Cassandra blinked at him in trepidation, unmoving. She was frozen again, not wishing to be touched by his cold, lifeless hands or those tendrils of his which squeezed the energy and happiness out of her.
Her throat was hoarse from shouting for help whenever he was not in the room, but no one came except Aiko to calm her down. She could only guess that he was keeping her somewhere secluded.
"Don’t make me force you, Princess Cassandra. I am just going to clean you up for now." His dark voice heightened her anxiety.
He had already laid his hands on her flesh and now he wished to snatch away any dignity she had left.
She hadn’t been touched by a man like that except Siroos and she didn’t want to be.
"I can clean myself up, please," she added the last word unwillingly, hoping there was some rational thinking in this vampire’s brain.
He merely shook his head, his dark hair obscuring his sharp features and caressing his sharp cheekbones.
"I don’t do this for anyone. You should feel special, Butterfly."
He offered his hand but Cassandra only cringed away. He let it out and let out a dry cackle, which grated at her nerves.
"You are a stubborn one. Turn around and strip while I will tell you a story about your sister. Don’t you want to know what she had to say about you?" His words sent a wave of hatred passing through her. She was so disappointed in her sister and never knew she could turn so evil.
While Cassandra was still contemplating her options as her feet were still tied to those chains, Kanyon bent forward and began to remove them from around her ankles.
His hand brushed against the anklet she wore and the tiny bells sounded, bringing her the memories of her union with Siroos.
"Pretty anklet. Holds sentimental value, perhaps?" Kanyon teasingly asked, his fingers lingering on the delicate golden chain.
Cassandra’s heart somersaulted in her chest as angst rose like bile in her mouth, sickening her with the thought that he would take it off.
This was her last ray of hope, she wished to cling to it, to remain sane.
"Not really," she lied in a trembling voice, trying to hide the emotional turmoil behind her words.
"Then you won’t mind I assume." Kanyon yanked it off her precious anklet and tossed it in the air. Cassandra felt as if her heart had been yanked out of her chest and thrown upwards.
She watched with her hitched breath as Kanyon caught it again and dangled it in front of her.
"You want it back? Take off your gown or you will never see it again."
Kanyon was a manipulative bastard. He knew he could just wrench her gown off but he wished to see her expressions of humiliation while she did it herself. Those sadistic impulses that festered inside him like a rotten corpse made all of his actions uglier than the old mould.
Cassandra stifled all of her cries and blinked away the tears of humiliation that were gathering at the back of her eyes. She slowly stood up and faced away from him. Her trembling hands reached for the straps of the very short silk gown she wore. It barely reached her thighs.
Slowly she peeled it off and let it pool around her injured ankles. There were permanent bruises there because of the iron shackles he kept her in.
Her bronzed skin, the very same hue as the sands of the Dusartine was in full view for him to ogle at. It was so smooth as if thousands of tiny diamonds had been sewn into her back. The lacy undergarment covered her hips as her roughly braided hair smoothly lay on her spine and almost kissed the hem of the lace.
Cassandra shivered under his red-hot gaze. Although she was facing away from him and had covered her breasts with her arms she could still feel them boring into her back, glazing all over her skin, dipping down and taking every inch of it in.
She felt like festering worms were crawling over her skin and not his gaze. Although the fire crackled in the fireplace and the room was pretty cosy she still shivered when he picked up her hair and placed them on her shoulder.
The nail of his pointer finger rested on the nape of her neck and he began to drag it down slowly, pushing her braid away.
"Why does it feel like I know you?" His voice dropped to a freezing point, and her teeth chattered as his cold breath glazed the tiny hair on her back.
"You have such a rich body and that red elixir that runs in your veins is even richer. And you know what?"
He deliberately paused, his finger stopping right in the middle of her spine as leaned closer to her reddened ear and seductively whispered.
"It’s all mine now because, for the world, you are dead."
His words chilled her blood, freezing it over in her very veins. She wished to turn and scream at him.
’No, no, she only belonged to Siroos. Not to some heartless killer who tortured others for his fiendish games.’ But she stayed quiet, letting the pain numb her. She didn’t wish to give him any more reasons to take away another part of her soul.
He had already taken her anklet which she had become a permanent part of herself.
And then he placed the wet woollen cloth on her shivering body and began to clean her.
She felt no tingles, no love; her body didn’t react, and her heart felt dead.
This experience was so opposite of what she felt with Siroos.
His touch she welcomed and craved.
His touch emotionally pulled at her heartstrings, making her heart dance.
On the contrary, Kanyon’s touch made her skin seem to grow boils.
He was gentle, though; he didn’t hurt her any more than he already had. Her neck was bruised and so were her thighs. Wedging his knee between her privates, he pried open her thighs and cleaned her thoroughly.
Finally, he turned her from the shoulders so she would face him. She was covering her breasts with her arms but Kanyon’s powers shot out and pried them open forcefully.
Abashed Cassandra tried to kick him in the balls at the breaching of her privacy but he was too quick for her and caught her leg.
He shook his head in disappointment.
"Bad move, Butterfly. Very bad move. This will cost you."
He pinned her arms and legs with those silvery threads and then his eyes dipped to her beautiful breasts.