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And I wouldn’t let my friend slip into that dangerous pit. Once you took your first life, you were never the same.
“You will. You’ll give me this one thing, Atticus, so help me God—”
“Don’t threaten me with a higher power neither one of us believes in. Where was God when she burned in that ballroom, Augustus?” I turned my head and stared at the wall. I was the one who got her to safety. I was the one keeping her safe. And I’d continue to do so.
Augustus shook his head, angrily glaring at me. “I want to hurt him.”
I tipped my chin up. “So do I.” Lord Nathan would regret ever threatening the people I cared about.
“I want to kill him.” Augustus’s voice was quiet, calm, but layered with the promise of revenge. “It might be the only way I can ever feel close to her again.” I knew how he felt, but I couldn’t let him do it. Not now. Not when his grief was still so fresh. “I want to hurt him,” he repeated. “And if you do not let me, I will kill every last person in this kingdom.” He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “I will kill them all, Atticus. I swear it.” His promise was a bounty, a brutal promise of what would happen if I did not comply. “Give me this,” he pleaded. “Let me do this.” Augustus was no longer the comical, pompous prince, but a brutal, bloodthirsty, vengeful man. I briefly wondered if I’d created a monster. If we shared more in common than I realized.
I changed the subject. “Have you found out why Lord Nathan has made it his mission to bring you down? He’s spreading rumors that you aren’t a worthy heir. Leaking gossip.” I was fishing for information.
He scoffed and moved back to his seat. “It doesn’t matter what rumors he spreads. It doesn’t matter if I’m qualified or not. I’m the next in line. King Frederick’s blood runs through my veins, no matter how much I hate him. Rumors don’t mean anything.”
Except that was a lie. It wasn’t King Frederick’s blood running through his veins. He was born of something far more sinister. Far more…deadly. He was an heir in his own right, but not to this castle and certainly not to the Crown.
I leaned forward. “Tell me, Augustus, why are you here? Working? Are you trying to be qualified for the job?”
He sat down, his shoulders dipping as he stared at the stacks of papers on his table. “Crying won’t bring her back. Getting fucked up won’t, either. The only thing that feels right is killing the man responsible, and I won’t rest until I do.”
That was exactly what I wanted to hear. Augustus had to get mad and man the fuck up so Christine could be safe. I was capable of many things, but it would take all of us to bury the secrets Queen Isabelle and I harbored. “I can relate to the sentiment,” I replied.
He eyed me with heavy scrutiny, dragging his gaze over my suit and the careful expression I wore. “You seem to be handling it well. I figured you’d have burned down half the kingdom by now.”
He was right. I needed to be angrier. If Christine were actually dead, I’d be a lethal force to be reckoned with. Sitting here in his office wasn’t how I would respond to losing the love of my life. I’d be out there, bringing the world to its knees. “I’m actually on my way to do just that. Lord Nathan had plenty of friends in court. I’ll be meeting with them and seeing what information I can get. I just stopped by to…” My voice trailed off. Admitting that I was worried about him made a sour taste fill my mouth.
Augustus let out a dark, humorless chuckle. “Babysit me? Make sure I wasn’t hurting myself from the grief? No, Atticus. I’m not crying in a corner or taking a handful of pills. I need you to do your fucking job.”
I nodded. I needed to be cruel. Atticus DuPont didn’t talk about his feelings or aimlessly flounder without a plan. I was the man who watched Christine for years. Coordinated her training. Made every aspect of her life simple. “Right. Christine was the one that took care of you.” I watched the pain hit his expression. He clutched his stomach, as if my words were a blow to the gut. “You’re not my responsibility. You were hers. And now she’s gone.”
“Get out,” he snapped.
“Why? So you can sit at your desk and pretend to do something? So you can feel better about losing the only girl probably capable of loving you? Make idle threats we both know you won’t fulfill? Are you going to let me do all your dirty work? Just sit here feeling productive until it’s time to put a bullet in Lord Nathan’s skull? Or are you going to get your knuckles bruised and burn your own fucking kingdom to the ground to avenge her?”
“I have a funeral to plan!” he shouted while standing up. He slammed a fist on the top of his desk. “Two fucking funerals.”
“Then plan them, Augustus. Mourn what could have been while I kill the man that stole her from both of us.”
I got up and walked out of the room, breathing a sigh of relief the moment I was away from him. It was in my nature to be aggressive and vicious.
It wasn’t in my nature to feel bad about it.
So why did I?
Chapter Four
CHRISTINE
“Is that what you’re wearing to dinner with my parents, Little Monster?” Atticus asked with a smirk while looking me up and down. I was wearing wrinkled silk pajamas with the buttons misaligned and shorts that were far too short for a formal dinner with the DuPonts. My blonde hair was a wavy, tangled mess.
“I’m not going,” I replied, my nose tipped high up in the air.
Atticus walked over to me. I was staring out the window, looking off in the distance at the scorched castle. I could practically feel August pacing the floors, grieving me. I hated it.
“And to think I got you a present,” he mused at my back, his hot breath washing over me.
Every muscle in my body tensed. With a heavy exhale, I forced myself to succumb to that numb plane of existence that didn’t lust after Atticus. That didn’t love him. And then I threw my elbow back, knowing it would connect with his throat and send him gasping for air.
