Chapter 14

Chapter

Fourteen

DAPHNE

I hear the whispers of death as we enter the manor.

I have always felt this way every time we came here for an event, but this time is different. This time the whispers are coming for me.

Forget the fact I am naked, I have no shoes on, and I have just been humiliated by my husband, I am now walking into my coffin of my own free will. I’ve given up the fight, and I’m ashamed that I have. I’d like to say it’s because I’m calculating. Or I’m scheming a way out of this, and all that may be true deep down in my soul. But right now, as Apollo ushers me up the large winding staircase, I’m fucking scared.

I know it’s his bedroom, even though I’ve actually never spent the night in Olympus Manor. We always left right after a family affair. I always got the feeling Apollo wanted to leave the property as soon as we could. We never made ourselves at home in the family estate. I always got the same feeling from his siblings as well. They arrived because Troy ordered them to, but none of them appeared happy to be present.

A large king-size bed, mahogany dressers, full-length mirror, an oriental rug, and a brown leather chair by a small table and lamp are in this room. It’s the kind of room that belongs inside a mansion or some rich-person’s penthouse. It doesn’t have the haunted, gothic elegance of the main part of the manor.

My eyes dart to the bed, and my breath hitches when I realize why he’s taking me to the room. He’s going to want sex. I’m naked, vulnerable, and completely at his mercy. We had sex last night, but that was different. Maybe it was because I felt sorry for him that he had lost his twin. Or maybe it was wishful thinking that we could repair our marriage. Or maybe I was simply horny and hadn’t been touched in ages.

But this time… This time things have changed. This man isn’t my husband any longer. This man is a monster.

Who knows what he has planned for me, and I’m too scared to demand answers.

I can’t make my feet move even if I want to. There is no way my inner soul will allow me to step across the threshold of my own free will. There is no way at all. So, I stand in place and will my knees not to buckle.

“I’m not going to fuck you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he says, pulling me into the room with a hard tug. “I have something else in mind for you.”

I stumble inside and would have fallen if it wasn’t for Apollo reaching out and steadying me.

“But if you truly don’t want your sister or you to die, then I expect you to obey me completely. Piss me off, and I won’t play so nice. I’ll make your sister pay the same way you stood back and watched my brother pay.”

My head spins, and I don’t know if I want to scream, curse him out, cry, plead for mercy, or simply break into a million pieces, never to recover again.

“What do you plan on doing with us then? If I obey?” I somehow ask.

“Well…” he begins as he leads me to the far side of the room. There is no moonlight coming from the window because of the heavy velvet curtains that are drawn, but there is a very large skylight on the ceiling of the room that allows a moon beam from the full moon to cast in. “You worked really hard to put me in a cage for the rest of my life, and had no issue when Ares was going to be in a cage for the rest of his.”

I freeze when I see what is before me now that I’ve fully entered the room.

“And since you want to put me in a cage so badly…” He walks over to the large, gilded cage on the other side of his bed against the wall. “It seems fitting that I put you in a cage instead.”

I wouldn’t have been able to speak even if I had anything other than futilely begging for mercy to say. The gold bars of the cage are intricately woven in a beautiful design of ivy and flowers. It’s the type of cage that would house a flock of parakeets or exotic birds. It’s meant to be a decorative item in a sunroom, or a conservatory. It doesn’t belong in a bedroom next to where you’d sleep. The cage door also has a padlock on it, and nothing else inside.

“Get in,” Apollo demands.

“You can’t be serious,” I say as the reality of my situation knocks the air out of me.

“Now,” Apollo says. He stresses the “now” with a severe slap to my bare ass, which has me squealing out in surprise rather than pain.

I remain frozen. Not out of defiance, but out of paralyzing shock. Apollo, however, must read my lack of movement as the former. Without warning, Apollo picks me up under the arms and walks the couple of feet to the edge of his bed. He then folds my body over and presses my upper torso against the mattress. I can hear the swish of his belt again being removed from his pants.

“No,” I say. “No.”

I try to stand up, but he holds me firmly with one hand. I then try to reach back to protect my backside from another whipping, but Apollo snatches both my wrists and pins them at my lower back. Sadly for me, it only takes one of his hands for him to do this, so the other one is free to yield the belt again.

I press my face into the mattress, which muffles my howl when he brings the leather down on my still-sensitive flesh. The fiery lick is enough for me to break any of my pride that’s still present.

So I will beg.

“Please. I’m sorry! You don’t have to do this! I’ll get in the cage. I’ll get in!”

“I don’t repeat myself, princess. It’s best you learn this now,” he says as he continues to lash me with the belt.

It doesn’t seem like he is bringing the leather down on my ass as severely as he had done outside on the hood of the car, but my skin still aches from the earlier discipline, so every crack of the belt on my upturned bare flesh has me crying out. Thankfully, the punishment doesn’t last long. As I lay on the bed—not daring to do a thing without his permission—I can hear him place his belt back on and buckle it. It terrifies me he will spank my pussy again and then fuck me with his finger. I don’t want the shame of that again, and almost prefer a true beating with his fists rather than the humiliation of Apollo knowing once again my body reacts to his heavy hand. My ass stings, but I feel the wetness between my thighs.

“Now get up and get in the cage,” he commands again, sparing me of that shame.

Not having a choice—not unless I want this situation to get worse—I get up quickly, walk over to the cage, duck my head so I can walk inside, and stand awaiting his next order. At least being behind bars, I won’t be touched by Apollo any longer, and I can sit and pull my knees up to my breasts and try to conceal my stolen modesty to some level.

Once inside, Apollo walks over to his bed, pulls off a white fur blanket, and tosses it inside.

“I’m sure you’re cold,” he says as he then closes the cage and latches the lock.

There is a small part of me that wants to tell him to go fuck himself and take his fucking blanket with him, but he’s correct. I am cold. And the blanket not only looks warm, but it will cover me fully for the first time since being stripped by a stranger. I yank the fur up to my neck and completely drown myself in the blanket. I’d cover my head too if it wasn’t because my curiosity is winning out. I can’t take my eyes off Apollo, wondering what he will do next.

“It’s late. We’ll start again tomorrow,” he says. “It’s best you get some sleep.”

Sleep? How does he expect me to sleep? Though I can see outside via the skylight, and I can see it is still night, but I am sure dawn will be near soon.

And what does he mean by “we’ll start again tomorrow”?

There are so many questions running through my head—all with no answers. This is nothing but complete madness, and there is no way I can come up with a reasonable way to conquer this. But I have to try. I have to think…

So, he locked me in a cage.

Was this his plan from the beginning?

Now what?

Just as I am drumming up the courage to ask, Apollo turns and leaves the room. It isn’t until his bedroom door shuts, it hits me I am truly inside an animal cage. I can move around a little. I also can completely lie down and stretch my legs out between the bars if I need to. Putting my hands on the bars, I shake as hard as I can, but nothing happens other than the cage moving slightly. I also shake the door to see if it’s possible to open, which it isn’t with the lock in place .

I am kidnapped.

Trapped.

At his mercy.

Inside a gilded cage.

But I refuse to cry.

I will not break.

I will not allow this beast to tear me down.

He is the animal. Not me.

He belongs where I am.

He should be in this cage.

He is the damn creature who needs to be confined.

I gasp for air as my heart beats so hard against my chest, I feel actual pain.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t breathe!

Closing my eyes, hoping this nightmare will somehow end, I do everything to steady my breathing. In and out, I chant internally. I need to remain calm. If Apollo wanted me dead…

No, he doesn’t want me dead. He wants me in a cage.