Darker Than Night - Amelia Wilde Page 0,41
ignore him. “Let me work for you. Please. It’s the only thing I can do.”
“No.” My father shouts this, bringing the low chatter in the room to a sudden halt. The next moment he’s standing over me, his face almost purple, lips twisted in disgust. “You’re not a whore. Don’t act like one.”
“But I am, Daddy.” More tears, more sobs. “I am a whore. I’m a slut for it, and I just—I need to do this. It’s all I want.”
He brandishes the strap at me, holding it high in the air, and I scream. The tension in the air is razor-sharp, and I scramble along the floor to Demeter and throw myself at her feet, wrapping one arm tight around her leg. “Don’t let him do it,” I howl. “Don’t let him.”
She drops a hand onto my head and it’s all I can do not to wrench myself away. “Darling,” she says. “How else will you prove yourself to me?”
I turn my face up to hers and she beams down at me. I can see her surrounded in flowers. A monster in a flower wreath. “What do you mean?”
“If you’re not willing to accept your father’s consequences, how will I know you really want to be here?” The corners of her mouth turn down. “For all I know, my brother sent you.”
“I came here by myself,” I say fiercely. “And I’ll do whatever it takes.” Alicia and Savannah scramble out of the way now, because I’m coming, I’m hiding the rolling terror with decisive action. In the center of the space I get down on my knees. At the last second I wrap my arms around my body and let out a choked sob. “Can the girls help me? Please?”
“No.” Demeter waves a hand. “Clients only.”
They’re wolves, and they’re ready, and in seconds a tight circle of men has surrounded me, leaving only a small space for Demeter to look on. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alicia looking back the way I came. She starts shifting in that direction, inch by inch. Savannah is still attached to Demeter by the leash.
It has to be working.
This has to be worth it.
Behind me, my father hesitates.
I look up at him with my chin quivering, tears running freely down my cheeks. What the hell is he going to do?
“You’d be doing her a favor,” purrs Demeter. “If you showed her what it costs to be a whore.” My father jerks his head up to look at her. “Punish her now,” she says magnanimously, “and when she’s learned her lesson with me, I’ll return her to you. She’ll be better trained then. Worth more.”
I’ll be dead, is what I’ll be. He can’t possibly agree to this.
My father gives Demeter a slow nod.
I’m falling through the floor, dropping straight down as far as I can go.
My father steps around behind me, and Demeter gives another signal.
And then there are hands—so many hands, reaching for me. I’m going to be sick, and die. Or I’m just going to die. The first pair of hands makes contact, and my brain shuts off. Don’t remember this. Don’t remember any part of this. Don’t think about how they’re going to arrange you, don’t think about anything—
A laugh stops them dead. The hands on my body freeze and lift away. “Oh, Demeter,” says Zeus. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
17
Zeus
The crowd melts away, taking flight, and I mark the tight clutch of cops who have gathered around Brigit and ignore the seething urge to break their necks one by one. It can wait. They back away from her and press themselves tight to the wall, blinking. It’s only men in here now. Men. Brigit. Savannah.
It was too easy to get the rest of them out. Poseidon’s men only had to incapacitate three guards outside and the men at the door scattered when they realized what was happening.
My heartbeat slows as I step over Brigit. It’s been a wild animal all this time. No more. I could never allow myself to get rattled on the floor at the whorehouse and I won’t allow it now.
I step over Brigit, who’s kneeling on the carpet, her own body appearing calm.
Demeter turns her huge, silver eyes on me and cocks her head to the side. A little smile plays across her lips. It’s the smile that freezes the pit of my belly. Yes. It was too easy. The real danger is in here, with her.
“Gotten myself into?” The giggle that