Page 192 of Unmasked

I didn’t have to ask what medication he meant. It had been her choice, and one she hadn’t taken lightly. Hell, it fucking destroyed her. The act was killing us both.

I didn’t have to ask what medication he meant. It had been her choice, and one she hadn’t taken lightly. Hell, it fucking destroyed her. The act was killing us both.

“Thank you. Your team has been a blessing. I don’t know what we would have done without them.” I stopped at her sniffle. I didn’t continue. I headed for Penelope, climbing onto the bed. She immediately turned, curling into my arms and sobbing as the men left the room.

I cradled her head, kissing the top of it. “I love you. You know that, right?”

“Yes.”

“It’s all going to be okay. I promise. No one will ever hurt you again.”

Her sob hit hard. “You don’t know that.”

“I do. I know it to be fact.”

“How?”

I brought her face up, but her eyes stayed averted. “Because I’m going to be the most hovering, protective, suffocating husband there’s ever been.”

She laughed, sniffling.

“You promise?”

“Let someone try to stop me. I’m king now. I do believe that holds some weight.”

Blue eyes finally came to mine, and my stomach twisted at the busted blood vessels in her eyes. It had me dying to get to that cell to make Lawrence pay before the trial and sacrifice. There was no way in hell he was getting off that easily.

“Vaughn… are you afraid?”

“To be king?”

Her head nodded as she stared up at me.

“A little. Not everyone will accept. It’s going to be very rocky at first. It’s to be expected. But it’s okay to be scared, because I know I’ll be a great king. I’ve been training for it my entire life.” I paused, taking in the tears filling her eyes. “What about you? Are you scared to be Queen of The Order… or Queen to the outside world?”

The tears raced down the sides of her face.

“Both? I’m afraid of failing you and everyone else. I feel like I’ve already let so many down. Guards have died. Another Reeve almost died because of me. To lose Rowan was hard. To almost lose Able and then Theodore too. Twice.” Her lip trembled. “I try not to become so attached, but I can’t help it. It’s my responsibility to rule this place, and people keep dying. I know it’s not the place… it’s me.”

“No.” My head shook. “It’s him. Lawrence did this. You told him repeatedly that you weren’t interested and he wouldn’t stop. He killed Rowan. He attacked The Order. Now, he will die because of it. Everything that’s happened… that was never you. It was never your fault, Penelope. Everything he did—Everything we’ve lost because of him—Lawrence is to blame. No one else.”

“I hate him.” She sobbed. For seconds she searched my face, parting her lips and trying to talk. Trying to get the words to come out. … “I could have been…” She stopped, pushing her fingers into my suit’s jacket and holding tightly as she clung to me. “I could have been… a mother. I could have carried on our lines. And then he did that to me. He took our chance away again. What he did.” Her face came back to bury in my chest as I held onto her. “He’s done more than hurt me. He’s d-destroyed a part of me that I can n-never get back. The first time in Scotland was devastating. But then I let myself have h-hope again. I prayed and prayed, and I was s-so happy at the possibilities.”

“I know, love. I was too.”

For what felt like an eternity passed as I held to Penelope’s crying frame. She’d break down, get quiet, only to break down all over again. And with every crack to her mental stability, I felt mine spiral further away from sanity.

All I could see was Lawrence.

All I could think about was making him bleed.

Making him suffer.

Silence took over the room, dragging out as I let the fantasies of his torture play out. Only when Penelope’s breathing turned deep and heavy, did I lay her back on her pillow and leave the room. The guards stood in attention as I shut the door. They didn’t need me to tell them to watch out for her. They would die before letting anyone near her.

Heading into the Great Hall, I watched Elec and Theodore stand from the head table. There was a nearly empty plate of sweets before them, and had it not been for my sour mood, I would have smiled.

I couldn’t.