than a month into his home. That he’d recruit his father to help protect me and my sister. Despite myself, all my annoyance and resentment toward the guy melted away.
Ronin isn’t a bad person. Yes, he has a massive ego to go with being a powerful, pampered prince, but he acts the way he does because kindness, friendship, and manners weren’t in his vocabulary growing up. If I had a hellish upbringing, I doubt I’d be a ball of sunshine either.
“Thank you,” I said clearly, “but I can’t leave. It’s not that I want to stay in the academy, it’s that I have to be where Lucifer can reach me, and I assume he can’t slither in and out of Ignavia as he pleases.”
“You assume correctly.”
I inclined my head. “He’s the only one who can give my sister her memory, her personality, her soul, and her life back. We can’t go beyond his reach, and I have a feeling he wouldn’t sit quietly if we do. The last thing I’m going to do to repay your kindness is kick off a war of the Houses.”
He cocked his head. “Kindess? What’s that?”
I heaved a sigh. “I don’t want to say it, but leaving won’t work and going without protection won’t work, so I’ll do it, but you have to explain it all to me first. What does it actually mean for me to be your”—my lips refused to supply the word—“sub,” I said instead.
Ronin went back into his room, leaving me to follow. After telling Dora to lie down and rest for a bit until they struck the gong, I did.
“First thing,” Ronin began, reclaiming his seat in the armchair, “is that sub is short for submit. It creates a bond that links us almost like the bond the mutts have with their fated mates, but unlike theirs, we cannot see into each other’s minds or read each other’s thoughts.”
“That’s good,” I muttered.
“On my end, I can use the bond to subject you to excruciating, tortuous pain that will have you begging to submit to my will,” he dropped, blowing my eyes wide. “And on your end of the bond, all the fear and pain that you feel is transmitted back as pure pleasure for me.”
“That’s not good!” I blared. “Are you kidding me?! Did a complete sadist think this shit up!”
“I suspect so,” Ronin replied mildly. “You’re in a place where sadism is celebrated, mortal. Shouldn’t you know that by now?”
My lips peeled back from my teeth. Again, I knew he was just giving it to me straight and direct, which is what I asked him to do, but a part of me still wanted to punch that know-it-all smirk back down his pouty mouth.
“Still...” I whispered, backing away. “This bond is even more horrible than I knew it had to be. It gives you incentive to hurt me! To beat me, force me, and make me afraid of you, because you’ll be getting off on it the whole time.”
Expression darkening, Ronin rose up. “Let me make something very clear to you, Hunter. I have neither the desire nor the inclination to beat or hurt women. With or without my glamour, all throw themselves at my feet for the mere gift of getting me off,” the man said with no trace of irony or humility. “When I ripped your hideous mole off your face and drowned you while you were attending my bath, I did so believing you were a man. If I’d known you weren’t, it wouldn’t have happened.”