Page 85 of Gilded Curses

And hope that her next pick in color wasn’t her last.

“Should we start with light gray? It’s the closest to the white that these assholes are so obsessed with,” Sahira suggested.

“Light gray sounds good to me,” Pip said.

Holding her breath and praying she wasn’t wrong, Sahira stretched her leg far to the left and pushed down on a light gray stone. She snatched her leg back and waited for the floor to drop away, but nothing happened.

“Light gray for the win,” Pip muttered.

Sahira shifted completely over to the light gray stone and perched on the surface. It was big enough for her to stand on but didn’t offer much room beyond that.

With her heart on the verge of exploding and sweat beading her forehead again, she moved on to the next light gray stone and the next. It wouldn’t astonish her if, at some point, the dagadon decided to change the game and make the light gray ones death traps, so she always tested first before putting her full weight on them.

She was almost a quarter of the way down the hall when she ran into a problem. The following light gray stone was too far away for her to reach.

They were going to have to try for another color, and Sahira wasn’t sure her luck would hold out.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

Orin waited for Alda to sound the alarm as she walked out the door and stepped far enough into the hall that he could move out behind her. After a few seconds, she turned to close the door.

With her shoulders back, she didn’t acknowledge the guards or start screaming that he was here and Sheree was dead as she strode toward Desmond’s door. This little dagadon kept her promises, unlike the Elite in this realm.

When she stopped outside Desmond’s door, one of the guards leaned over and opened it for her. The man didn’t look at her as he moved back into place and returned to his ramrod straight position.

Alda glided into the room and waited a few seconds before closing the door behind her. “Are you here?” she whispered.

“Yes,” he murmured in her ear, and she shivered.

“Just remember, I’m on the chopping block now too. I’m also trusting you. Please don’t leave me behind. The guards will kill me.”

“I won’t. Don’t speak anymore.”

Alda turned away from the door and strode further into Desmond’s rooms. Like the rest of the castle and Sheree’s rooms, the walls were all white. At least paintings of a little girl didn’t cover these walls.

Instead, a few paintings of bloody battle scenes decorated the stark space. Dozens of clocks hung on the walls, sat on the tables, and perched in the corners.

They only had one clock in Belda’s town, but Desmond seemed obsessed with them, but then, the dagadon were beings of time. It was as much a part of them as the shadows were a part of him.

“Is that you, little bitch?” Desmond called in a singsong voice from what was most likely his bedroom. “I have some extra fun planned for us tonight.”

Alda shuddered but kept her shoulders back and her chin high as she strode past the sitting room and into the bedroom beyond. Orin followed her.

When they entered the bedroom, Orin’s eyebrows rose at the sight of the leather bonds hanging from the walls. A naked Aurora was already strapped into them.

Her feet dangled above the ground, and her arms were yanked over her head. She wore a ball gag and a blindfold, probably to hide her cries of distress as her joints looked about to give way.

Orin had enjoyed playing with others in many, many different ways over the years, but this wasn’t fun for the woman; it was just cruelty. Maybe some would enjoy such a position, but if this was for fun, they’d have the opportunity to let their partner know they wanted out of it; Aurora had no way of communicating that.

She also couldn’t stop Desmond from delivering another blow with the small whip he held. When it cracked against her red and swollen skin, Aurora jerked and released a sound that no one could mistake for pleasure.

Before him, Alda’s step faltered a little, but she didn’t stop. He imagined things would get worse for her if she refused to participate. Desmond would probably like that more.

Orin studied the piece of shit before him as Desmond hit the woman again. The welt he’d created started to bleed, and sweat slid down her brow to drip from her chin.

Usually, another’s suffering didn’t bother him. Life was pain in many ways, and they all had to endure it. But if given the chance, this was what Desmond would do to Sahira; because of that, he felt sympathy for the woman.

After the events of this day, he suspected this asshole planned on doing it to her soon too. He might be practicing with these women tonight.