AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I guess she’d appreciate it,” he says shrewdly, pocketing the coin and pulling out the spare key to her room.
“She would,” I assure him, turning to go up the stairs before he changes his mind. “She won’t want it all thrown out, after all. And I’m sure I’ll be able to tell what she cares enough to hold onto.”
That’s just one of many lies I’ve told tonight. I’m not sure of that at all, actually.
But I think, perhaps, I’m beginning to be.
CHAPTERFORTY-THREE
AIKA
Madame is on edge tonight.
Apparently, spending so long away from court with torturing Damian as her only activity is beginning to wear on her. Mybrotherrests on the floor in front of her throne, a heavy iron chain connected to the collar she’s shackled to his neck.
Though she took the time to heal his burns before, she has no problem abusing his face now. His left eye is a mass of swollen purple and green flesh. There is a long cut that divides the same eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth hangs limply, as if his jaw has come unhinged.
Just like the rest of him.
I can tell from the way he’s sitting that several of his ribs are broken, or at least fractured. And despite it all, he looks up at her with an admiration that makes me want to be sick.
I tell myself that it’s different from the complicated feelings I have for her. My actions came from a place of loyalty, but this…this is a disease poisoning him from the inside out.
Still, there is something more…reserved about him tonight than usual. He seems less‘I want to go ruin all the young virgins and murder their families’ this evening.
Perhaps she has finally brought him to heel.
“I have made a decision,” Madame announces after a long, stilted silence. “I am going to give your brother onefinalchance to prove his loyalty.”
Shock widens my eyes, and I stop breathing.
“You’re busy with your mission at the palace,” she expounds. “So I find myself lacking an enforcer I can trust. Especially when we have not yet identified the vigilante.”
He makes a choking sound, and she tugs on his chain, jolting him backward with the movement.
“Forgive me, Mother,” I risk speaking up, not having to feign the concern in my features. “But how can we trust him after everything he has done?”
The hypocrisy tastes bitter on my tongue, but Damian on the loose is another danger we can’t afford, especially with his vendetta against me and his sick obsession with Zai. How long will it be before he makes his way back to the palace and discovers her?
Madame twists Damian’s chain around her hand and stands, stretching to her full impressive height. She is all curves and elegance and lean muscle, but where Mel makes those things look soft, they only add to Madame’s intimidation.
The closer she draws, the smaller I feel until I am hidden by her shadow.
With her free hand, she tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear before gently grabbing my chin. Her icy skin is already lowering my body temperature, and I resist the urge to shiver.
“Because he has promised to be a good little boy and take his medicine.” Her lips curve into a cruel semblance of a smile before she releases me and moves to a long table at the edge of the room.
Grabbing a vial filled with a bright yellow liquid, she uncorks it and pours it down his throat.
“Your brother’s greatest weakness rests between his legs,” she says with unusual crassness, giving him a disapproving look as he chokes down the liquid. “He needs help controlling hisbaserinstincts. This,” she clinks a fingernail against the glass, “Will help him do that.”
She picks up another vial, one I recognize immediately. Her violet gaze hardens when it meets mine.
“I hope you have also been takingyourmedicine, daughter,” her tone brokers no argument, and I know she still suspects me.
“Every time, right before,” I lie without hesitation. “In fact, I’m almost out.”
She tilts her head as she considers this before responding. “It should have lasted you a month.”
