AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Fifty-Four
Aika
“You’re sure you can’t remember what the adhesive smelled like? Was it sweet? Or did it sort of burn your nose?” Zaina asks in the same practical tone she’s always used when she’s figuring something out.
She appears to be content to pretend the past four months haven’t happened at all.
Meanwhile, I’m propped up on a bed in the royal guest suites while the Jokithan King and my dead sister examine my glass-encased feet. The walk from the dungeons was not kind to the gruesome footwear, and now shards of glass bite into my flesh at every turn.
“It didn’t have a smell,” I tell her again, with no small amount of aggravation in my tone. “It just burned like hell when she put them on.”
“Everything has a smell. Just think, Aika. If we don’t get these off soon, you’re going to get an infection.” She eyes the blood creeping its way down the long fractures in the thick glass. “That is, if you don’t have one already. We need to nail down what she used if we have a chance of counteracting it.”
“Well, it will be a real travesty if my foot gets infected before Mother tortures me to death,” I snap. “I hardly think this is our most important concern.”
I still have to figure out how to warn Remy, how to hide him from Mother.
“You’re so right.” Zaina’s words drip with sarcasm. “You should be escaping right now. Tell me, how quickly do you think you’ll be able to hobble your way out of her reach on those?”
I seethe. “Maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about hobbling out of her reach at all if you hadn’t let me believe you were dead for a month!”
The room goes silent, even Khijhana stopping in her tracks.
My sister’s expression is somewhere between guilt and frustration. “It wasn’t like I could go around announcing it.”
“Yet you had no problem telling people you had known a handful of weeks?” The pressure is building, the culmination of everything that transpired over the past few months crashing down on me.
All that grief and rage and pain, for what?
“That’s... complicated. You don’t understand—” Zaina’s overly reasonable tone rips cleanly through whatever fragile thread of calm I’m clinging to.
“No,youdon’t understand!” I cut her off. “Mother knows that I set fire to her empire, something that only happened, by the way, because I was drowning in guilt and grief over your pretend death.”
She rears back like I slapped her, but I don’t stop. I can’t.
“You know what she does to traitors. While you’ve clearly moved on with your cushy new life and your new family and your pet, I haveno one.”
“If—” Zaina tries to break in, but I barrel over her.
“Mel is stuck on the island. I’m not Zaina enough for Mother, or Gemma enough for Remy, or Rose enough for you, and I am right back where I started eight years ago, with no home. I have nothing. Because of you.” Bitterness chokes me. “I knew you hated me, at first, but I honestly thought that somewhere along the way, we became family. But family doesn’t do this to each other. Family doesn’tabandoneach other.”
Zaina’s perfect features freeze, her lips paused halfway through whatever she was trying to say. It may be the first time I’ve seen her at a loss for words.
“I never hated you,” she whispers. “I just... didn’t want you there, so soon after Rose.”
My breath catches in my throat. Somehow, that hurts worse.
“Well, I’m sorry I could never be your precious Rose.”
I pause, and Zaina just shakes her head mutely.
“Why did you bother coming back, then?” I gesture to the room outside. “You clearly have everything you want, so why didn’t you just do us all a favor and stay dead?”
“I very nearlydiddie.” Disbelief coats her features, and she’s sure as hell found her voice now. She’s as close to yelling as I’ve ever heard her. “I suppose then you would have gotten everything you want, too.”
I open my mouth to respond when Einar steps forward.
“We’ll all be dead if the two of you continue to alert the entire castle to your presence.” A muscle ticks in his jaw. “Since the two people in this room who have beentrainedfor stealth seem to have forgotten that they are supposed to be in hiding,” he pauses and looks at Zaina for a pointed moment, “I’m going to suggest that we all get some rest and deal with this in the morning.”
Zaina’s cheeks color, with shame or anger, I can’t be sure. I’m not even sure which one I’m feeling at this point.
“Fine,” she says, giving a terse nod before leaving.
“You’ll be safe here for the night,” Einar tells me before he turns to follow her.
I snort. He’s either lying to himself or he’s lying to me.
There is nowhere safe fromMadame.
