Addicted to the Duke (Imperfect Lords #1)(76)
Murad had captured Alex.
Murad had captured her as well.
For the first time in her life she succumbed to defeat. Her heart wept for Alex. To be captured again was likely worse than death for him. She prayed he didn’t do anything stupid. Her immediate thought was that she’d rather die than become Murad’s plaything, so she could imagine how Alex was feeling.
But she would survive for Alex. As long as they had each other they still had hope.
Alex would have a plan. If not, her father would surely come for them.
By the time the men who held her captive rowed up to Murad’s ship, the Angelica was a black dot on the horizon.
As one of the pirates threw her over his shoulder, she took one last look around. The sea was the most beautiful color of turquoise. The sky was a lovely light blue and was filled with screeching seabirds. In the distance the island of Corfu looked idyllic. Beautiful. The most beautiful spot she could have imagined. God’s own heaven on earth.
Yet as she reached the top of the railings and was dumped onto the deck, she understood she was entering hell.
Chapter 23
Murad wasted no time beginning his humiliation. Alex was stripped naked and his hands were pulled back behind him and tied to a metal loop attached to the wall in the brig.
A heavy ball and chain was locked onto one ankle by a sliding pin. The bastard knew he’d sink quickly if he tried to jump overboard with that still attached.
A mugful of laudanum was forced down his throat. He tried to retch it back up, but the more he did, the more they poured down his throat. He decided it was best to stop, as he was probably drinking more than he was vomiting.
He wanted to curl up and die, his pride ripped from him as quickly as his clothes. He knew what was coming—he’d endured it before—but he wasn’t sure he could endure it again. If he got a chance, ball and chain or not, he was going over the side.
But not until he learned of Hestia’s fate.
The unknown was about to push him over the edge. Had Murad let her go as he’d promised?
The laudanum began to work. He was tired from over twenty-four hours of no sleep. The pain of his bonds fell away, his body relaxed, and his knees began to give way. He slumped forward to his knees, his arms stretched out behind him to the point he thought his shoulders might pop, but still no pain.
That’s why he used to crave the opium pipe or liquid. He could lose himself in a world where Murad and evil did not exist. But he also lost touch with reality, and the more he took, the more he wanted. To the point where he would do anything Murad asked of him simply to get his hands on more opium.
It wasn’t until after he’d escaped and then been rescued by Costa that Alex had understood what Murad had done in order to control him.
He’d been captured by Murad at the end of the Turkish wars in 1807. He and Stephen had enlisted to anger their fathers. Plus, they wanted an adventure. Neither of them understood how horrendously that decision would affect them.
He’d stupidly gone off with a local woman for sex and he’d been jumped by men and sold to Murad.
He’d lived on opium for the two years of his captivity. His introduction to opium had been at Murad’s hands but it had been insidious. Murad had tricked Alex into thinking he was organizing a safe ransom swap for him. Murad had treated him as if he were a visitor rather than a captive.
Alex had been given a lovely room, fed well, given a woman if he wanted one, and of course introduced to the wonders of opium.
But what Murad was really doing was keeping Alex oblivious to the fact there would be no ransom swap and all he was doing was turning Alex into a man who craved opium above all else. Above food, drink, sleep, sex, and self-respect.
As soon as he could not live without the opium, Murad showed his true colors.
That was seven long years ago and he would not be his plaything again. Not this time. He’d rather die.
—
Hestia was hauled from her feet and dragged by her hair along the deck to the passageway. She tried to count the men she saw and find ways to slip quickly over the side of the ship if she had a chance.
Most important, she wished she knew where Alex was being held. Her one hope was that Murad had no idea that she knew Alex was on board. She wanted to make the pirate believe she thought she was alone and at his mercy. Ironically, she told herself, You are all alone. Alex is a prisoner.
A door off the corridor opened and she was pushed into the room. She landed on her hands and knees.
“I see you’re already learning the correct position you should be in to greet me.”
She quickly rose to her feet, her legs shaking beneath her. She decided to remain silent. There was no point aggravating him unnecessarily.
Murad came to stand before her and she wondered if she would be treated as she had been four years ago. It would be a bit harder to rip her dress and corset.
“You are even more beautiful than I remember. Alexander always did have exquisite taste in women.” He stroked a finger over her lips, and she fought the urge not to bite it off. “I’m sure he would not offer to share you as he did with Tulay. But then again a few weeks of opium and I can make him do anything I want. I could make him give me permission to behead you and he would not blink an eye.”
She tried not to give in to her fear by biting her inner cheek so as to not make a sound. From her conversation with David, she understood the power of opium and would refuse to take it.