Vivienne's brain lost all function. It was as if someone had ripped out the wires and thrown them into the fire. Nothing worked. Thoughts, reason, logic—all gone. Before she could even think or resist, she saw her dress already undone, sliding down her body in silence.
Her sworn enemy—her own traitorous flesh—moved for him. She had not told it to move. She had not given it permission. Yet there it was, betraying her, letting the dress fall to the ground in a heap of fabric. Her arms hung useless at her sides. Her body was no longer her own.
She sat on the table in nothing but her corset and her white petticoat. The linen clung to her legs, thin and soft, but she felt more naked in it than if she had been fully bare.
Her whole skin was burning.
