Torn (A Wicked Saga, #2)(74)

My heart plummeted as realization set in. Drake could make me. He could make me do anything. Strip naked and dance around the room. Get on my knees before him. Jump through a window. I no longer had the protection of the clover. I could be manipulated just like any other human. For some foolish, horrible reason, I’d relied on the fact he couldn’t force me into bed to conceive a child, but that barrier didn’t extend to anything else.

“No.” I tried to yank my head out of his iron-clad grip. Real fear erupted in my gut. “Don’t do this. Please. Don’t make me do this.”

“You will want to do this.” He guided my gaze to his, and before I could squeeze my eyes shut or even prepare myself, our gazes locked and there was something in his eyes, something about him that I couldn’t look away from. Time seemed to slow down, and all that existed was the fast, erratic beat of my heart and his gaze. His eyes weren’t just one shade of blue, I realized. They were several dizzying shades of pale blue and violet. Like a glacier deep in the ocean, there was so much depth. “You may even like it,” he murmured, smoothing his thumb over my jaw. “My will is yours.”

My lips parted. I didn’t agree with him. I couldn’t exactly remember why, but I knew I should, especially when Drake spoke to the woman beside me. I’d forgotten her and jumped a little when she placed her small, frail hand on my shoulder. I twisted toward her even though I knew that wasn’t wise.

“Show her,” Drake said.

He was talking to this woman, and I didn’t understand what he meant, but she seemed to know, because her eyes drifted shut and she leaned into me, the front of her body against mine. I thought she was going to kiss me. Her mouth lined up with mine.

Drake’s hand slipped from my chin to the band around my neck. I hated that band. It symbolized everything that I had lost.

“You’re hungry, aren’t you?” Drake murmured in my ear, derailing my thoughts. “You’re so thirsty. A need is burning bright in your stomach, lighting up every cell in your body. You need.”

He was right.

My stomach felt hollow. My throat felt parched. I’d eaten earlier, but I was . . . I was starving now. I needed.

“It’s not food you desire. It’s not water that will quench your thirst. You need life. You need a part of her. And she can give you what you need,” he explained, his voice as smooth as a lullaby. “Take it.”

My heart thundered in my chest. I couldn’t . . .

“She wants to give it to you,” he said, and I thought for some reason that might not be true. “Show her.”

Another hand curled around my shoulder, and I was tugged forward. There was no chain stopping me. The woman spoke and her hands moved, but I didn’t understand what she was saying. My eyelids were too heavy, and I couldn’t keep them open.

“Inhale,” the voice ordered, and that one word was everywhere, outside of me and in me, and I did what felt . . . right.

I inhaled.

The woman jerked, her fingers spasming around my arms. An odd coolness slid over my lips and tongue. It reminded me of iced coffee on the hottest summer day. It was like stripping down and diving into water. But it was more. It was like electricity. A jolt of pure caffeine wrapped in ice. It rushed down my throat, hitting that empty spot.

And then it hit every place in me.

It was too much.

My senses sparked to life. Senses I didn’t even know existed. Something surrounded me, and I . . . I was invincible. My eyes were still closed, but I saw every shade of color. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. And more, over and over, a rainbow that was inside me. The hunger dulled and the thirst eased off. I wasn’t hollow anymore. Oh no, I was so very full and warm even though the tip of my tongue felt cool.

“That’s it,” a deep, rough voice said. “Feed.”

I inhaled again without thinking.

Nails dug through my thin dress, pulling and tearing at the cloth. There was a sound, a pitiful whimper, but I was alive and my skin was tingling with electricity. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I slowly became aware of the woman no longer clutching my arms. She was on her back, and I was leaning over her. Then I wasn’t on the cot. I was on my feet, and the prince was beside me, his mouth on my throat and his hand in my hair, but I didn’t understand a single thing he said. Then we were moving—walking.

When I stumbled out of the room, my gaze collided with someone I knew. Someone who had been kind to me. Faye. Maybe it wasn’t her. I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t focus on her. Not when the walls were shaking and the floor was rippling.

Then I wasn’t walking anymore. I was floating, and I was surrounded by warmth as cool air washed over my tingling, sparking skin. I moved restlessly and I didn’t move at all. I wasn’t here. No. I was nowhere near here. It was like being blanketed in clouds. Maybe that’s where I was. Up in the sky where nothing could ever harm me.

Sensation burned my skin, jolting me out of my daze. I blinked slowly, recognizing the ceiling. The bedroom. I wasn’t in the clouds. I was on the bed. The burn on my leg was a hand, and the heaviness settling over part of my body wasn’t comforting.

I looked up.

Hair as dark as a raven’s wing. Not russet-colored. Not warm. Those eyes weren’t green. They were pale blue ice. My heart sped up again, and this godawful feeling in the pit of my stomach spread. This couldn’t happen. I didn’t want this. I never wanted this.