The Price (House of Sin #5) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,4

and clearly drugged, surrounded by at least ten women in nothing but elaborate feathered masks and sky-high stilettos, all touching and tormenting his bare flesh with their hands.

I jerked back from the hand holding me to the railing. “No. What...? How can you—”

“Oh, that’s no way to treat your hosts.”

Luc’s mother was stronger than she looked. She yanked my hand back to the railing. Before I could try to break free, a large figure moved up on my other side, trapping me between the two of them. A big hand closed around my other wrist—a male hand—and slapped my palm against the railing.

Gasping, I looked up only to realize it was Antonio Salvatici, Luc’s father.

“Took you long enough,” he snapped.

“She was having trouble waking from the sedative,” Luc’s mother answered.

Antonio Salvatici’s gray eyes were as cold as I’d ever seen them. He glared down at me, then huffed and looked back at what was happening below. When he nodded, I shot a look down as well.

A figure in a robe and white mask moved around the naked women, stopped near Luc’s head, and leaned down to whisper something in his ear.

Luc’s stormy grey eyes widened. His handsome and familiar face turned my direction. Then a spotlight flashed in front of me, blinding me.

I slammed my eyes shut and tried to back away from the glare, but Luc’s parents had death grips on my wrists, and there was nowhere for me to go.

Grunts echoed from below, followed by the rattling of chains. “No!” Luc said loudly. “Get her out of here. That wasn’t what we agreed to!”

I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that he was in pain and didn’t want whatever they were doing to him.

“Let me go.” I pulled back on the hands holding me, desperate to get to Luc, to help him. “Let me—”

Something hard and sharp pressed against my inner wrist, sending pain spiraling to my brain. My eyes shot open, and I swallowed a scream.

“Now, now.” Luc’s mother eased the pressure of her nail on my vein. “You have to watch, my dear. That’s your job as the good little wife. Look down there, Natalie. See what’s happening to Luciano all because of you.”

Her free hand closed around the back of my neck and squeezed hard, sending pain up my scalp as she angled my face toward the twisted gathering below.

I blinked rapidly only to realize the women were now using their tongues and hands on Luc, stimulating every part of his bare flesh. My heart stuttered as I focused on his face. His eyes were tightly shut. Every muscle in his body was tense and struggling against the chains. And the agony in his chiseled features...

“You can’t do this to him,” I shrieked, struggling harder against the hands holding my wrists, but still couldn’t break free. “Let him go. Let him go right now.”

“Do you know what that is, Natalie?” Luc’s mother hissed in my ear, ignoring my pleas. “That is a man who does not respect our ancient traditions. That should be you down there, surrounded by the Knights of this House, cleansing you of your peasant bloodline. But instead, it is my son. My selfless son who volunteered to take your place in this ritual. I suppose one could call that true love. I see it as weakness, don’t you, Antonio?”

Luc’s father only grunted at my side, never once looking away from what those women were doing to his son.

His mother clucked her tongue and looked back down at the scene. “Of course, perhaps Luciano wanted this all along. He is a man, after all. And they do have...needs. I wonder how many times he will climax during the ritual. I’m sure you can only make him climax once. These girls are highly trained, however. And much more talented than you.”

My vision blurred. The women below were becoming more aggressive. I struggled harder, was desperate to break free, to rescue him. Luc fought against the chains and tipped his face as far from me as he could. But when he groaned, when I recognized the sound—a mixture of pain and humiliation and a sensation he couldn’t escape—my heart seized, and a primal scream grew inside me, one I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer.

My head grew light. I couldn’t breathe. Felt as if I were in some kind of horror movie as I watched a blonde lift her head from whatever she was doing to Luc,