Chapter 58

58

Farryn

This is so stupid.

Those four little words played on repeat inside my head, as I tiptoed down what seemed like a never-ending corridor of the cathedral’s west wing—the only place I hadn’t yet searched in my quest to find Remy. I held up a lantern I’d grabbed from one of the brackets in the stairwell, the flicker of the flame against the wall giving me the creeps. Old, wooden floor boards groaned beneath my bare feet, their cold surface sending a chill up my back.

My immediate plan was to let Remy know to check out the church. Maybe there was absolutely no connection between the church and my father, but something told me all these little discoveries were converging for a reason. However, that wasn’t to say that I absolutely couldn’t be swayed into going with him. “Remy!” I whispered, cringing when even my hushed voice reverberated off the walls. “Remy, are you there?”

Nearing the end of the hallway, I came to a stop, scanning over the doors. The fact that most stayed on the other side made it too quiet and somehow eerier than the east wing.

Sighing, I twisted around to turn back, and an enormous figure standing there sent a shock of terror through me. On a scream, I dropped the lantern, which was recovered by quick hands.

When he held the light up to his face, I nearly screamed again.

“Jericho, I … I was just …” The words failed me. Of course they did. I’d snuck out of my room in search of Remy, which didn’t get any worse than that in his mind. And if he suspected that I might’ve been capable of leaving with the fallen angel, then the angry expression on his face was only the beginning of what was sure to be a fit of rage.

“Looking for someone?” he asked.

No point in lying. My intent was innocent enough, it was only my execution that seemed shady. “Yes,” I said, angling my chin high and matter-of-fact. “I need to relay something to Remy.”

“And what is that?”

“The phrase we spoke about earlier. I’ve heard it before. I think the church I went to growing up is affiliated with this Pentacrux. I need to tell Remy to check the church. For my father.”

Jaw shifting, he stared quietly down at me for a moment. Didn’t take a blood pressure cuff to tell me he was pissed. Really pissed. The twitches of his scarred lip seemed to mark off the blips of fury pulsing through him. “I know where to find him,” he said in a surprisingly calm voice. “Come with me.”

“Wait. Why?”

On a bored sigh, he tipped his head. “If you’re not interested, then please return to your room.”

“Fine. I’ll go with you. Just … don’t be mad at me, okay? I’m just trying to make sure my dad isn’t in harm’s way.”

Jericho led me through more corridors, and down a stairwell that seemed to stretch into the bowels of the cathedral. The cold air that clung to the stone walls in the lower level of the church sent goosebumps across my skin.

“Why the basement?”

A quick glance over his shoulder was the first time Jericho bothered to look at, or even acknowledge, me. “Undercroft.”

Right. I knew that. I’d been in one before. In my nightmares, when I found two nuns buried in a wall. “Anya said I wasn’t allowed down here.”

“Anya isn’t the master of this cathedral.”

We passed a low window adjacent to the staircase, where an orange haze illuminated the soft ripples over the surface of the sea. Given the darkness of the sky, I guessed it to be the beginning phases of the ominous blood moon, though its hue still remained somewhat pale. It was true, then. The pentad blood moon. Weird.

The staircase opened onto arched stone columns and rows of arched, wooden doors.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled, as we passed one of them, and my mind spun with whether, or not, to run.

He won’t hurt you, I told myself. He’s too infatuated.

Yet, I knew how quickly infatuation could turn deadly, particularly if he thought I was scheming to leave.

He came to a stop at a door and, from his hip, unclipped a loop of old-fashioned keys.

Everything about the situation had me frowning. Had he locked Remy up? For what? And what good would it do me, if he’d imprisoned him? There’d be no point in telling him about the church.

Lowering the lantern, he stepped aside. “Make it quick.”

“You locked him inside? What good is telling him, if he’s unable to leave?”

“And I ask you: What good is leaving, if there’s a chance you’ll be swiped up and sacrificed?”

Lip snarled, I pushed past him through the door, frustrated with his insistent arguments. “Remy!” I called out, but as I entered the room, I skidded to an abrupt halt.

The light from the lantern outside showed a small, but furnished, room, with an enormous four-post bed draped in red velvet bedding, chains and cuffs dangling from the ceiling of it. A nearby wall held paddles and whips and bars. What looked to be a sawhorse with rounded padding over the top of it--clearly a sexual contraption.

“What is this?” I asked in a shaky voice.

At the click of the door, I spun around to find Van Croix setting the lantern down on a small bistro table, the legs of each chair holding cuffs.

“This?” He smirked. “This is the result of too many punishments. I grew to like them too much.”

“You … hurt women here?”

“No.” Reaching out for one of the cuffs, he gave a light yank. “Ordinarily these contraptions would be for me.”

“Ordinarily?” My heart pounded in my throat, and I swallowed back the dryness.

“I will not let you leave, Farryn.”

Panic exploded inside of me, and I rushed toward the door. “No!”

As easily as if I weighed nothing, he lifted me up and hoisted me over his shoulder. Across the room, he carried me to the bed and laid me gently down on the bedding.

Screaming, I kicked and flailed my arms. “You cannot keep me against my will!”

“I can, if you’re foolish enough to put yourself in harm’s way.”

With little effort, he managed to wrangle my arm into a cuff attached to one of the bed posts.

A new flare of distress washed over me, and I kicked out, the force of my foot to his chest having absolutely no effect.

He cuffed the other wrist.

Click.

“Let me go! Let me go!”

In a raging temper, I kicked and writhed in the binds, and screamed until my voice went hoarse.

He dragged a finger down my cheek, his gaze remorseful. “They say if you love someone, really love them, you set them free.” The gentle stroke became a hard grip of my chin. “I’m far more selfish than that. I’d sooner chain you to my bed for an eternity than let you leave this world to fuck some lowly human in the next.”

“You’re psychotic.”

“Yes. I am. Make no mistake, Miss Ravenshaw. I am both unreasonable and non-negotiable.”

“Somebody, help! Help me!”

“No one can hear you.”

“This is criminal, you know. Holding me against my will.”

Fists planted at either side of me, he pushed forward, balancing himself over top of me on outstretched arms. “Where do you think you are that anyone cares about what’s criminal?”

“Why are you doing this?”

Eye riveted on my lips, he traced his thumb over their surface, his touch carrying the hum of electricity that tickled my flesh. “I thought I made it clear before. I would go to any lengths to protect you, Farryn. Even if it means holding you against your will.” He licked his lips and leaned in to kiss me. “Do you honestly think I could stand idly by and risk losing you again?”

“I would’ve stayed with you.”

“Would you? Knowing your father might be in danger? Knowing what you know about the church? Because I couldn’t, if that were you on the other side.”

“Then, take me yourself. What happens if you return there?”

“You die anyway.” Lips pressed to a hard line, he stared down at me with fury burning in his eye. “And by the fires of hell, if I lost you twice, all of Nightshade would burn for it.”

I understood his reasoning. Perhaps the most confusing part in all of this was that he wasn’t holding me against my will for his amusement. He was doing it because he felt it was the only way to keep me safe.

As much as I wanted to hate him for it, I couldn’t. However dark and wicked, his feelings for me seemed to transcend all the rules.

“Please. Just … tell Remy about the church, then?”

“I’ll send him to check it out. You have my word.”

“Jericho, I don’t blame you for this. Really. In some weird, Stockholmish way, I get your reasoning. But you don’t have to tie me up and lock me in a room. I’m not going to leave.”

He leaned forward again, seizing my mouth at the same time his hands slid up the hem of my nightgown. “Darling, you’ve just proven yourself to be untrustworthy enough in that regard that I would never take your word for it now.”

Every treasonous cell in my body sprung to life with his touch.

“Humans are such tempting little creatures.” He licked my neck, taking his time over my hammering pulse. “I don’t know what is it about seeing you restrained that makes me want to fuck you so relentlessly.” His rough voice and hands sent a shiver through me, as he slid my panties down my thighs.?“My dangerous little tu’nazhja.”

Tu’Nazhja. The tiny bird he’d told me about the day in the woods.

I wanted to fight him, to tell him I wouldn’t let him touch me until he released me from the binds. That I was a strong and independent woman who could make her own decisions and didn’t need him watching over me.

Sadly, that was a lie.

Although I considered myself fairly intelligent, he was right. If given the chance, I was just stupid enough to try to leave. The mystery of my father had pulled at me for too long to abandon the search for him. And Jericho would sure as hell have to tie me up to keep me from trying to escape.

Lost to his touch, I spread my thighs for him, stretching the fabric that dug into my legs.

He loosened the laces of my gown and pulled the collar low enough to expose one of my breasts. The moment his lips made contact with my nipple, my whole body seized with a warm rush of pleasure. The stubborn beast inside of me clawed to get away, but the bigger, inescapable beast on top of me pinned me down. I wriggled and bucked, trapped in his immovable cage, my mind urging me to fight, while my body begged to surrender.

Strong hands held me still.

Still, I squirmed against him, the anger inside of me battling the undeniable mastery of his tongue and mouth, which made for a confusing mix of lust and revulsion.

“I hate you,” I lied.

“Your body disagrees.”

One, long drag of his tongue sent a pulse of electricity over my sensitive skin. Stomach tight with the ache that throbbed between my legs, I moaned and writhed.

The sound of his dark chuckle only goaded my frustration.

“Your impudence doesn’t work with me, Tu’Nazhja.” He suckled my flesh, and my fight turned to nothing more than pleading whimpers.

“Because you don’t play fair!” My voice carried a pathetic whine of defeat. I threw my head back against the pillow, crying out from the intense pleasure that had my thighs trembling.

“I could spend an eternity listening to that sound,” he rasped against my flesh. “Tell me what I want to hear, Farryn.”

My body flipped over, arms crossed in the binds, and he propped my ass up with what looked like an enormous neckroll pillow, which he slid beneath my belly. With my face buried in the mattress, he set a hand at my crown and turned my head to the side. The unforgiving fabric of my panties dug into my thighs, burning as he spread my knees apart.

His finger slid up and down my infuriatingly wet seam. “Look how your body responds to my touch. You swell and drip and tremble, practically begging to be filled.” Tiny vibrations from his skin sank into my flesh, and I ground myself against the pillow beneath me, humping it like an animal.

“You cannot resist me. Not when my sole objective is to conquer your stubborn will. Now say it.”

The rubbing of my clit stopped, but he kept his finger there, allowing those pulses of electricity to innervate the too-sensitive nerves. The sensation curled my stomach and I ground my hips harder, desperate for relief.

“Please, Jericho.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“I want you to fuck me.”

“Oh, come now. You want more than that, Farryn. Think of how good you felt the last time and try again.”

“I want ...”

“Say it.”

“I want your cum.”

“Where?”

“Inside of me.”

The scent of bitter anise on his breath had my mouth watering for a kiss, as he took my earlobe between his teeth. “Tu’Nazhja, I’m going to fill you up with centuries of pent-up tension. Until it’s spilling out of your eager little cunt and soaking the sheets. And you’re going to enjoy every second of it.”

At the sound of his zipper, I squirmed in my binds, my body anxious and desperate at the same time. The tip of his cock met my entrance, and on contact with my skin, the vibrations danced over my flesh.

I let out a grunt, the unyielding pillow pressed hard against my belly, as he leaned over me. At the same time he pushed up inside of me, his teeth sank down hard into my shoulder. Both sensations clashed inside my head, a potent cocktail of pleasure and pain that rippled through me on a bone-deep shudder. His teeth held me still as he railed into my body from behind, every thrust tinged with just enough anger to feel as if he were punishing me.

Confirmed, when he gritted out, “Don’t ever try to escape me again, Farryn. I will find you. Every fucking time.”

Knots pulsed inside of me, the pinnacle of ecstasy just out of reach. His hand pressed into the nape of my neck, pinning me to the mattress. His hips pounded into me.

My body wound tight, so tight. The lack of air from the mattress sent a dizzy sensation to my head.

Starved for oxygen, I gasped and moaned. Fingers snaked between the crack of my ass, and he pressed his thumb over the forbidden ring of muscle, tickling me with soft strokes. Drool leaked from my lips, captured by the soft cotton that dampened my face. The sensations clashed together, exploding inside my head, and I screamed into the thick duvet. Just as before, an inviting combination of heat and the tiny quivering vibrations filled me so thickly, I felt the mess dribble down the back of my thighs, where it tickled my muscles there. Pulse after pulse had me screaming, curling my fingers, rolling my belly over the pillow beneath my hips. Every muscle in my body shook, and when he finally released my neck, allowing me a sip of air, I let out a long, droning sigh of satisfaction.

Jericho didn’t remove himself from inside of me. He remained hard and lodged, still stirring the wicked concoction he’d released into me.

The soft rocking against me told me he wasn’t finished with me. Oh, God.

“Wait, please,” I said on a ragged breath.

“My appetite for you is insatiable. I want more. Always more.” He removed the pillow from beneath me, allowing me to turn over onto my back and unravel my twisted arms. A gentle hand caressed my face, his eye so focused and swirling with the kind of adoration meant for a queen. “Lie still, Tu’Nazhja. It’s going to be a long night.”

* * *

The incessant sound of thumping roused me from sleep. I opened my eyes to the flicker of the lantern still propped on the table and a cuff dangling from the ceiling overhead. My arms felt heavy, tingling, and I wriggled my fingers to keep them from going numb. It was then I remembered where I was and groaned. Beside me, the bed lay empty, and I lifted my head, searching the dimly lit room for Jericho.

The sound of soft moans reached my ears. Soft, feminine moans coming from the other side of the door.

“Mmm. Baby, you feel so good. I missed you.” Evie’s voice rose over the thumps on the wall.

Good grief. As if being chained and immobile wasn’t bad enough, I had to listen to her all night outside my door? Groaning, I stared up at the cuffs attached to the posts, studying them. I might’ve been able to climb up and loop them over the top, if not for the wooden canopy overhead.? When I lowered my gaze, my eyes caught on the empty half of the bed again, where Jericho had fallen asleep earlier.

Her moans heightened. The thumping grew louder, more intense. Harder to ignore, and I turned away from it, as much as my shackled arms would allow.

Until, at last, the thumping finally ceased and I rolled my eyes on hearing Evie climax. Regardless of what Jericho had said about no one hearing anything in the undercroft, her obnoxious scream probably woke the dead.

The door clicked open, and Evie stepped inside, her hair mussed and the neckline of her dress hanging off her shoulders.

“Wrong room.” The minor humiliation of lying helpless and tied to the bed was quickly smothered when I caught sight of what she carried as she crossed the room.

In her hand, she twirled a long black feather, dragging the tip of it across her face.?Jericho’s?

A black winter rage curled in the pit of my gut at the thought.

No.

He wouldn’t.

Was it possible for him to be so insatiable that he’d seek her out?

No. No way.

“Well, well. It seems your dark knight has already grown bored with you,” she said, sauntering toward me. “The beauty of having fucked him? Is knowing his secret rooms.”

“Bored? Unlikely. And fucked. As in, past tense. Get over yourself, Evie.”

She chuckled, and to my horror, climbed onto me, untucking her skirt from beneath her, so that I could feel her dampness against my gown. A toxic culmination of wrath and disgust churned inside of me, as she circled her hips against me. My body trembled with anger and the pressure of it kettled inside of me had my face feeling hot and ready to explode.

“Get off of me!”

“I am,” she breathed. “Do you feel that? His release still dripping out of me?”

“You’re delusional. Get off of me!” I bucked against her and she giggled, throwing her hand up in the air.

I kicked and writhed, until exhaustion finally settled over me and I tilted my head back, breathing hard through my nose.

“Do you see that little contraption over in the corner there?” She pointed to the sawhorse with the padded top and leaned forward to my ear. “It’s my favorite. He loves to bend me over that.” Her hips rocked against me, spurring more wetness that she smeared into my gown. “Fucking me from behind. Mmmmm. I can go all night that way. Unlike you. He can’t get enough of my tight little asshole. And God, he feels so fucking good.”

“Leave me. Now.”

“Tell me, Farryn. Did he do the feather trick for you?”

A fist of shock squeezed my lungs.

I could hardly draw in a breath on hearing that. Jericho had told me he’d never shown his true form to anyone. Anyone else. That I had been the only one.

Sickness swelled in my stomach, churning and aching with quiet fury.

Had he lied to me? Betrayed me?

Through a watery shield, I stared at the door and as a tear spilled onto my cheek, she dragged her tongue across my face to lick it.

“What do you want?” I asked through clenched teeth, suddenly desperate to get away from her, this place.

“Him.”

“Fine.” I swallowed back the rage and hurt trapped inside of me like razorblades in my chest. “Release me.”

“I want you to go away forever, and I want him to myself. I want to fuck him every night and think of you, lonely and alone.”

In spite of the tears, I laughed. A wicked, bitter laugh, brimming with the blackest kind of hatred. “That’s funny, really. I’ll never be quite as alone as you, Evie. Do you know what Nightshade is?” I’d sunk low in my humanity. So low, there was no turning back. “Do you know why you’re here?” Not giving her the opportunity to answer, I lifted my head. “You’re dead. You died and left behind a rotting corpse, and you can never go back home.”

Her brow flickered, as if I’d slapped her. “You’re a lying, manipulative bitch.”

“Am I? Tell me about your life. Your childhood. Tell me as much as you can remember.”

Eyes shifting back and forth, she frowned.

“Tell me your mother’s name. Surely, you remember that.”

Biting her lip, she seemed to concentrate a moment.

“You can’t remember. Because all the memories of your life have faded. And it doesn’t get any lonelier than that.”

A hard smack against my cheek sent a rush of pain up into my sinuses. She gripped my throat and squeezed so hard I saw stars floating. I opened my mouth for one sip of air, and she popped something into it. As I struggled not to choke on what she’d shoved inside, she slammed my lips shut and held her palm over my mouth. “Swallow, bitch.” She released my throat and pressed both hands against my mouth, leaving me no choice but to swallow.

Sucking as much air as I could in through my nose, I arched my chest upward. Once the object in my mouth was swallowed, she removed her palms.

“Was that so bad?” Trailing a finger down my temple, she stared down at me, as I continued to gasp for air. “Remy says I’m to keep you alive. That he needs you for something. Otherwise, I’d happily cut you open right now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s going to trade you. For redemption.”

“What?” With weak and heavy arms, I yanked at my binds. “What’re …” Whatever she’d given me had begun to work its way through my system. The surrounding room widened and shrank, then widened to a blur, while the walls shifted off balance.

“I’ve heard Rapture is twice as strong when you take the pill straight. I’ll have to try it when Jericho fucks me tonight.”

“Le’ me’go,” I whined in a slur, closing my eyes to the weird effects of the room. “Please, Evie. Y’can hav’im. I prom’se.”

‘I don’t need your permission, whore.” She pushed away and disappeared through the door.

A quiet sob broke inside my chest, while the effects heightened. Minutes later, she returned, pushing a rolling bed on wheels, and parked it beside the bed where I lay. She unfastened the cuffs, and my arms fell like deadweight at my sides. I would’ve loved to swing one at her, but I couldn’t move. Could hardly breathe, my body felt so heavy and useless.

She lifted my feet onto the adjacent bed, then came around to the other side and slid her arms beneath mine. On a heave, she hefted my upper half onto the gurney, and then my middle, until I was fully on the mattress.

“Bet you didn’t know this cathedral had a chute for dead bodies.” With one hard push, she set the bed into motion, rolling me out of the room and into the dark hallway. The stone ceiling passed over top of me, blinking in and out of focus. “Pretty morbid, right? Place used to be owned by Van Croix Senior. Rumor was, he would torture those he felt were the ultimate sinners before he burned the bodies in a pit.”

The pit. Where the animal carcasses had been thrown after feeding the dogs.

“Not really sure at what interval those carcasses are burned, just that it stinks every so often. Like searing meat,” she prattled on, but the sickness in my stomach churned and bubbled, and just as the acids shot up my throat, Evie stopped the cart and turned my head to the side. Vomit poured from my mouth, splashing onto the stone floor.

Then, as if it’d never happened, she kept on down the corridor.

Her voice became a white noise to the thudding of blood in my ears.

Th-thump

Th-thump

Th-thump

The cart rolled to a stop.

“Well, Farryn. This is where we part ways. Give my best to the dead.” With that, she shoved my limp body to the side, and I fell.