Hold Me Never (Holding Never) (24 page)

I keep my head down.

“
Do you...still want her?” she asks him.
There is a sharp edge to her question. Which he consciously ignores,
to my peril.

“
Yes.” Owen's reply is low but firm.

“
And...you are sure about your choice?” the
Empress asks in a voice that is dripping sweetly with menace.

“
Yes, Your Majesty.”

Her eyes flash an instant before she smiles. “Then
you may have her.”

“
Thank you, Your Majesty.” He starts to
rise from his knees.

“
But where are you going, my pet?”

Owen whips his head round at the Empress's deliberate
question.

“
I...” Grimly, he turns back to me.
“Nowhere, Your Majesty.”

She laughs happily. “Yes. I have not wasted my
affections on you, my pet. You do understand me so well. I did say
you may have her. And you may indeed have her—right here. On
the floor in front of us. Like I said, sex must be—shared.”

I gasp and stare up at Owen with wide, horrified eyes.

He wouldn't.

Right?

Would he? He can't!

Without blinking, he intones, “Thank you, Your
Majesty.”

“
No!” I let out a cry as he steps forward
to stand in front of me. He places a hand on my shoulder, clamping
me in place.

“
Zoey,” he says softly, his grip tightening.

I refuse to look up.

His hand cups the back of my neck, pushing my face to
him. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut, trying to block out the
nightmare that is happening to me.

His other hand grips my waist and slowly slides up my
body. He holds my breast firmly in his hand and kneads it
forcefully. I feel his fingers circling my nipple, tugging and
squeezing it painfully to erection. Tears seep from under my closed
eyelids. Please, stop! Please...

A loud sob erupts from my constricted chest and throat
when his nails dig into my thigh. With one hand on my back and one
under my knee, he drags my leg up to his hip and presses me firmly
against him. I can feel his cock pushing hungrily against my folds,
eager to penetrate me. I can no longer stand up, but Owen's arms are
strong and hard. Those arms that are holding me up are vicious and
powerful enough to tear the life out of his opponents.

I clench my muscles hard, refusing him entry into my
body. But the head of his swollen cock is jerking angrily against my
pussy. He has no qualms tearing his opponents apart. I know I can
expect no mercy from him. He can and will tear me in two to satisfy
himself.

“
Jaxon,” I whisper, clinging to the dying
hope that his name and his memory will ease my torment.

Owen grabs me harder and spits. “What did you
say?” he growls into my ear. “Whose name did you call
out when I am about to fuck you? Who is he!”

I shake my head, letting my tears fall freely.

He grinds his teeth in rage and pushes viciously against
me. I scream, the pain awakening my reflexes. I fight back with
everything I have left, clawing, pummeling, biting and kneeing him
where it matters.

He lurches towards me, wrath contorting his features
into a monstrous mask. I try to dodge, but I am not quick enough.
My fear is no match for his animal rage and lust. He knocks me off
my feet and I land on the floor with a sickening thud. Falling on
top of me, he pins me to the ground under his weight and slams my
hands up on either side of my head.

Forcing my legs apart with his knees, he leans in and
covers my mouth with his. His tongue shoves hard into my mouth,
invading every corner and pushing towards my throat. His broad,
sweaty body is between my legs, and I try to kick him away. Only the
heels of my feet connect with his back. I strain against his hands,
but he is too strong. There is no way I can push him off me.

His cock is stabbing furiously against my crotch, trying
to force his way into my vagina. I squeeze my muscles as tightly as
I can, my eyes blurry with tears.

His cock pushes its tip into my slit. Owen jerks and
grates out a curse. I brace for the excruciating pain, my cries
sounding foreign and faraway.

With the next forceful stroke, he will be fully inside
me.

Please, help me, please...

“
Wait a minute!” the Emperor's voice rings
out.

Owen freezes, and I snap my tear-filled eyes up in utter
shock.

The Emperor is sitting forward in his bed. “Now,
I don't think I have been served any dessert,” he says with a
pout. “All the sweets are gone.”

At his words, there are few awkward, nervous laughs
around the Hall.

“
Oh, please, don't mind me...” he smiles and
gestures for his panting, half-undressed guests to resume their
activities on their crowded bedded platforms. “I'm glad that
all of you have enjoyed the fruits and sweets—and are enjoying
them still. Please—carry on. I'm just...curious. I just
thought I'd like to have a taste for myself,” he declares.
“That's all.”

He leans back and beams at Owen. “I'm sure the
girl chosen by the pet of my Empress is...quite special. I should
like to have her—first. You—” The Emperor waves a
finger at Owen. “You don't mind do you. You can have her
after I'm done. I don't know how long I'll take.” He shrugs
and guffaws. “But I'm sure you'll have plenty to do in the
meantime.” He turns and gives the Empress an exaggerated wink.

I can feel Owen shaking, but I can't tell if it is from
rage or barely suppressed lust. He releases my wrists and pushes
himself up. Turning around, he bows stiffly to the Emperor and walks
away from me. As he lowers himself to his crouching position at the
foot of the Empress's bed, his eyes stare down my body. A body he
has been denied by the mercurial whims of the Emperor.

“
My dear, you are certainly unpredictable,”
the Empress narrows her eyes and clicks her tongue at the Emperor.
“I have never known you to crave sweets.”

“
Sweets? Nah. I have never liked sweet things.”
He makes a face. “But I absolutely love hot and fiery things.
They are so...exciting!”

I stand up shakily to face the Emperor and Empress.

The Empress regards me with a mixture of amusement,
hostility and contempt in her eyes.

The Emperor is distractedly patting the trembling naked
body beside him. My eyes flick to the Emperor. He might have saved
me from Owen, but I know that I have in no way been saved. I have
only been plucked from one circle of hell and thrown into another.

Hani's body is shaking quietly on the bed, as if she is
sobbing. The Emperor runs a hand up and down her body, as if
ruffling the fur of an animal. “There, there, all good things
must come to an end. We had fun, but now the fun must end—for
you. I have a new toy. So old toys must be discarded. You know,
there's just not enough room...nothing personal...” he says in
a reasonable tone.

The Emperor waves his hand and guards move in from the
corners of the Hall. At the Emperor's quick nod, they remove Hani
bodily from the bed. As they are about to disappear through a door,
I find my broken, hoarse voice at last. “Hani!”

She tries to twist around, but the guards drag her out
the door and she vanishes from my sight. “Hani! Stop...”

I fumble forward, but two guards appear in front of me
to block me. The Emperor's command echoes faintly in the
background. “Take her to my chambers.”

“
Yes, Your Majesty.”

As hands close around my arms, something snaps in me.
Something that I had been reigning in. The concern and fear for
Hani's life had given me the last desperate surge of strength and
deadened my terror sufficiently so that I could function well enough
as a dancing dessert platter, letting those vile hands and mouth
touch my body. Only the desire to keep her alive made my feet move
and my body twist numbly to the music. But now that she is gone,
dismissed and discarded by the Emperor like a rag doll, and dragged
away to her doom, everything shatters in me completely. My
restraint, my will, and the last bit of my sanity. Everything shreds
into millions of tiny, painful pieces, leaving nothing behind.
Nothing of me.

Revulsion, hate and raw anguish pour forth in a torrent.
I break free of the hands holding me and lunge forward. My hands
are almost at the Emperor's neck when I am forcibly yanked away.

Shrieking, clawing, kicking and biting, I am dragged
from the Hall. Obscenities and curses spew from my mouth.
Expletives tumble freely, and I yell and screech hysterically. A
hand over my mouth is not enough to stop me. I bite down hard and
the hand falls away in a hurry, amidst fresh curses which are not
uttered by me. I can taste blood, and I want more. More! More!

I will kill all of you! All you dirty, laughing devils!

Turning and twisting through corridors and up countless,
uniform flights of steps, I thrash wildly in the guards' iron grip.
I scream until I can no longer hear my voice, but still the scream
reverberates in my head. The scream of all the demons burning in my
hell. The desperate, demented scream of the damned and the dead.

The guards drag my exhausted, twitching, flailing body
through a set of white double doors. The interior is bright, unlike
the Empress's chambers. I blink at the arched windows, and the red
velvet curtains with their gold trimmings. There is a sprawling four
poster bed and a heavy, black curtain across the entire length and
breadth of the far wall.

As I am shoved towards the corner of the bed, I turn to
stare at that expanse of black curtain. What is behind it?
Something tells me that it is not just a wall behind the curtain.

A shackle secures my right ankle to the bed. My arms
are forced up over my head and ropes bind my wrists to the poster.
As I gaze up at the sparkling, tinkling chandelier overhead, the
hysteria and terror leaves me for a few heartbeats. The glittering
teardrop crystals look incredibly beautiful, sparkling and winking
like diamonds, like stars. I stare up at the shimmering light,
mesmerized, temporarily forgetting my surroundings.

It is only when the guards close the double doors, the
impact making the chandelier shake and sway that I jolt awake and
surface from my half-dreaming, half-dead state. The crystal
teardrops knock against one another, tinkling and sounding my death
knell.

The realization that I will be left alone in this room
with the Emperor hits me like a thunderbolt.

A wave of pure terror surges in me. I remember Hani's
battered body, the emptiness in her eyes when she looked at me for
the last time.

What will the Emperor do to me? Will I even be allowed
to die?

“
Wait...don't leave me here...” I croak to
the sealed doors. “P-please don't leave me alone! Don't go!
Please...please help me...I...” Tears flow down my cheeks, and
the room becomes a watery blur.

Frenziedly, I tug and twist against the rope but that
only causes the rope to bite deeper into my skin.

After an eternity, I stop struggling and just close my
eyes.

I hear the doors open, but I keep my eyes close. There
is nothing that I want to see.

A hand grips my chin and I cry out in shock and pain.
My eyes flutter open to see the Emperor's sneering face inches from
mine.

“
Ah, so much energy and fire, pretty...very pretty
indeed. Perhaps I can exhaust some of that fire. Cool down this hot
little head—and body. Oh, we are going to have fun, so much
fun!”

My lips part at my sudden intake of breath. The Emperor
remembers me.

“
Commander Ryleth didn't drag you behind his horse
now, did he?”

The Emperor flops onto the bed. “I thought not.”

He bounces up and down on the bed, making something roll
and bob under the covers. I stare at the figure, a lump under the
covers that is the size and shape of...

The Emperor shifts his weight and a mess of pale blond
hair rolls out from under the cover.

I try to back away, but my jerky movement only alerts
the Emperor to my horror.

“
Oh. That.” He rolls his eyes. “There
is still some fun to be had with her. Oh, but not the kind of fun
that you and I will be having,” he hurries to assure me.

A sadistic smile plays on his lips as he yanks the
covers down to reveal the girl to me.

I scream.

It is the blond girl who was taken with Hani, the girl
in red beside her, the young girl who had smiled at me. I recognize
her face, so sweet and innocent, but her body, oh God! Good God, no!
Her body is unrecognizable.

This is the work of the devil himself.

Her pale, slim legs are covered with blood, and there
are horrible, horrible things between her legs. Things made of glass
and metal, shoved into her, splitting her and mutilating her. There
are gashes and cuts on her breasts, teeth and knife marks on her arms
and shoulders. There is still blood flowing from her wounds. The
girl, the poor girl, is still alive, barely, but still drawing
breath. I can see her chest rising and falling ever so slightly.
One of her hand jerks and twitches at my scream.