God of Monsters (Juniper Unraveling #4) - Keri Lake Page 0,41

I know Will is one of the prisoners here. Whether I make my acquaintance with him known to Remus is yet to be seen. My thoughts skip back the events of dinner, the jealousy in his eyes when he forced his guard to undress based on him having given me a look.

No, it’s better they don’t know. For now, I’ll keep it to myself and seek out opportunities to check on him.

“Where do I bathe?”

“The only bath in this place is in Remus’s room.” The guard leads me beyond the corridors of cells, toward the back of the prison, where we stop before thick, ornate wooden doors. After a series of knocks, he opens both doors onto the room on the other side.

Exhaling a nervous breath through my nose, I take in the surroundings. A large, ornate bed, on which Agatha lies sprawled in a sheer gown. A structure in the corner that reminds me of a tipped cross, with cuffs dangling from each end. A wall of tools on the far wall holding objects I’ve never seen before that send a shudder across my bones.

My staring is broken by the click of the door, when the guard retreats, closing me inside.

“Jesus Christ, you look like you were ravaged by an animal. Were you ravaged by Titus?” The air of humor in Agatha’s voice makes me think she hopes so.

Ignoring her, and the pearl necklace still dangling from her neck, I clear my throat. “You asked that I take a bath?”

“I didn’t. Remus requested it. He appreciates a clean cunt. Cleanliness is next to godliness.” With a lazy roll to the side, she climbs to her feet, the long sheer skirts of her dress flowing behind her. “C’mon. He won’t appreciate another man’s blood on you.”

My mind scrambles for a plan while my feet carry me after her. There’s nowhere to go, unless I choose to dive over a cliff. I could run and hide, but they’d surely find me.

I feel as if I’m back to square one. To the day of my ordination. My thoughts sink back to my father and the question of whether he’d have been disappointed in my choices. I suspect if he were here, he’d point the obvious. That at least in Szolen, I wouldn’t have been a prisoner. I would’ve fucked a number of men indiscriminately, but I would’ve lived like a queen afterward.

Agatha guides me to the bathroom that houses a large, white, porcelain tub, and stands off to the side. A jerk of her head toward my dress is my cue to remove it, and when I do, she tips her head in appraisal.

“You have a beautiful body, I’ll give you that. What joy he’ll take in spoiling it.” With a wave of her hand, she ushers me to the bathtub.

Titus’s blood smears across the porcelain, as I sit down on the cold surface, while she flips on the faucet. The water pressure is low, pouring out of the spigot at an agonizing pace, for the chill that races over my skin.

Agatha disappears behind me, sending my nerves flaring. Will she stab me in the back? My muscles twitch, when she places a freshly dipped washcloth to my shoulder.

“The items hanging from the wall in the other room. What are they?”

The answering snort echoes behind me, as she runs the cloth over my arm. “That’s right. You’re a virgin. Ignorant to the pleasures in pain.”

“There is no pleasure in pain.”

“I think you’ll be surprised.”

I don’t dare to ask the obvious question, of whether, or not, they plan to hurt me, since the answer will only weaken me with fear. The objective in this is to stay focused. One step ahead of them. “He hurts you?”

“He administers pain when necessary.” Fingernails curl against my scalp as she works the lathered soap into my hair, before she dumps a cup of warm water over it.

“When is pain considered necessary?”

“You ask a lot of questions, Dove. I think it’s best if you focus on yourself right now. Your hymen … do you know if it’s intact, or not?”

The obsession with that small bit of flesh is unnerving, but I’m grateful she’s not under some false impression, like everyone else who seems to associate hymens with virginity. This may be my opportunity to explain away the lack of bleeding, if Remus does get his hands on me and finds I’m not as pure as he thought.

“No. It was broken by manual exam. In preparation for my