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But then why had she been so insistent that Reid and I get paired in the first place if she was just going to turn around and usher me out the door when the time came?
Her eyes harden at my hesitation.
There are a million things I’d like to say to her, maybe starting with the son she’s suddenly so concerned about. The one she’s always seen as expendable and threatened to kill if he stepped too far out of line. And now she’s talking about him one day taking over her legacy? As if she’d ever willingly forfeit that crown. She’d sooner see the estate go up in flames.
One of these days, you psychotic bitch. But not here, and not now.
Instead, my jaw tightens as I force my own smile and say, “Perfectly.”
CHAPTERTHREE
Auclair is burstingat the seams, well past capacity as it struggles to accommodate its usual inhabitants and the refugees from the Carrington estate. Too many bodies, not enough beds, enough food, enoughblood. I heard it’s gotten bad enough for them to start relocating people to their emergency bunker. It wasn’t a problem when we first got here and I was staying with Reid, but now as I step out of Queen Carrington’s room, I realize I have nowhere to go.
Of all the conversations the queen could have wanted to have with me, her son’s sex life hadn’t been what I expected.
But the information about Anya…I need to find out why she’s really here. What she knows. Why she was willing to kill her brother’s friends to save my life when she’d never even met me.
And it’s a stupid, inconsequential comment to get caught up on in light of everything else, but my body flushes with heat that I wish I could pass off as anger, hatred, rage—anything,anythingbut this shame.
You’ll never be anything more than his whore.
Because twenty-four hours ago, I never would’ve doubted him. I never would’ve believed it.
But then Anya showed up, and now he’s nowhere to be found.
“Val?”
Adrienne stands at the other end of the hall in navy blue pajamas decorated with tiny stars, her feet bare. I’m rushing toward her before I realize it, almost taking the two of us down as I throw my arms around her shoulders.
“Oh!” she grunts as she hugs me back. “I heard about what happened, are you okay?”
Yes, but also not at all.
She doesn’t wait for a response before untangling from me and guiding us down a few doors to the room she’s been staying in.
“You were with the queen?” she asks. “Was it about Mom?”
“Did she talk to you too?”
“No, but I’ve been thinking it’s just a matter of time.” She rifles through her drawers until she finds me something clean to wear. I’m out of my body as she helps me redress, barely feeling her touch, hearing her voice. The combination of the past few days weighs so heavily on my chest I feel like I can’t breathe.
The fiancée.
The kidnapping.
Reid dead. Then not dead.
Cam.
My mother…
I blink back to the room. “Did she tell you where she was going? Have you heard from her?”
Adrienne digs in her eyebrows and ushers me under the covers. “No. She just disappeared. Did she tell you?”
I shake my head then grab her hand before she can leave. She squeezes my fingers. “I’m not going anywhere,” she murmurs, then slides into bed behind me, her arms locking me in a protective embrace. “Okay, now start at the beginning.”
* * *
