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“Lucia has been looking everywhere—” I thrust the flyer into his chest, cutting him off. He struggled to grasp it before his eyes bounced over the door. Surprise washed over his face and I took the moment to sneak by him into the club.
I blocked out the leering smiles of men floating through the darkness like the Cheshire Cat and focused on shoes as I made my way to the stairs—satin stilettos so thin I wondered how they didn’t snap, some with wicked webbings or twisted gold vines wrapping up the heel, all so intricate they could be in a museum. They were like the ones I used to envy until they were forced upon my foot like some bizarro Cinderella. My chest constricted, realizing it was the exact same scenario for these women.
This club was like the streets of New York—surrounded by glitter and lights and the facade of magic when really it was just a bunch of strangers with a motive you wouldn’t learn until it was too late.
I got to my floor and was beginning to hope I would get to my room home free when I lifted my head to find Nikolai standing in the middle of the fucking hallway like it was The Shining. Black soot smeared his face and arms and I remembered Anteros. My glare sharpened.
“Where have you been?” Nikolai asked. I realized my hands must also be covered in soot from cleaning Anteros. Instinct told me to cover them up, but it was too late.
“A walk,” I said, pushing past him. He reached out and gripped my arm, his touch making me feel like bugs were crawling all over my skin. I summoned as much energy as I could and with a painful tug, pulled my arm from his hold. The inertia was so great that we both stumbled back. He fell to the polished mahogany floor and I stumbled into the wall.
I quickly scrambled into my room before Nikolai could do or say anything else. There wasn’t a lock on the door, so I took a chair and shoved it under the knob. I couldn’t keep it there forever, but at least for the night, I would sleep easier.
Before I hid my phone, I checked to see if Anteros had responded. The screen was blank, the only texts the angry ones I’d sent after storming out. It wasn’t like you wanted to hear from him, I tried to lie to myself. I put my phone in the safe spot I’d chosen behind the armoire and tried to listen to my brain, even though my heart felt like a crumpled piece of tinfoil.
When I awoke, my eyes were crusted with tears and for some reason I felt like I had a hangover. It was night again—at least, that’s what I thought because it was dark. I rolled over and rubbed my eyes, expecting to touch my nightstand, but hit air. I rolled back and looked up, expecting to see the white ceiling.
Dingy gray water spots.
My stomach dropped, my blood froze. The air was musty and dank. Moans floated in the background like some kind of fucked up elevator music. Sitting straight up, I scrambled back until I hit a cold, damp wall.
No, I must be dreaming.
But it was reality.
I was in the basement.
I focused on the subtly swaying velvet curtain in front of me, an ocean of blood in my ears. I gripped the mattress, afraid to look down, but knowing I had no choice. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and focused on the bite of pain, carefully lowering my head. I exhaled. I was still in what I’d worn to bed, so at least I had that.
I was afraid to speak, to move, fearing any slight shudder might alert people I was here. Music from upstairs was muffled, but that didn’t mean it was quiet. Moans, groans—mostly male—that was the melody down here in the basement.
Seconds later my curtain was torn open. I only had a moment to feel fear before Lucia came into my “room”. By room, I mean it was a small, sectioned off rectangle. She fingered the ruby fabric, dulled without light, until it shivered under her touch.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Lucia smiled down at me with venom. A million questions burned in my brain. Why did you put me here? What are you planning to do? “You were gone a very long time.” She stared at me, waiting for a response. The silence was stale, ugly, and if I didn’t give her something, it would turn rotten.
“I—” I hesitated. “I lost track of time.”
“We lost track of you,” Lucia replied. “When we lose track of princesses, they risk becoming whores. Just ask Gabriella.” Lucia reached behind her and pulled Gabby forward like someone holding a cat up by the collar.
“My mother…” Gabby didn’t finish so Lucia dug her nails into her neck. Gabby winced, and her voice became robotic. “My mother often ditched her guard to sleep with men. It’s what killed her.” I opened my mouth and closed it, looking from Gabby to Lucia, unable to process what was happening.
“Did you put that flyer up?” I finally asked, stunned.
“I didn’t put anything up,” Lucia said. “That flyer was a response to your behavior. You embarrassed us and jeopardized the movement. You’ll sleep here if you want to be a whore.” Lucia dropped the cloth and pulled Gabby back. She gave me a sad, chagrined look.
“I wasn’t sleeping with anyone!” I shouted, but she was gone, only the trembling of velvet letting me know she’d been there. Pulling my knees to my chest, I hid my face between my legs. The basement was more a dungeon than a ground floor, and I hadn’t willingly come back since the first time. It made me a coward, but I wished I could ignore what went down here.
This place housed the only other tie to family I had, so it was apropos it was also a den of iniquity, of lies, of evil. I shuddered, remembering the very first time I’d stumbled down the steps.
How could you do this to them?
I’d seen Dr. Wyatt, the one who’d come to me the first day with Anteros, step between the two muscled men that blocked the basement door. I’d followed him down, and that was when I’d discovered them.
The girls who didn’t obey.
The ones they got hooked on drugs.
At the time, I’d thought all Dr. Wyatt was doing to them was what he did to me, but it was so much worse. He administered the drugs that kept them compliant. I’d rushed to see Lucia, foolishly thinking we were equals. I’d thought the title princess meant something, and that because she was a woman, she was softer than Anteros. I’d thought that because she had rescued me, she cared.
