18. Edward

CHAPTER 18

EDWARD

Tonight was supposed to be about Scarlett, I think, frustrated to be blackmailed away from her when I want nothing more than to stay by her side.

She is going to be so much more than my mother had planned. Yes, she will bring new wealth and new status to our family by the fruit of our union. But an heir is the least that Scarlett can offer. She is special. She is an untapped source that even the monsters have let slip by under their noses.

My mother is too shortsighted.

I intended tonight to be my announcement, one of a public intention to show that Lady Scarlett will not be swept aside amidst the workings of our family. Nothing is more important than my future bride. Not even Selections Night.

She will be the star that makes us all shine brighter.

That's what I had intended to say tonight. Instead, Lady Eleanor thinks she can threaten me, which is why I'm forced to march through an empty corridor rather than entertaining my guests in the ballroom and calming Scarlett's nerves.

She's worse than I would have expected. I know she has a different background than most Elites, but she seemed truly rattled.

My sister will take good care of her. At least, long enough for me to deal with my little problem.

Jealousy is an ugly beast.

I can't blame the poor girl, though. Reaching out, I trail my fingers along the gilded walls that practically glimmer with gold. The hidden flecks catch on my nails as I turn the corner.

There are actually gold flakes inside the paint, making everything shimmer in a way that's just not replicated in other estates. Of course, the riches of my family are mostly earned off the books. My parents are brazen to flaunt it after I just took a large withdrawal to pay for Scarlett's blood contract. We should be broke until the accounting after Monsters Night.

We're not. In fact, I think we're richer now than ever before. My father had set up bets against Scarlett's family accepting our courtship, and that alone had won us some new servant staff and various treasures.

Including the new vial of anti-aging elixir that clinks against a key in my pocket. It's a vial that I will use as a bribe tonight, if needed.

One such vial that I took from my mother's stash has already served me in earning Scarlett's trust. Or maybe she doesn't trust me at all and was acting out of desperation. But that's just as well. The investment was worth it all the same.

There's no better position to be in than in someone's debt.

I hope this trade will be as fruitful, but I doubt it.

Once I turn one more corner, I spot Lady Eleanor practically preening from her perch on a chaise lounge large enough for two people, despite its petite size.

I would know, because I've fucked her on it before.

But not tonight.

Not ever again.

The old Edward is gone, and now I am a new creation in Cain's image. It's almost as if I can feel him here with me tonight, following me wherever I go.

I'm going to make you proud, I pray as I trace the blood mark on my hand, one that promises me to Scarlett.

A rumble echoes through the room as if I had imagined his response. I'm excited, nervous, and now rather irritated.

Because Lady Eleanor is a problem that needs to be dealt with, and one of her breasts has fallen out.

"Cover yourself," I command in a voice that would make any servant fall to their knees.

Lady Eleanor is no servant. She scowls at me as if I've told her there was piss in her wine.

She reclines along the chaise lounge and inches up her dress. "Why, Edward? Can't get it up anymore now that you're spanking yourself because the new girl won't do it for you?"

Growling, I set one foot on the furniture she's trespassing on. Leaning in, I yank my knife from the hidden compartment in my boot and point it at her. "Careful."

A wild gleam enters her bleached eyes. Eleanor isn't any older than I am, but she's used every magic tonic she can get her hands on to enhance herself to her tastes.

It's why she has plump, gorgeous breasts now on full display, because I realize she's slipped the other one out, too. She toys with one of her pink nipples that are too perfectly symmetrical to be natural.

"Or what? You're going to use that on me?" she asks.

She wants to call my bluff?

She wants to behave like a whore?

I'll treat her like one.

Gripping her corset, I pluck at one of the straps with my blade.

Snap.

Her eyes go wide when I do it again, and she realizes what I'm doing.

"Edward, I?—"

Snap.

Snap.

She most likely doesn't have any magic tonics on her that'll give her a new dress. She's going to have to hope one of our servants takes pity on her, or seek help from a stranger.

Or, if she really chooses to piss me off, I'll leave her for our monster guests.

When she's naked and used, and everyone can see what she really is.

An icy chill on the back of my neck makes me pause when I have my blade at her thigh, ready to cut off the layers of her dress. The slut isn't wearing any underwear.

She had hoped I would fuck her.

But I can't, not if I want Scarlett to be bound to me forever. I remember the terms of my blood contract.

Exclusivity.

Maybe when we've been married for a few centuries and have enjoyed the Immortality Sector for a time, Scarlett and I will grow bored of one another and expand our horizons. I have no intention of sticking with one woman for the rest of eternity. To pretend otherwise would be asinine.

The angry lust pressing against my pants doesn't seem to understand that having toys to play with will come in time. Right now, I am a new creation. I belong to Scarlett.

I can't belong to her if I am held back by my past.

A masterpiece isn't created overnight. I have a few weeks yet to work on becoming the perfect husband for Scarlett.

Until then, I need to make sure women like Lady Eleanor don't interfere. She won't be the last to try something like this.

"Did you think you could spread your legs and I'd forget my duty to Scarlett?" I ask her. My words drip with venom, and Eleanor tries to close her legs.

I hold them open, then flip my blade with a trained motion so that the hilt presses against her thigh. I drag it up her skin until I reach her pussy, then I hold it there, just at her entrance, and wait for her response.

Her eyes are wide when she responds. "Duty?" she asks. "Is… is that enough to make you forget me, Edward? Forget our love?"

"Love?" I all but snarl, then shove my hilt into her wet cunt. I clamp a hand over her mouth when she squeaks. "You don't love me, Eleanor. You love this ." I move the hilt deeper until the wide handle bumps against her clit. Her hips move, betraying that she's sick enough to enjoy what I'm doing to her.

Which makes any remorse I might have had vanish.

Because I'm going to make her come all over my blade so that any monsters attending tonight will smell her lust. They'll come after her like a treat I've left out for them to feast on.

I decide to recall any servants from this side of the wing.

I don't need to take care of my Eleanor problem. She'll do it for me.

Pumping the hilt into her, I thrust harder and faster until she's a trembling and whimpering mess. I stop just before a climax overtakes her body, because I have a special sort of humiliation in mind for a manipulative slut like this.

I can't help but admit that my breath is coming in soft pants, that my cock is as hard as a rock and all I want to do is find Scarlett and claim her to release this need inside of me.

But the blade of my desire needs to be dulled first. Unlike Eleanor, Scarlett is untouched in that way. I know her brother teased her as a lure with other Earls and Lords, but she's still a virgin. She's still untainted.

She's sweet and witty and special.

This slut is nothing, which makes her the perfect outlet for my cruelty.

Scarlett won't ever be subjected to this dark side of me. It's best I get it out of the way, for her sake.

Scarlett will only get my sweetness.

My tenderness.

Everything in me that is gentle and caring. Her needs will come before my own.

Which means my needs must never be wanting.

I have to satisfy my darkness if I'm to protect Scarlett. I should thank Lady Eleanor for giving me an outlet I hadn't even realized was sorely needed.

Ripping the long hilt from the slut's wet cunt, I stab the blade into the sofa's material just between her legs so that the hilt sticks up.

"Ride it," I command her.

She blinks at me with incomprehension as I slide away the rest of her clothing, leaving her naked except for the ballroom style hair that seems out of place now without her frills and lace. The silks I've removed puddle onto the floor, shredded and hopeless to ever be used as clothing again. There's not a single piece large enough for her to drape around herself, should she come to her senses when she realizes what my punishment is.

Humiliation.

"And if I don't?" she challenges. Her lower lip quivers, but she manages to look me in the eyes.

There's still some fight left in this whore that needs to be dealt with.

I lean in and lower my voice, enunciating my threat with dark promise. "Then I'll drag you into the ballroom just like this. I'll throw you on the floor and tell everyone that you took off all your clothes and tried to seduce me. You'll never find a husband after that."

Her fingers dig into the velvety material of the chaise lounge as she stares at me. "I'll tell them you did this to me."

Cocking my head to the side, I call her bluff. "Who do you think they'll believe, Eleanor? The slut with a wet cunt, or a fully clothed gentleman?"

I'd pass any monster-grade examination. I haven't fucked her. Sex generates energy. So does lust. Such a scan would detect I'm aroused, but I'm thinking about Scarlett. It would point the needle to my betrothed, vindicating me of any wrongdoing.

I followed Lady Eleanor to nip this sort of behavior in the bud. No one blackmails me and gets away with it.

"Ride it," I growl, giving her one last chance to obey me.

Or else I'll do exactly as I said. I will drag her right into that ballroom and let her see what humiliation really looks like.

Scarlett will be offended, no doubt. I'll have to explain, apologize, grovel, even. But at least I'll be a man of my word.

If nothing else, I have my honor.

Lady Eleanor steels her jaw, giving me a look of determination as she rises on her knees, then positions her hips. She holds on to the edge of the chaise lounge as she makes a show of sliding onto the hilt.

Fuck.

I watch as she slowly moves up and down, coating the hilt with her juices as she obeys me. It takes everything in me not to move, not to even breathe.

She's not moaning, though. I need her to play the whore she pretends to be.

"Touch yourself while you ride it," I add.

" You can touch," she offers seductively as she bats her eyelashes at me. She rolls her hips with an expert motion I've been on the receiving end of before, one that twists and makes me want to explode. "I won't tell anyone."

The stupid cunt is still trying to bait me. But it's exactly what I need to rein in my lust and make sure this ends my way.

"Touch yourself , Eleanor."

She bites her lip, then finally obeys me and rolls her fingers over her clit. A shudder of pleasure ripples through her, making her nipples harden as she finally loses herself to the moment.

She likes it when I'm cruel. She thinks that like all the other times, I'll pay her back in riches or favors out of guilt.

No, this time I have no regrets. No guilt.

She tried to blackmail me. Her threat was to tell Scarlett about the scar on my lower hip she had given me during similar blade play. If Scarlett knows about my dark tendencies, she might not agree to our pairing.

The truth is the scar could have been from anything, and the fact that Eleanor knows about it wouldn't be secret. I have regular doctor examinations with a public record of any scars. Had Lady Eleanor actually looked me up in the eligible bachelor records, she would have seen that the scar was part of a public health document anyone could read about. Scarlett herself probably already knows of it.

Eleanor's blackmail held no real threat to me. Maybe an inconvenience, but now I've worked it all out.

I'm going to show her what happens to those who find themselves on my bad side.

"Come for me, Eleanor," I say with a tender voice.

She falls for my fake charm and flutters her eyelashes closed as she rubs herself harder, sinking on the hilt as a spasm finally overtakes her body. She moans and leans back, drawing out her orgasm until she finally slides off of the hilt and her wetness drips down the blade to stain the couch.

"That's a good girl," I praise her as I fist her hair.

She opens her mouth to say something, but it turns into a scream when I yank and drag her onto the floor.

I'm going to need a scapegoat for the story already weaving in my head of Eleanor's humiliation. So I dig out the anti-aging tonic in my pocket and smash it onto the ground. The magic instantly dissipates, but the signature will be unmistakable.

It might be a waste of a valuable potion, but this is how I'll ruin her.

"Have fun being tonight's entertainment for our monster guests," I shout over my shoulder as I walk away.

The temperature in the air drops as I feel like I'm walking through a dark cloud of disapproval. Maybe a monster was already watching the show. It wouldn't be uncommon.

I still did nothing wrong. I served justice for an enemy of my house.

"I'm finished here. She's all yours," I say to the disembodied entity.

A growl rumbles in return. For some reason, I don't feel like this monster is going to take the bait.

Fine. More for the others, then.