Chapter 7

"Who did this to you, Miss Doe?" Dr. Hall sits across from me in the infirmary while a squirrely-looking nurse disinfects my earlobe.

"No one." I'm a lot of things, but a snitch isn't one of them.

She and the nurse exchange a look. "Well, then I'll have to assume you did this to yourself. Which means I'll have to place you on a suicide watch for twenty-four hours."

I shrug. I'm not going to give this woman any reaction other than boredom. The same way I handled all the greedy boarding school professors all my life. They act like they're concerned about my education, but in reality, they just wanted a poison hookup or for my father to fund a new wing for their department.

Dr. Hall nods at the nurse, and he sticks a syringe in my arm without warning.

"Ow! What the fuck?"

"It's a sedative. To make sure you don't hurt yourself again. You know, Miss Doe, you'll find this place much more agreeable when you start cooperating."

Fuck.

I roll my eyes just as the effects of the medicine start kicking in. "I'll cooperate when you stop calling me a Jane Doe and admit that you know exactly who I really am."

Dr. Hall averts her gaze to the paperwork in her lap. "Still delusional," she murmurs to herself as she begins scribbling down her notes.

Now I see why she sedated me. I'm fucking fuming. If I were at full strength, I'd leap off the table at her.

"You and I both know… I'm… Lib Thorn," I slur as the drug pulls me under. "I will get out of here… And when I do… kill. You."

I lay back on the table, still conscious but unable to move my limbs. Fuck.

I hear a buzzing sound followed by a door opening. Heavy footsteps barrel in.

"Get her back to her room and strap her in. I want her locked up for twenty-four hours," Dr. Hall orders.

I'm straining to hear more, but it's muffled. I swear she said… We will break her . No. Fuck. Please let me get out of here. For the love of the ravens, please .

I'm still awake as they roll me down the halls. While my limbs get heavier, I can still move my eyes from side to side. I try to take in my surroundings. To remember them.

I know we are at my room when I see Fabien leaning in his doorway. He snickers and grins at me like a cheshire cat. So fucking smug and satisfied with my predicament.

I fucking hate all three of them so much.

Gormon and another orderly lift me up and place me on the bed. I whimper as they strap my arms and legs down.

I breathe a sigh of relief when they leave without touching me.

As I stare up at the ceiling, focusing on the chipped paint, the tears start to fall.

Why hasn't anyone come looking for me?

I start to think about all the events of this past year. They cycle through my brain like a movie on high speed. The party at Nocturnus when I pissed off Riot for bringing Maureen. The punishment I was given days later for it. I want to punch a hole in the wall when I think about the memory of the initiates' hands on me while the rest of them watched.

Then there was the night that I fucked Zeke. I never told anyone about that. But it was the only way to keep him from going after Maureen. He promised he would leave her alone. But it was all for nothing because he did it anyway.

And then the guilt settles in again. The shame and guilt from knowing that Jessamine was in on it all along. And I said nothing. I didn't warn her. It's the reason why I took off for winter break. Alone. I couldn't face my friends. Not after what Zeke did to us. Knowing it was partly my fault.

Fuck. I'm such a fucking hot mess. I'm a terrible friend and a horrible person. People think I don't give a shit, but I do. Yet years of being disappointed by my own family has made me hard and guarded.

I've never been good enough for my father. Even after everything I endured for him. Aries has always been the golden child. All the Thorn men are treated like gods, while the rest of us are just their arm candy.

So when I revolted against it, when I stopped eating and taking care of myself, he threw me in a rehab center for six months just so he didn't have to deal with me.

When I came back, I felt better but still broken. That's when I discovered pills and alcohol—my two besties that always have time for me.

My father isn't interested in my brain or my business sense. It was decided at an early age that Aries would be groomed to take over the company. And I was raised to be pretty and obedient so that I could find a wealthy husband. As if we didn't already have enough fucking money.

What a fucking joke.

My tears turn to sobs as I lay here helpless, trapped, and unable to move a single muscle. I wish my heart were paralyzed too. I wish my soul would just leave my body and be done with me. My brother is the only one who truly loves me. Fuck. Where are you, Aries? I miss you so much.

I cry myself to sleep, dozing in and out of consciousness once the sedative takes full hold of me. At least it drowns out the noise of the asylum. It's been hours since I've heard any bloodcurdling screams.

I don't know how long I've been lying here, but as the moonlight streams through my window, I can feel my limbs again. I wiggle my toes and fingers, breathing in a sigh of relief when they respond to my brain's signals.

One of the advantages of being immune to poison is that traditional sedatives don't affect me the same way as other people. It doesn't last as long. They could be aware of that. It would explain why they've drugged me nonstop. I'm not even sure I wish I knew how long I've actually been here.

I struggle against my restraints as all feeling returns to my limbs. Now I'm even more panicked. I need to get out of these.

My stomach flips when I hear the locks on my door unlatching. Fuck. Please don't let it be that fucking orderly.

The door creaks open, and I want to scream. It's so much worse.

Fabien.

"How the fuck do the three of you have a key to my room?" I blurt out.

He shuts the door behind him, locking us in together. "Luck, I guess. Want one to ours?"

This fucker is a loose cannon. Like an actual nut job. "No. Get out."

He stalks over, a knife in his hand, and glares down at me. "You have such pretty skin. It's a shame I'm going to ruin it."

My stomach knots. "Oh, you're actually crazy, aren't you? You belong in here."

He presses the tip of the blade to my chest. "And you're a spoiled slut who deserves every fucking thing we're gonna do to you. You're never going to see the light of day again." He pulls down my tank top with the tip of his blade. "And when you're screaming in the dark, no one will care. No one will come to help you."

He slides the blade underneath the strap of my tank top and yanks, cutting it free. I gasp as he does the same to the other one. "We are your fucking medicine. Your poison. We're all you have now."

My breath hitches as he pulls my top down, exposing my breasts. "I will kill you," I growl.

"No, you won't. But I'm going to love all the ways you try. Pain is my favorite fucking foreplay."

I shudder as he presses the flat of the blade against my nipple. Fuck. Why does that feel so fucking good? "Well, you're in luck," I breathe, "I'm going to make your life really fucking painful."

He smirks before nestling his head against my neck. "Tell me… what do you wanna do to me?"

I try not to let the feel of his blade against my nipple distract me. But the sensation sends tingles to my core. "I want to suffocate you while you sleep," I rasp.

He circles my other nipple with the tip of the blade, scratching me but not breaking the skin. "Mmm, yeah. Tell me more."

I swallow hard, the heat in my body increasing as his breath tickles my neck, his lips barely grazing the flesh of my earlobe. "And then I'll gouge your eyes out so you can't look at me anymore."

His cock hardens against my thigh. "Fuck… what else?"

If this is foreplay, then it's the most fucked up kind I've ever had. And that's saying a lot. "Then I'll cut out your tongue so I don't have to hear you fucking speak ever again."

He moans in my ear. "Oh, baby, you don't want to do that."

I wish my hands were free so I could slap him. "Yes, I fucking do."

"But then I won't be able to do this…" He drags the tip of his tongue slowly up my neck.

A whimper escapes my lips, my body betraying me as I imagine what else he can do with that tongue. Fuck.

One earlobe is throbbing from Mordecai nearly biting it off and the other is pulsing with need for Fabien's kiss. Fuck me. I'm so screwed. There's something seriously wrong with me.

He chuckles and continues up my face, licking my cheek, then my jaw, stopping only when he gets to the corner of my mouth. "I can feel your pulse ticking out of control. You're a little freak like me, aren't you?"

I try to lie as motionless as possible. He still has the knife pressed against my nipple. "I'm nothing like you," I whisper.

He smiles and licks the corner of my mouth first before dragging the length of his tongue across my lips. "You taste good, little freak."

Moisture pools between my legs as he drags the tip of the blade down my shirt, ripping the rest of it wide open. "You're disgusting."

"And yet I don't hear you begging me to stop." He keeps going, dragging the blade farther down until he reaches the waistband of my pants. "Beg me to stop, and I might."

I can't. What's wrong with me? I don't want him to stop.

With one quick jerk, he rips my pants down the middle with the knife. "That's what I thought…" His breath hitches when he sees my bare pussy. "So fucking wet."

There's something so disturbing and fucked up about being strapped to a bed while a psycho cuts your clothes off and actually liking it. Craving it .

I take a deep breath as he looks up at me from between my legs, his blue eyes piercing my soul like fucking ice melting at the base of a flame. "You're a lunatic."

He smirks like the devil as he rests his knife on my belly. "Last chance to tell me no. Once I start, I won't stop until I'm finished."

A tremor shoots through my belly. I'm turned on by my repulsion to him. He's foul-mouthed and filthy, with no regard for anyone but himself. Maybe I see myself in his eyes. In his own self-loathing and destruction. So I don't make a sound. I just glare back at him, calling his bluff, daring him to prove he's the man he thinks he is.

His eyes glaze over with lust and contempt as he peels the lips of my pussy back and blows softly on my center. "You're going to cum so fucking hard."

I arch back as he licks me from taint to clit. "Oh, shit," I say on a breath.

He flicks his tongue against the sides of my pussy while he spreads me wider with his fingers.

I claw at the bed, unable to do anything else in these restraints.

He works his tongue deeper inside, sliding in and out. He licks up my slit and wraps his lips around my clit.

I moan as he sucks it hard, scraping his teeth against my swollen flesh. "Even your pussy tastes spoiled and rich."

"Fucking bastard." I buck my hips, forcing his tongue deeper inside my core.

He chuckles as he devours me like I'm a bowl of his favorite ice cream. "Fucking slut," he replies in a teasing tone.

The pressure builds in my core as tingles erupt and explode in every direction. "Fuck, I'm…"

He digs his fingers into my sides and pulls me taut against his face, his tongue lashing wildly inside me. He licks and sucks and nips at every inch of my folds as I cum inside his mouth.

I let out a deep moan, loud enough for the whole hall to hear me. I have no shame right now. I will after, but right now, I'm going to let myself cum. This fucking orgasm. Oh my god. If my hands were free, I'd grab the back of his head and hold it tight to me. But I don't need to because he's doing that himself, milking me for every drop, savoring every drop.

I pant as I come down, whimpering in between breaths. "Fuck."

He smiles as he comes up for air, his lips glistening with my juices. "Now I'll take my payment."

"Your what?" I'm dizzy from pleasure. No one has ever made me cum that hard before. Not like this.

He grabs the knife off my belly and pins my thigh back. "An eye for an eye. So to speak. You don't get pleasure without pain, little freak."

Panic climbs in my chest. "Wait. What the fuck are you doing?"

"I told you I won't stop until I'm finished. I made you cum, and now I'm going to make you bleed. Just like I bled that day in Raven's Gate." He punctures my skin with the tip of the blade.

I cry out. Fuck. "Stop. Please."

He continues to carve into my flesh, oblivious to my pleas. "Not until I'm done. Don't worry. You'll only get one at a time. Unlike me, who got them all at once."

Bile rises in my throat as I watch him mutilate my flesh. "What are you carving into me?"

"My name. So you'll always remember who licked your pussy the best." His lips are parted, his tongue hanging out just above the edge of them, as he tattoos his name into my thigh without any tenderness or care. He digs in his blade, which I'm not even sure is sterile, like a man who stays true to his threats. They become promises. Sacred pacts of blood and cum and degradation.

Oh, fuck. My pussy tingles again. Pressure swells in my nub. I don't understand… what is happening to me?

With each rip of his blade, I quiver. I arch back and forth, writhing inside my restraints. "Ohhh…"

He jerks his head toward my pussy, then my face, his eyes wide. "You surprise me again."

We lock eyes as he licks the blood from my thigh. A shudder rolls through my body, and I let out a deep moan. It erupts from my core, another orgasm shattering me into pieces like fallen stardust. Fuck.

I roll my hips up and down, humping the air as he licks clean the wound he inflicted. And I chase another wave of tremors, my whole body shaking. I can't breathe. I just want his cock inside me now. Fuck. I'm losing control.

He thrusts two fingers inside me mid-orgasm, intensifying every ripple. I let out a scream as I clench around him. "Don't fucking stop."

He looks at me differently. His eyes darken with hunger as much as they're dumbfounded at the reaction my body gives him. My pleasure is his now. But his is also mine. Every twitch and every thrust is mine.

When I come down, he slowly pulls his fingers out and looks down at my leg. "Your pain is supposed to belong to me."

"Are you angry that I liked it?" I pant.

He tears off a piece of my bedsheet and wraps it around my thigh, stopping the wound from bleeding any further. "No. A little… I don't know."

"I'm sorry." I know I didn't deserve to cum like that. Not by him.

He shakes his head. "I'm not." We sit in silence for a few minutes. Then he does the last thing I expect him to do. He removes my restraints.

He puts the blade in my hand before he leaves. "Just in case…"

"Why are you giving this to me?"

He shoves his hands in his pockets, hiding his balled fists. "Because you didn't rat out Mordecai. You took your punishment from them. Let them drug you and tie you up. But you never broke."

Loyalty. A common theme in our world. Some of us pledge it to the wrong people. "Well, I'm not a snitch."

"Good. But if you ever use that knife on one of us, I won't hesitate to kill you with it."

I nod, shocked at this newfound trust between us. Who knew all it would take was letting him carve his name into my thigh after he made me cum so hard I can barely remember my own.

It's a start, but I need to keep my guard up. They still blame me for what happened with Zeke and Nocturnus. The more that I think about it… I'm starting to believe they have every right to.