AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Then he turns to me, and I see the question before he speaks it aloud.
“No,” I say, my tone clipped. “I wasn’t taken. Ichoseto work for Madame. I liked it.”
The past tense slips out of me unbidden, but he doesn’t comment on it. He only watches me silently with something unreadable churning in his expression. Disappointment? Confusion? I can’t tell. His mask is as intact as ever.
Then he turns back to Zaina and Einar, who are looking at me with twin expressions of understanding that make me want to pull all of my hair out by the roots.
“And now?” Remy directs the question to my sister. “You’re obviously here for a reason.”
They exchange another of their soul-searching, all-knowing glances, and Zaina turns back toward us.
“Now, we want to eliminate her,” she says.
Like it’s simple. Easy.
“You want to kill her?” I am unable to keep the accusation from my tone, even though I should have expected this.
“What did you think I meant when I said I wanted to bring her down?” Zaina asks.
That’s an excellent question.
“That you wanted to take her power away, send her back to Delphine,” I suggest, though it doesn’t really ring true.
“Where we could spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulder for her?” Zaina asks, eyes wide with disbelief.
“You’re talking about killing our mother.” I say the words slowly, like maybe she hasn’t yet comprehended them, but she doesn’t falter.
“She is not our mother,” she protests.
The denial hurts for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on.
“Maybe she’s notyourmother,” I counter. “But she is mine. And Mel’s. Do we get a say in this?”
That gives Zaina pause, but she recovers quickly. “You know she doesn’t actually care about any of us. She doesn’t care about anyone.”
Her expression is pure earnestness, and I know she believes what she’s saying. But she’s wrong.
“That isn’t true,” I tell her quietly. “She is far from perfect, but she’s the only parent who has ever given a damn about me. And she grieved you. I saw her. You don’t know what it was like when youdied, Zaina.”
Zaina is stunned into silence, but Remy has no such compunctions.
“Far from perfect?” he sputters.
I’ve never seen him so close to losing his composure as he is now, sitting forward in the chair and gesturing wildly to my entire person.
“Is that what this is?” he demands. “Is this what people who give a damn about you do?”
Images burst forth in my head. The serum that set my blood on fire. The torture. The questions. The saccharine tone. The too-gentle hand on my chin.
The vial, with all of its horrifying implications.
I bring my fingers to the bridge of my nose. “You don’t—”
“Understand?” he cuts in acerbically. “You’re right, I don’t understand why you would rather work for the woman who does things thatyou hatethan try to fight against her.”
Honestly, I’m not sure I understand it either. I’m not sure I understand anything right now.
My head is pounding with fatigue and pain, with the weight of all the revelations of the day and this conversation that I am suddenly so very, very desperate to be away from.
