The touch slowed and Theo's heart almost stopped because he'd never been heard before and he almost didn't know how to react... but then it came back and he was once again trembling, shivering under his skin in a way he couldn't hold back.
The question from Greg was like a punch in the stomach. Theo opened his mouth to reply but he couldn't and he didn't know why. He felt his throat seem to close up, felt his heart pound so hard in his chest that it almost hurt and he tried again to speak but choked on the words. "It... I... I..." he stammered but couldn't finish, his body stuck in some strange limbo between terror and elation, shaking his head as that hand burned in against his skin like all the other brands already there that no one else could see. "I've been good." he said, desperate. "Merlin, please, I've been good."