The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,105

and despite how…horrific all of this was, alive was better than dead.

I kept telling myself that. Repeatedly.

I probably shouldn’t be sitting on the floor, considering my body was one giant, open wound, and God only knew what kind of dirt and water was getting into the hundreds, if not thousands of tiny slices that covered nearly every inch of my body. I was probably going to contract some kind of flesh-eating bacteria.

Dragging my gaze from the vines, I looked down at my legs and winced. Purplish bruises mottled the pale skin, left behind when Aric had bored of me fighting back and secured my legs and arms. They were all pretty gnarly, but they were by no means the worst. The cuts were worse.

Dozens and dozens of them on each leg, on the front and the back, all methodically two inches long and carved into neat lines just a touch beyond shallow. My arms were the same. So were my chest and a good part of my back, which was why I was on the floor and not lying on the slab.

The back…those were fresh.

Another grumble echoed through my stomach. I’d thought I’d known what hunger pains felt like. I, of course, had been foolishly naive to think that skipping a meal could cause these gnawing, strong contractions that nearly doubled me over.

I was starving, and thinking about food was surely the worst thing I could do. So, I focused on my butchered arms and counted the slices starting at my shoulder.

One. Two. Three. Four….

I hadn’t given Aric what he wanted. Not the first or the second time.

Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen….

I’d nearly cracked my molars from not screaming. But by the third time, Aric had started with the more sensitive areas first, and there hadn’t been any numbness to soften the shock to the system.

Twenty-five. Twenty-six. Twenty-seven….

When he cut along the back of my knees and elbows, I’d screamed.

I’d screamed until my throat felt as raw as my skin.

I stared at the smudges of dried blood as another shudder rolled through me. Aric had been right about something, though. No one had come when I screamed.

Thirty-five. Thirty-six. Thirty-seven. Thirty-eight….

The next breath I took was shaky as I continued counting. Forty-one. Forty-two. Forty—

Footsteps drew my attention and I jerked up my chin. He was back. Lurching to my feet, I winced as my skin stretched. The room swayed a little, a kaleidoscope of flames and gray walls as I steadied myself.

The door swung open, and Aric strode in like he was taking a walk in a park and not strolling into a torture chamber. I wanted to shout at him, but I saw that he carried a white paper bag. I inhaled, catching a faint whiff of meat.

My knees felt weak.

“Look at you, standing when I arrive.” The door swung shut behind him. “I’m impressed.”

All I could do was stare at the bag of food.

Aric followed my gaze. “Hungry?”

I didn’t nod or speak as he stopped a few feet from me.

“Is that why you’re not lying in wait or pouncing on me like an inept buffoon?”

I didn’t think my tactics were that of an inept buffoon, but he could say whatever he wanted as long as I got what was in that bag.

“You are hungry.” Smirking, he unrolled the top of the bag and reached in, pulling out a loosely wrapped sandwich. “Sorry. I forgot how often you humans need to eat.”

My mouth started to water.

He peeled back the wrapper, revealing what appeared to be a breakfast sandwich. So, I’d been right. It was morning. “Actually, I didn’t forget.”

Shocker.

Stepping forward, he dipped his chin and smiled. Every muscle in my body locked up. Aric was…well, he was an Ancient fae. So, of course, he was strikingly handsome. And when he smiled, it transformed all those angles into something truly majestic.

And something entirely evil.

Because he smiled like that when he cut into my skin, and he grinned like that when I screamed. He beamed like he was right now when he led me outside, when it was too dark for me to get my bearings while I went to the bathroom.

“I just want you to know that I control everything,” he said as if he were suggesting that I check out a new TV show. “When you’re awake. When you rest. When you expel. When you eat. I control your every waking second.”

His words burst through my fog of hunger. Words rose to the tip of my tongue. I wanted to tell