Emperor of Lust: Chapter 39

It takes everything I have to keep the panic and the screaming anxiety at bay as the ropes press into my flesh.

The darkness around me presses down heavily as I pull at the restraints. My pulse thuds in my ears. I can feel every splinter of the rough wood of the chair, the ropes cutting deep into my skin, and the thin rivulet of blood as it trickles down my wrist.

I try to force my mind to stay focused—to cling to thoughts of Damian.

Breathe. Just breathe.

One pull, then another. I yank harder, the rope shifting. The give is encouraging.

The board rocks unsteadily beneath me. I freeze, turning to glance at the girl. She’s watching me, those wide, haunted eyes staring right into mine, catching every move I make. She’s silent, but I don’t need her to speak. She’s got a lethal gaze trained on me, one that doesn’t do anything to mask her obvious fear at my motions rocking the board.

‘Sorry,’ I whisper, my voice barely loud enough to bridge the distance. She just narrows her eyes, then throws a pointed look into the shadowy abyss below.

She’s right. Even if I get free, then what? If I ran toward the middle, to the beam, the whole thing would tip over, sending her to her death.

Obviously I’m not going to do that.

“I’m working on that part,’ I murmur to her, low and intense, fingers digging harder into the knot at my wrist. ‘If I can just get free…’

My hand finally slips through. I gasp quietly as it pulls loose, my fingers coated in blood and sweat. The girl’s eyes widen, but her expression doesn’t soften. We’re both still as trapped as we were a second ago. But my tension and panic start to ebb slightly.

It’s something.

I work to free my other hand, then bend carefully to yank at the knots at my ankles, trying to keep my movements small.

A noise cuts through the silence—a faint echo from the shadows nearby. I freeze, every muscle tensing. I barely breathe as I squint into the dark recesses of the building, waiting. Another sound—a door opening, the creak of metal on metal. My blood chills, but I don’t stop, hands working faster. I’m so close.

Then a silhouette stumbles from the stairwell, tall, fierce in his stride.

Silvery hair.

Sharp, beautiful, violet eyes.

Damian.

I feel an almost overwhelming urge to cry out, but it knots up inside my throat. He stares at me, frozen for a second, before relief crashes over him, lighting up his face. Then he moves forward, inching to the edge of the broken floor, stopping just short.

‘Hana,’ he breathes, and the sound of my name on his lips is everything.

I fight back the flood of tears, swallowing hard. “Damian!” I finally blurt. “I didn’t mean a word of it!! Miyamoto⁠—”

“I know, Kitsune,” he chokes, his voice tight as his purple eyes blaze through the darkness to stab into me. “I know. Fuck, Hana, I never, ever should have doubted⁠—”

“It’s what he told me to do,” I choke. “Make you believe that I’d betrayed you. He—he⁠—”

My voice chokes off as the emotions tangle around my throat. Damian just shakes his head and moves to the edge again.

“I’m going to get you off there,” he growls. He glances over at the girl, his brow furrowing as if he’s just noticed her.

“Who the fuck are you?” he asks.

“She doesn’t talk,” I say quickly. “Or—she can’t, I don’t know. I also don’t know who she is.”

Damian’s jaw is tight as he peers at the girl. “She’s important to Kolya,” he growls quietly.

He turns, his eyes dragging over the board, the way the girl and I are balanced, and then back to me, new urgency in his gaze. “We don’t have much time. There’s a tracker on my ankle. Kolya’s men will be here soon, and when they arrive, this all gets way more complicated.”

He turns and scans the piece of intact flooring he’s standing on. His gaze lands on a length of rope coiled by the stairs, the same stuff binding the girl and me. He grabs it, deftly looping and tying it into a makeshift lasso.

He walks to the beam and steps onto it, jaw working as he finds his balance above the abyss. He looks at me, his eyes blazing with wild intensity before his gaze shifts to the girl.

“I’m not letting you fall,” he promises her, his voice like iron.

She glares at him, skeptical. But he moves carefully, still holding the rope, taking steady steps across the beam to the middle, right next to the plank laid across it.

“Hold still,” he murmurs, tossing the rope at her chair. It falls short, and he pulls it back, trying again. Another miss. His face hardens, his jaw clenched as he tries once more. This time it lands over her chair, and he pulls it tight. The girl gasps as the chair scoots a little on the wood beneath her.

Damian nods as he loops the rope twice around his waist, then makes a slip knot with it, like a rock climbing belayer. He looks at me, tossing me the other end of the rope.

“Tie it to yourself,” he says.

I nod quickly, shaking as I stand carefully. I loop the rope around my waist, tying it tightly and turning to him, my face paling.

“Now, you need to walk toward me, one step at a time.”

The other girl whistles sharply, yanking our attention to her as her eyes narrow sharply.

“I’m not going to let you fall,” Damian growls, voice fierce and unyielding. “Well… you’ll fall a little, but I promise I’ll catch you.”

She swallows, her face turning white as the abyss yawns below her. She looks at Damian, clearly sizing him up. When her gaze slips to me, I give her a small smile.

“He really will. You can trust him,” I say.

She grimaces, but she gives a reluctant nod.

I take the rope and inch forward. Every muscle is coiled tight, and I swear I can feel every single heartbeat echo in my veins. The board shifts, dipping ominously as I creep toward Damian.

The girl whistles sharply again. Damian turns to her. “Easy,” he growls, extending a hand, palm out. “I just need you to stay⁠—”

“Get the fuck away from her!”

All three of us whirl to the bellowing voice. A tall Japanese man comes bolting out of the shadows, a gun in his hand and a snarl on his face.

“Ryu!” Damian yells at him, holding a hand up. “Stay back⁠—”

The gun explodes, belching fire and thunder as Ryu pulls the trigger.

“STOP!” Damian roars. “Stay the fuck back!”

But the other man is blinded by fear, or maybe fury, or both. He snarls as he raises the gun at Damian, cocking it again.

Then suddenly, he’s yanking it around toward me.

Oh God…

The barrel flashes. I scream as I dive to the ground, wincing as the wood next to me explodes in a hail of splinters and dust.

Instantly, the world begins to shift as the plank beneath me tips violently under the mismatched weight at either ends. Damian’s eyes flash as he yanks a gun out of his waist and fires at Ryu, hitting the other man in the stomach and dropping him to the ground.

The board shifts again, tipping hard to one side. Then the other.

Time slows as I watch, horrified, as the other end of the board tips down toward the abyss. The girl’s eyes go wide and her mouth opens in a silent scream.

There’s no yell. No sound. Just a choked, sharp, haunting gasp as the chair slides back and falls over the edge.

The second she’s gone, the board rocks hard the other way. My stomach plunges as the plank gives out beneath me.

“Damian!”

My voice tears from my throat as gravity yanks me into the yawning chasm below.