Page 29 of Marked (Wicked Heirs #1)

“Hold her there.”

Titus’s grip tightened around my wrists in response to Bastian’s suggestion, pinning them tight behind my back.

I thrust my breasts forward and moaned as Titus’ cock slid deep into my pussy.

The chaise I had spent too many days sitting on, wrapped in a blanket while I watched the rain race down the windows, was now a platform for our debauched couplings.

The blanket was on the floor in a heap along with my clothes and Bastian sat in the window seat, a camera in his hands, observing everything.

I shuddered at the cold focus in Titus’ eyes.

His breath was hot against my breasts as he suckled one into his mouth and nipped at the hardened peak of my nipple.

Valen pressed himself against me from behind, and his hands were heavy on my shoulders, steadying me as I rode his brother’s cock.

As I bent forward, Valen let out a groan and his grip on my shoulders tightened .

He leaned forward and caught my earlobe in his teeth as I let out another gasp.

“I see you’re prepared,” Valen said in my ear. His fingers trailed down my spine and over the curve of my ass to press against the jeweled base of the buttplug.

“It’s what you asked for,” I breathed out. I flinched as Valen’s fingers toyed with the plug. My ass was still slick with the lube I’d used to insert the toy not long ago, and the added sensation had driven me perilously close to the edge.

My pussy clenched around Titus’s cock and threatened to send me over. Titus let out a grunt and pulled on my wrists to make my back arch even more and push my ass toward Valen.

Valen’s laugh was a low rumble in my ear. “What an obedient little bird.” He tugged at the base of the plug to tease me with the fullness of it, and shivers cascaded over my body. I gritted my teeth as I tried to hold back the pressure that built inside me at a dizzying pace.

He held me steady as Titus’ strokes slowed, allowing me to ride his cock at a more measured pace. I closed my eyes, lost in the sensation of it as Valen pushed and pulled at the plug, stretching my asshole with gentle motions that worked in tandem with the way Titus’ cock moved inside my slick pussy.

“I think she’s ready,” Valen murmured. Titus’ motions stilled and I let out a low moan as Valen pulled the plug free of my ass. It landed on the carpet with a thud and my mouth dropped open at the sudden loss of the plug’s pressure and fullness—but the thick head of Valen’s cock soon replaced that sensation as it pressed against the rim of my asshole.

Titus let out a grunt and lifted his face to my breasts to suckle them until I was gasping while Valen pressed his hips forward and his cock slid, inch by agonizing inch, into my ass.

“That’s it,” Valen soothed. “Relax— ”

I gasped only once—but the brief burning pain was quickly replaced by a new sensation—pleasure.

Indescribable pleasure as my stepbrothers filled with their cocks.

“Gods—” was the only word I was able to croak before I couldn’t speak.

“I want that mouth,” Bastian growled. I turned my head toward him as he slid down off the windowsill and walked toward the chaise. His blonde hair haloed around his head in the light from the window and he stroked his cock with purposeful movements while keeping the camera on Titus, Valen, and I.

“So pretty,” Bastian murmured, his gaze on me through the camera lens. He crooked a finger at Titus, who grinned and tightened his grip on my wrists until it was painful.

“Open your mouth, sister,” Bastian commanded. The flash went off, and another photo fell to the floor.

A long moan escaped me as Valen and Titus continued to fuck me with relentless strokes and I opened my mouth for Bastian’s cock.

Bastian’s breath hissed through his teeth as I bathed his cock with my tongue and sucked him into my mouth.

My vision swam with the overwhelming sensations as my body was filled, stretched, and used to the point of pure pleasure. The echo of the camera’s flash haunted my senses, a harsh reminder of our actions being imprinted in that Polaroid film.

“Look at me, pet,” Bastian commanded. His voice unraveled me even more.

I forced my eyes open, staring into his icy gaze while he plunged his cock into my mouth. Valen’s unyielding pace and Titus’ powerful thrusts matched each slow stroke of Bastian’s cock down my throat. Overwhelming pleasure blazed within me and threatened to shatter my sanity as Titus’s teeth scraped against the sensitive skin of my breasts .

“That’s it,” he urged. His thumb circled around my nipple before pinching it hard. Pain laced with pleasure mingled within me as I moaned around Bastian’s hard length.

The same three men who had once been the bane of my existence were now pushing me toward an exquisite release that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to recover from.

Another helpless moan vibrated around Bastian’s cock as I succumbed to their relentless rhythm and my body convulsed in an orgasm so intense that I thought I’d blacked out for a fraction of a second.

Bastian pulled his cock from my mouth as I groaned and cried out.

Valen’s hand tightened on my hip as he drove himself deeper into my ass. “So fucking tight,” he rasped in my ear followed by a grunt as his cock swelled and then throbbed and pulsed as he groaned and spilled himself deep inside my ass.

At the same time, Titus grunted and thrust hard up into my pussy. He came with a barely muffled roar and held me tight as he filled my pussy with hot cum.

Valen pulled away from me, and Titus rolled me off him and I lay on the chaise, panting for breath as Bastian loomed over me, stroking his cock.

“Beautiful,” Bastian said through gritted teeth as he stroked his cock and then groaned as his climax claimed him—and I didn’t have the energy to do anything but close my eyes as his cum splashed over my breasts and onto my face.

As my climax ebbed, leaving me panting and spent, Bastian loomed over me.

His fingers brushed against my jawline before teasing their way down to my throat, and rubbed through a patch of his cum, which he smeared across my chin.

“You’re quite picturesque like this,” Bastian said with a wicked smile that made my insides churn with unease .

“Stop playing with her, Bastian. Get the proof.”

Proof?

“Smile for the camera, little sister,” Bastian hummed as he snapped photo after photo.

The reality of what I had just done began to sink in and left me feeling sick with guilt and shame.

“Please,” I choked out as I reached for the blanket that had been tossed to the floor—I was desperate to cover myself, but I couldn’t reach it. My fingertips brushed against the metallic surface of the jeweled plug, and I jerked my hand back as Bastian let out a dark chuckle.

Titus walked to the bathroom while Valen and Bastian gathered up the polaroids that were scattered over the floor.

“I need your help,” I continued as I reached for the blanket again. This time, I grabbed it and I pulled it over my vibrating body. “Lucian... he’s planning something terrible— I just know it. I don’t know how much longer I can stay here. You promised—”

“Promised—”

Bastian’s voice echoed strangely in my ears and I pushed a hand through my sweat-dampened hair as I tried to focus.

“You said— You said you would help me escape this place,” I begged as tears streamed down my cheeks.

For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the sound of Bastian’s laughter. Titus emerged from the bathroom. He was half-dressed now, and he pulled his shirt over his muscled torso but left it unbuttoned.

“Did you really think we’d help you, Avril?” Titus sneered. My throat tightened as I met his bitter gaze. “Did you really believe that we would turn on our own father? For you?”

“What?” I choked out, my heart pounding in my chest.

Valen emerged from the bathroom, similarly half-dressed, and Bastian tugged his jeans up over his thighs but didn’t bother with a shirt. His hand was full of the photographs he’d taken .

“Clearly, you don’t know us as well as you thought,” Bastian added, and the corners of his mouth twisted into a cruel smile.

“You shouldn’t have trusted us,” Valen said.

Their laughter echoed throughout the room, cold and harsh like the rain that beat against the windows.

My stomach twisted with nausea.

How could I have been so foolish?

To think that these three, the ones who were supposed to protect me—had used me—

The room seemed to close in on me.

My stepbrothers had promised to help me— In exchange for—

Oh, Gods.

Now stood before me as the embodiment of my worst fears.

All my plans to escape Lucian’s grasp crumbled like ashes between my fingers.

“Such a shame, really,” Titus taunted, his eyes raked over me as if I were nothing more than a toy they could discard after they were finished playing with it. “You could’ve been so useful—”

“Enough of this!” Valen barked. He lunged forward and grabbed my arm with enough force to make me wince. “Let’s take her to Lucian and be done with it.”

I tried to pull away from his grip, but Bastian seized my other arm, and his fingers dug into my flesh. Panic bubbled in my chest, along with the visceral urge to flee. But there was no escape from the cruel hold they had on me, and their laughter echoed in the room like the tolling of a funeral bell.

“Please, don’t do this,” I pleaded, desperation lacing my voice. “You don’t have to be like him! I thought you were different—”

“Ah, dear sister,” Bastian sneered. “You truly know nothing of us, do you? This is who we are, and we’re quite content with that fact. ”

I clutched at the blanket and managed to hold it against my body as they dragged me across the room, down the grand staircase, and through the dimly lit corridors of Withermarsh. I had no choice but to stumble along with them.

Each step brought me closer to the dark heart of this place—Lucian’s study.

I tried to push at their grip with my magic, but only a pale surge of heat met my efforts.

“Did you really just try to hex us off you?” Valen mocked and his grip on my arm tightened. I let out a choked cry as pain rippled up my arm. “She thinks she can fight against us, brothers. Pathetic.”

“Enough!” Titus snarled, and anger flashed in his eyes as he looked back at his brothers. “We’re almost there. Don’t damage her too much before Lucian has his turn.”

The mention of Lucian sent a shiver down my spine.

I knew what awaited me within his study—betrayal, humiliation, and perhaps worse.

As the dark wooden doors of Lucian’s study loomed before me, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my fate was sealed.

Titus raised his hand, and the doors swung open with a creak, revealing the dimly lit room that seemed to pulsate with dark energy—just as it had on the day I’d snuck in and found the letters from Messana Academy.

My heart raced as they shoved me into the room, and Valen and Bastian’s laughter rang in my ears as I stumbled between them.

Lucian, pale and enigmatic, sat behind his enormous desk, and glanced up with disinterest as we entered. The crystalline orb that had floated above his desk was now hovering at his elbow, and its shimmering light illuminated the parchment he was reading.

“What is the meaning of this? ”

His voice, filled with icy curiosity, echoed through the stillness of his study.

“Look, Father,” Titus sneered. He snapped his fingers and Valen and Bastian tossed me unceremoniously onto the cold stone floor. I scrambled to cover my naked flesh with the blanket and I gritted my teeth as I felt the slippery remnants of Titus and Valen’s cum on my thighs and remembered the smear of Bastian’s seed on my chin and breasts.

“This is the pathetic creature you had such high hopes for.”

Shadows clung to every corner of the room, and I shrank back as their inky tendrils seemed to reach out toward me. The air was heavy with the scent of creosote from the black candles that burned upon Lucian’s desk, and ancient leather from the books that filled the shelves.

The crackling fire did little to chase away the chill that settled into my bones, and I shivered on the floor as I scrambled to find a scrap of dignity.

Lucian set aside the parchment and leaned back in his leather chair. His fingertips tapped together in a rhythm that set my nerves on edge, and I swallowed hard against the acid that rose in my throat.

“Avril,” he began, his voice a chilling calm that made me shiver. “I hear you’ve been quite busy— Plotting against me? Plotting your… escape from Withermarsh? Do you not wish to become the mistress of this estate? Do you not wish to become my bride?”

Fear constricted around my chest like a vice.

There was no escaping this situation; either I confessed and hoped for mercy, or… I lied.

Both options terrified me, but I had nothing left to lose.

“Lucian,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “I... I don’t know what you’re talking about. ”

“Really?” he asked, raising one eyebrow, his expression unreadable. “Then what is this all about?”

I looked desperately at Titus, Valen, and Bastian, but they wouldn’t return my gaze.

A whimper escaped my lips as Titus folded his arms across his chest.

“She came to us, Father. Begged us to help her escape the estate…” He turned his attention to me, but only briefly. “We never intended to help her.”

“Then what is this?” Lucian asked in a bored tone.

A cruel smile twisted across Titus’ lips. “We wanted to show you how unworthy she was of your attention.”

“Unworthy?” I choked out, the realization of their betrayal hitting me like a physical blow. “You... You used me!”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Valen laughed. My skin crawled as I saw how he delighted in my humiliation.

“And she was ever so willing,” Bastian chimed in. “Almost too easy.”

“Please—”

Lucian leaned forward slightly, and the crystal orb glowed with a pale red light as he moved. “Are you saying it’s not true, Avril?”

“I—”

At a nod from Titus, Bastian advanced towards his father’s desk, and casually tossed the polaroid pictures down, one by one.

They fluttered lazily through the air before landing in front of Lucian.

Bastian held his father’s gaze as Lucian reached for a photograph and drew it closer and examined it with a chilling detachment.

I gripped the blanket tightly as I held it against myself and bit back the urge to scream at them—to charge forward and tear up those photos, but the energy radiating from Lucian was dangerous enough to keep me still.

Silent seconds ticked away and Lucian’s eyes flicked from one photo to another. Out of the corner of my eye I could almost see the satisfaction creep onto Titus’ face.

And Bastian... The crystal orb’s eerie red light illuminated Bastian’s angelic features, highlighting his handsome features and his cruel pleasure in the scene that played out in front of him. He was looking at me, and yet not—almost as though he was seeing straight through me.

Valen’s face remained impassive, but when I caught his gaze, I detected a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes that he couldn’t hide.

He was just as guilty as Titus and Bastian, if not more so for his clear feigned compassion for me.

How could I have been so foolish? How could I believe my stepbrothers would help me bring down Lucian when they had been using me all along?

I hated them all.

“From what I can see—” He spread his hands over the photographs scattered over his desk and pale red smoke rose from his palms to twine around his fingers. “You have betrayed me…” A pale eyebrow rose slightly. “Quite… vigorously.”

I sucked in a shuddering breath as the walls seemed to close around me, eager to suffocate me in their dark embrace. I couldn’t speak—I couldn’t move—

Lucian’s red-wreathed fingers tapped against the top of his dark mahogany desk as his eyes dragged over my body. “What am I to do with you now?”