Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 742(@200wpm)___ 594(@250wpm)___ 495(@300wpm)
Peter didn’t stop them as it covered our clandestine meetings. May and a few other cooks happily stuffed freshly baked croissants and delicious morsels into eager hands.
The guards got lazy and never stopped anyone. They watched. They followed sometimes. But no one told us no. No one electrified us if we went for a walk in the gardens or kept busy by helping other staff. I’d even heard Nancy and Rebecca had taken over looking after the chickens, spending all day out there.
The only one who seemed determined to die was Kirk.
His fight had ended with Suri.
He didn’t speak a word to any of us.
He stayed on his own, sleeping or sitting on the balcony with its black barred birdcage trapping him, denying him the chance to jump and join Suri.
He had the same hollow look in his eyes that Henri did.
I froze.
Henri...
Was that what the broken-hearted look was? A reflection of all the shattered pieces within?
Does he want to die?
He’d tried once before.
The scar on his leg revealed evidence of that desperation.
Could he…could he do it again?
Urgent fear. Terrible premonition.
God, how had I not seen it?
Before, this place was a playground for demons. Now, it was a heavenly holiday for the jewels.
Henri was the only demon left in their midst, and it showed.
Everyone ignored him.
The guards didn’t go near him, the staff stayed clear, and the jewels darted away if he came close. He acted as if it didn’t bother him to be so blatantly unwanted, but…every day, he retreated a little more, sank a little more, became a little less alive than before.
“I-I have to go.” I backed away.
Panic fizzled in my blood.
What if he’d done it?
What if he’d hurt himself all while I’d been too focused on escape to notice he’d fallen so far into his own imprisonment?
“You’re going to ask him?” Rachel arched an eyebrow.
“We’re running out of time,” Peter whispered. “We won’t be able to keep meeting like this when the Masters are back in residence. We’ll probably have hell to pay once Victor sits down and sees how often we’ve come into the kitchens. Hopefully, he’ll just think we’re being pigs and indulging in food while he’s not here to enforce his smoothie rule, but…we need to get everything locked away so we all know our jobs and can keep working without checking in with each other.”
I nodded. “I know.”
Stepping into me, Peter murmured, “Don’t be afraid of using him for your own ends, jaanu. You have to know how he feels about you. Use that to your advantage. Don’t let your goodness get in the way of manipulating him.”
I hid my shiver at the thought of being cruel enough to wield someone’s emotions for my own gain.
But…it wasn’t just about me.
My shoulders rolled and honesty spilled free despite myself. “I think whatever you saw the night he killed Kyle might’ve died in that cave too. He can barely look at me anymore and…and the truth is.” I looked down, unable to keep eye contact. “I asked him to play along with me the night of Emerald Bruises. I was as high as a kite and let my guard down. I practically begged him to choose me. I said if the guy who asked me to play along with him was still in there to play with me now.”
Peter sucked in a breath. “What did he say?”
“He didn’t say anything.” I looked up and stepped back. “And that’s the problem.”
Peter studied my eyes. His own gave too much away. Asking me to seduce Henri hurt him. His love for me exceeded the bounds of friendship. And every day he grew stronger, I feared he’d step over the line between us and force me to admit that I loved him as deeply as I did my brother, but…the tormented beast I slept with conjured a different sort of—
Not love.
Never that.
What I felt for Henri had no title, no definition.
It was just…ugh.
Kissing Peter’s cheek, I smiled at the girls and backed away. “Look, I’ll try again tonight. I’ll do whatever it takes to find out if Henri can be trusted. I’ll see you later.”
Slipping out of the kitchens, I broke into a run.
Henri would most likely be in the library working.
That would give me time to figure out how the hell I could get through to him…before it was too late.
Chapter Eighteen
………………………….
Henri
THE CURSE OF BLOOD & DARKNESS
by
Henri Mercer
THE BOY WHO WOULD NEVER be my brother, despite the shared blood in our veins, appeared in the wing of the house where we were kept.
He emerged covered in blood. A gun in his hand and murder in his eyes. He looked at us as if we were something he’d scraped off his shoe. A hoard of children sired by his father, a harem of women who’d been his chattel.