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“To break the curse?” I say, confused.
She smiles sweetly. “Yes.” Lie. Every single time she talks about this “curse,” waves roll off her and smack me against the chest. She’s lying.
“How?” I’m humoring her at this point.
“Well, by killing you, of course, but only after you’ve given me exactly what I want.” Her eyes flick down to my belly. “That.”
Her lips curl beneath her teeth, but her eyes spark with a kind of light I never thought I’d see through the darkness she carries so well. “Because you, my dear little Hecate, are pregnant.”
“What?” I gasp, my hand protectively going to my belly. “No, I’m not.”
She slinks back in her chair. “Yes, you are, and even more so?” Her head tilts. “Is that you’re going to stay right here until that baby is born, and then I’m going to do what I should have done all those years ago but couldn’t.” She stands from her chair, clapping her hands together. “So, are you hungry and what for? Congratulations. You’ve earned whatever you want to eat for the remaining—” her eyes fall to my stomach, “six months.”
I don’t answer. My mouth refuses to move as she laughs her way out of the same door the other boy went out of. When she’s gone, I turn to Sam. Sam, who I thought was my friend. “Is what she is saying true? I’m on contraception. It’s impossible.”
Sam doesn’t look down at me, keeping his eyes trained in front of him. “Whatever I tell you, you won’t believe me.”
“Try me, traitor,” I mumble, suddenly nauseous. I have been spewing lately. I still, my muscles frozen. And eating weird food. “Oh God…” I thought I wasn’t getting my period because of the pill. It would do that sometimes; they were always irregular. “Oh my God!” I stand from my chair and begin twisting the door handles to see which ones are unlocked.
“There’s no point. They all lock from the outside and only one leads up to the mainland.”
“I don’t want to talk to you, Sam.” I turn to face him, my breathing ragged. I need to get out of here. I try to swallow everything that has happened to me over the past couple of months but fail when a tear slides down the side of my cheek. I swipe it away angrily before Sam sees it.
He makes his way to me and grabs my hand.
“Hey!” I snap at him, pulling out of his grip, but it’s no use, because he’s dragging me to a single door that isn’t locked and shutting it behind himself. We’re inside a room now, with a bathroom and a small kitchen. No windows again.
“Madison and Tillie are here. I’m going to get you out, but you have to be patient.”
I squeeze his arm. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let me go.” I turn to reach for the door handle when he slams it closed in front of me.
“Saint, listen to me very carefully, because when we’re not in this room, there are eyes and ears on us.” I hold my breath. “I work for The Kings.”
I swing around, my fist flying into his cheek. Pain erupts in my knuckles when he stumbles backward, his eyes ablaze. “I don’t believe you!”
He grits his teeth. “I don’t fucking care if you don’t believe me, Saint, but—” He lifts his shirt, exposing a scar on his bottom hipbone. The mark of a King. I hadn’t seen it before today, but I gather it has to do with The Kings since it’s their emblem. “I am not a King, I am an ally to them.” He drops down on the bed. “Hector got me in as soon as he found out that you were gifted. He knew we would need someone on the inside, and he was right.” His eyes come to mine. “Saint, if I wasn’t who I am and you got an actual stupid fucking male witch, he would have raped you the night of The Hunt—but you and I, we didn’t have sex.”
“So I didn’t break the curse like she says I did?” I ask, tilting my head.
He rolls his eyes, and it looks weird on him. “There’s no fucking curse. She’s barren and cannot have more children, and the daughters who came through before just didn’t get pregnant, didn’t have sex, or practiced safe sex. The curse, as she says, is all in her head.”
I move closer to him. “Sam, I need to get out of here.”
He peers up at me. “I know. I’m going to get word to Madison and Tillie.”
“No!” I shake my head. “They’re pregnant.”
He smirks up at me. “Tillie, and you, are Perdita blood. The Lost Boys are rebelling right now because they have not taken to Valentina. They don’t see her as their true queen, but Tillie?” His eyes flicker with thirst. “Tillie, they know, respect, and would kill for.” He stands from his bed. “I will get word to them. Just keep yourself busy and don’t drink anything she gives you.” He makes his way to the door. “Now I’m really sorry I have to do this.” Leaning forward, he unbuttons my jeans and yanks them down slightly, wrapping my hair in his fist and pulling the door open. He shoves me through the door, but not hard enough that I fall.
