Page 54 of Heart of the Villain

Ryanna scoffed at her. “Ruling? We’ve told you this before. You don’t get full control. We still have an agenda that we plan on keeping up on. We think it’s just time for a new face in the public eye. If we got nothing else right with you, at least you’re beautiful… someone people are willing to follow blindly.” But we can still call this whole thing off. If we say we think you’re not fit to run Amora, we can leave it up to a vote again.”

All you are is a pretty face.

“Shut the fuck up,” Marlena responded to the voice in her head. When she realized she said the words out loud, she moved on as quickly as she could to distract Ryanna from staring too intently. If she stared hard enough, would she see through Marlena’s facade? “How well did that go for you the last time? I think a lot has changed since I was sixteen… I think a lot of people see something else in me that wasn’t there then.” Her icy gaze held her mother’s. Marlena wasn’t that girl anymore.

I’m worse.

“Is that what Arlet thinks too?” Jonan asked, snatching Marlena’s attention.

For a millisecond, Marlena’s mask fell, but she snapped it back into place as fast as she could. Unfortunately, it seemed her parents caught the slip.

“I caught her leaving the room you stayed in very early this morning, still in the dress she was wearing last night.” Ryanna tilted her head with a knowing sneer.

Marlena saw herself in her mother then, realizing she shared so many of her mannerisms. Oh no.

“And I thought that was a little strange, seeing as though she lives right down the hall and had every opportunity to go to her own room last night.”

Jonan stretched his legs out under the table and put his hands behind his head. “When your mother told me, I questioned some of the help… and it seems you two have been spending a lot of time together.”

“We’ve been friends since we were children. We’ve always spent a lot of time together,” Marlena countered.

“Oh, Marlena. Please. There’s no use in lying to us when it’s so clear we know the truth.” Ryanna had this smile on her lips that made Marlena’s eye twitch—made her want to rip that smug ass look right off her fucking face.

“We have put up with a lot of things when it comes to you.” Jonan sat up straight, his hands clasped on the table in front of him. He was the picture of ease, with his peppered dark brown hair brushed back in the perfect wind-tossed style he liked to wear it. His white blouse was unbuttoned a few, bringing attention to his toned chest.

He didn’t look like the type of person he was on the inside.

Rotten.

“But this little thing you’ve got going with Arlet stops now. We won’t watch you waste your life away with someone who can offer you nothing in return. You should be holding out for when Bridger gets bored of Vega.” Jonan leaned back in his chair again, relaxing like he’d already won the argument before it even started. “We’re looking out for you. You should be grateful.”

Talking about Vega was one thing, but their snarky attitudes were what made Marlena lose whatever patience she had left—which wasn’t much. “Grateful?” Marlena spat, her chair scooting back as she stood. “You’re trying to take yet another thing from me!”

Ryanna let out another long, drawn-out sigh. “Must you be so dramatic?”

“You think this is me being dramatic?” Marlena asked, her voice rising as she pointed at herself. “My whole life you’ve been taking from me. You took my childhood, pressing me to be ready for the Curia. Then you tell people I’m not powerful enough and try to snatch not one, but two seats right out from underneath me after abusing me for years.”

Jonan had begun to turn red, but Ryanna’s anger spiked quicker. She jumped to her feet, leaning across the table at Marlena. “We didn’t abuse you, Marlena. Don’t you dare go around spreading lies.”

Marlena’s jaw dropped, completely unhinged from the shock. “You’re fucking kidding me, right? You locked me in a room with no food and barely enough water to survive when I was nine! You caged me like a feral fucking animal and made me use the bathroom in a corner. You took every opportunity you had to remind me that I wasn’t good enough, that I would never be good enough! And now you want to take the one person who’s shown me that I’m worth loving? After everything you’ve done, you’re willing to take more?”

Ryanna rolled her eyes, reeling with annoyance like Marlena was throwing a temper tantrum. “Get a grip! We loved you. Everything we did to you, for you, was out of love.”

“You never loved me!” Marlena screeched, her breathing ragged. “You’ve never loved me!” She slammed her flat palms against the top of the desk, the sound of her rage echoing through the room.

Before Marlena saw it coming, her mother’s palm connected with her cheek. “Don’t you say that.” Ryanna hit Marlena so hard, her head snapped to the side and her ears rang.

Marlena cupped her face and rubbed until the sting wasn’t as noticeable. The voice in her head, the one that was starting to sound a little too much like herself, roared to life. Always the punching bag. When is enough, enough?

Enough was now.

Marlena turned her head back to her mother, and a gust of wind swept Ryanna off her feet. The action took her back to the last time Marlena’s mother swung on her. In this exact room…

With a swiftness not even Marlena knew she possessed, she caught her mother by the throat in midair before her feet made it back to the ground.

Ryanna hung suspended over her desk; Marlena’s control of the wind assisted in keeping her mother dangling above.

Jonan jumped to his feet, making an attempt to throw himself over the desk at Marlena while Ivelle scampered backward. He never made it to his daughter. A stronger gust of wind split through Marlena’s fingers, sending a desk flying. It took Jonan off his feet and pinned him down.