Read Prohibit for Free Online Page B

are.”
    The man made of polished grey stone scales bent and licked up her belly and across her nipples. “I look forward to channelling him in your final hours.”
    His tongue was long, slimy and had a strangely hollow tip. Her skin began to burn where he touched it, and it wasn’t a good burn.
    He barked orders to the women cowering in the corner of the bathing room, and Cleo caught enough to know that he wanted her dressed but not bathed again. That slime was going to stay on her.
    She was handled like a doll. To her astonishment, they engaged in the equivalent of waxing her. From her chin to her toes, she was hairless when they were done.
    The women had an expertise that was disheartening. Their ability to prop her up and handle her limp limbs showed that they had a lot of practice. Cleo got nauseated all over again.
    She held onto her anger and was soon able to twitch her fingers slightly when no one was watching.
    Expert hands arranged her hair, and she was still at the mercy of her attendants while the burning on her skin continued.
    The black gauze dress was made out of long strips that were draped over her shoulders with one of the ladies holding them as they were placed. When she had been covered in twenty or more strips, a wide, beaded cincher was wrapped around her waist, and it dipped below her navel and up between her breasts. The metallic beadwork would have been lovely if she hadn’t had to stare at it because of her neck being limp.
    When she was dressed, gilded slippers were placed on her feet, and she was supported to a seat against the wall that had a hole in it.
    To her humiliation, it was a toilet. They moved the skirt out of the way and strapped her in place, leaving her alone in case her body demanded relief.
    With her body pinned to the stone, she was left to feel the burn of the saliva and the mortification of her situation.
    Two hours later, she was unstrapped, cleaned and walked toward the door.
    The ladies handed her off to a pair of guards who carefully arranged their hands so that it would appear that she was walking under escort.
    Keeping her arms and legs limp was her entire focus. If they knew she had shaken off the paralysis, they would dose her again. She was sure of it.
    The light that surrounded them grew brighter as they entered the sacrificial circle.
    The master was standing at the front of a wide platform, overlooking his devoted flock. “The dark lord has called for a sacrifice, and he has delivered her unto us.”
    The guards walked her to the edge of the platform and showed her off to the crowd. The worshipers were staring up at her with glazed expressions.
    “She is pure in body and bears the mark of the dark lord.”
    Cleo was escorted up a set of stairs, and she was held in front of the master. The master reached out and tore her cincher from her body, parting the dark veils of gauze that were her only clothing.
    The master looked at her torso, and he jerked in surprise. A wave of astonishment came from the worshipers who were fixated on the spectacle.
    She didn’t need to look down at her skin. The burning had ended an hour earlier. Whatever he had licked into her skin was gone.
    “How did you do that?” His whisper was low.
    She spoke clear Alliance Common. “I didn’t do anything. I am not marked.”
    The crowd whispered again. Doubt was creeping into their blind faith.
    Their master turned to them. “The dark lord has accepted her and made her as pure as the day she was born to join him in the shadow world. He will be pleased to have the opportunity to take her there himself.”
    That seemed to be the cue to the guards. They lifted her out of the remnants of her clothing and splayed her out on a stone.
    Her legs were fit into grooves that held them wide, and her arms and shoulders were also settled into a space designed to hold a being comfortably, as long as they had been paralysed.
    When the master moved between her thighs, she had had enough. He gripped her hips