Taken

Part 9

I try to skirt around him to get to the door, but he snags my wrist, and pushes me towards the bed.

He does not move from where he is standing, and so I do not move. For the longest minute, there is only silence as his eyes rove over me. I shift, crossing my arms over my chest, uncomfortable by his stare. He finally speaks then.

"Take off your dress."

No. I shake my head, taking a step towards the door.

"I am not going to ask a second time."

The warning in his voice is crystal clear: Do it or I will do it.

Trembling, I bite my lip, and slowly remove my dress. I again cross my arms over my chest. Across from me, Dagon first removes his belt, dropping it to the floor with an audible thunk, causing me to flinch. He then takes his tunic off, dropping it on top of his belt, and stalks over to me. I instinctively back away until I hit the edge of the bed.

I scramble backwards onto the bed in order to put distance between us. I try to move to the other side, but he seizes my left ankle, pulling me to him. I immediately pull away from him, pulling on my foot, but his grip is too like iron. Growling, he yanks again on my foot, pulling me back to him, this time grabbing my hands at the wrists.

He shoves me down, back to the mattress, and secures my hands to two of the bed posts. I tug uselessly at my restraints. He retrieves a small knife and I look at it with wide eyes. What is he going to do?

Straddling my waist, he says, "Say you are mine."

I shake my head no.

He makes a deep cut on my upper right arm. I let out an involuntary cry of pain, before biting my lip. I do not say anything and he makes another cut, shallow, across my collarbone. Still, I refuse and again it comes down.

Twice more the knife comes down.

He is able to do whatever he so pleases with me. I am nothing more than his play thing. He made sure I would be unable to do anything about it. He controls my entire life; I cannot do anything without his permission.

"I-I am y-yours," I finally sob out, the truth of it finally settling in me.

Dagon smiles and removes my restraints.

"Heal yourself," he says.

I do as he says. He strokes my cheek with his thumb before getting off, to stand next to the bed and I sit up.

"Before we do anything else, you still need to be shown what happens when you attempt to leave," he says.

I pale. I had forgotten that. He holds out his hand and I hesitantly take it. I follow him out into the sitting room. He has me remove the white strip of fabric over my breasts, which I reluctantly do, seeing no point in resisting. He then has me kneel in front of the couch. As soon as I am in place, I feel my body freeze. I cannot move anything.

I hear him get something, then come back over. I feel him standing just behind me. The next I know, a line of fire crosses my back. I cry out again, biting my lip, and I realize what it is that he has. A whip. It comes down again and again. By the tenth, my whole back is on fire, and still the lashes come. Finally, after the seventeenth, I think, he stops.

Above me, I hear him say, "Heal yourself since I am sure you get the point."

Finding that I can move again, I heal myself, giving relief to the fire. He leads me back to the bedroom.

When he is done, he gives me, to my dismay, an 'outfit' to change into. He then leaves the room.

I talk to Kiernan through the bond, telling him what has happened.

  Being with Dagon everyday, all day, made the next week utter misery.