Page 19 of Blood and Thorns

“Ara, what are you doing?” Morris snarled, climbing to his feet unassisted. “I told you you’ll only make it worse!”Lifting his hand, he slapped her hard enough that the sound reverberated around my office.

Before I even realised I’d moved I was across the room, slamming Morris against the wall. A delicate gasp brushed my arm, Arabella reacting to the shock of violence. “Touch her again, and I’ll kill you where you stand,” I hissed, a dangerous edge bleeding into my tone.

Morris gulped, keeping his body pressed to the wall even as I stepped back. His eyes rounded further when he felt Langdon’s pistol pressed to the side of his skull. “Has she offered to take my place?” he whispered.

Arabella jerked as if she’d been electrocuted, her eyes rounded as she stared at her father. He hasn’t so much as looked in her direction.

“You think she’s worth what you owe me?” I asked, keeping my body slightly angled between them. Arabella was an overwhelming presence beside me, her spine and shoulders so stiff I was pretty sure she’d break something if she wasn’t careful.

Morris met my eyes, a sick hope filling his. It had only been a few days, and already he looked like shit. Which went perfectly with his personality.

Licking along his bottom lip, he nodded. “If she takes my place, will you let me go?”

Arabella said nothing, the handprint prominent on her cheek. Unlike the last time, she wore little makeup, her fair skin bare, with only the smallest amount of black highlighting her eyes.

I nodded to Lang, who forced Morris back onto the floor. “Hmm. Maybe she should be the one on her knees before me, rather than you?” I rested back on the lip of my desk, and even like this I was taller, bigger against her smaller frame.

“She’ll do anything you ask,” Morris said, still not looking at his daughter. “Won’t you, Ara?”

There was a beat of silence, her chest heaving with a staggered breath.

Finally, she said, “I’ll work to pay off his debt.” Her voice held a quiver that hadn’t been there before. But she didn’t look away from my gaze when I turned to her. Others would’ve cowered beneath my attention, and yet she refused to even blink. “I’ll take his place.”

Caden laughed, and even Langdon let out a little husky sound.

“Done.”

The laughter cut off, and my closest friends turned to me with a shared look of disbelief.

“You can’t be serious?”Caden asked in French, while Langdon’s hands moved too fast for me to read while my concentration remained on her.

“Go,” I told Morris, who didn’t have to be asked twice. He didn’t even spare his daughter a cursory glance, shooting out the door like there was a firework up his arse. I finally looked over at Langdon.

“I’ll make sure he leaves,” he signed, following him out.

Arabella waited in silence, standing there with nothing but fisted hands and rigid shoulders.

“Make sure Graves doesn’t make a scene,”I directed to Caden, purposely changing to French once more.

Wouldn’t want Arabella to gettoocomfortable in her situation.

She was my new toy, after all.

Caden seemed to hesitate, his brows pulled low before he finally left, closing the door behind him. I waited, Arabella coiled so tight with tension that I wondered if she was ready to snap.

I watched her for a moment, memorising each ragged breath. “Get on your knees.”

Chapter 11

Arabella

“Get on your knees.” Sebastian’s husky command washed over me, and my immediate reaction was to run from the man who was nothing more than a predator in human skin. He made my palms slick, fear a sour taste at the back of my tongue.

“You didn’t even let me say goodbye,” I whispered, staying perfectly still when he straightened to his full height. He seemed to possess the aura of some great tyrant, one that began to walk slowly around me like I was his fresh sacrifice. Which, I guess I kind of was.

What the hell was I thinking?

Why did I ever agree to this?