Page 89 of Vipers and Vendettas

‘But my estate …,’ Maddox begins.

‘I didn’t realize until I got out of the Mountain and no one came for me while I was locked down in the cells that your estate’s border conjures and, I think, the ones in your clubs, hide me,’ I say, interrupting him.

‘Why did he care about one lowly human slave?’ Axel asks in confusion.

Krase and Jayce both snarl something at him, and he raises his hands in placation.

‘I don’t mean Jules isn’t worth it,’ he says. ‘What I mean is that, surely, he wouldn’t have wasted his resources on one of many humans.’

‘He didn’t treat me like he did the others. I wasspecial,’ I spit the word, anger coursing through me. I don’t want to tell the rest of what happened, but I want them to know from my lips.

‘I was brought to him when I was a child,’ I say. ‘For the first few years, I was mostly treated like the other human children. I’d get more beatings, though. Two of his personal guards were specifically tasked with it.’ I look down at the floor. ‘And not just beatings. They’d make sure I didn’t get enough food and that I had no friends with the other humans. They were allowed to do what they liked so long as they didn’t touch me sexually and they didn’t kill me.’

I glance up to a sea of hard and angry faces.

‘Do you want me to stop?’ I ask.

‘No,’ Maddox says tightly, glancing at the others. ‘If you lived it for years, we can do you the fucking courtesy of hearing it once.’

I nod. ‘When I was a little older, things changed. I was made to stay in the coldest and deepest of Tamadrielle’s cells at night. When I was brought up, I was taken to a white room and bound in the middle of a conjure circle.’ I clear my throat to give myself a minute, but they aren’t fooled.

‘Take your time, gràidh,’ Jayce says. ‘We can wait for as long as you need.’

I give him a small smile and take a breath.

‘They branded me with magickal fae marks,’ I say quickly, wanting to get through it. ‘A few at a time. When they were finished, they’d have a guard beat me until I could barely stand.’

‘Why?’ Daemon hisses next to me.

‘We spoke to Gigi,’ Iron answers for me. ‘She said that it’s an ancient and outlawed fae magick.’

He takes my hand. ‘You don’t have to show them,’ he whispers.

‘Yes, I do,’ I say, squeezing his fingers and letting him go.

I turn away at the last moment because I’m suddenly afraid and don’t want to see their faces, so as the blanket drops, they only see my back.

The tension in the room is palpable.

I feel a warm hand on my shoulder as another traces down one of the lash marks on my back, making me shiver.

‘They whipped you as well,’ Maddox remarks quietly, no emotion in his tone.

I nod.

‘Let us see the rest, darling,’ he orders quietly.

He urges me to turn around and I let him, my eyes rising to the ceiling, so I still can’t see their expressions.

I hear a couple of sharp intakes of breath and whispered curses.

I rapidly blink back tears as I force myself to stand still and let them all look their fill.

Maddox is still close.

‘Look at me.’

I shake my head.