Page 88 of Glutton for Punishment

“And not Father, not Riven, not anyone will stop me.” He shoves her away hard. Amaya stumbles, catches herself, and straightens with whatever dignity she can salvage, smoothing her jacket with trembling hands. Her eyes find me with that same assessing look as before.

Only now it’s different. Less amused. She almost looks… concerned.

She backs toward the side door and disappears through it without saying another word.

Then Maddox turns to me, his expression unreadable. My stomach sinks. Because out of all the things we were supposed to be holding close to our chests, my power was the most important. And I just revealed all our cards.

Maddox walks us back in silence.

Cleo stays close enough that our shoulders brush every few steps, as if she thinks I might get hurt if she lets me out of reach. I almost laugh at the irony of that, considering I’m capable of demolishing architecture now.

By the time we reach my door, Tabby is already pacing outside it, having abandoned her post the moment she heard something happened.

Her eyes go wide when she sees the dust coating us.

“What in the—”

“You’re both staying in here tonight,” Maddox cuts in. His tone leaves no room for argument. “I’ll station guards outside.”

Then he turns to me. “Come with me.”

Cleo grabs my wrist before I can move. Then she yanks me into a hug hard enough to knock the air out of me.

I can’t believe I almost lost her.

“It’ll be okay. I promise. I’ll be back soon.”

She pulls back, cups my face like she’s confirming I’m still in one piece, then nods and slips inside with Tabby.

Maddox leads me to a new bedroom. I guess because his last one was pretty much all but destroyed thanks to me.

He closes the door behind us, without saying a word. Walking to the edge of his bed, he sits, elbows on knees, one hand dragging down his face.

I stand rooted in the center of the room, dust still clinging to my clothes and skin. My fingers traced a smudge of grime on my wrist. “I’m sorry,” I said, voice low. “I really… messed things up this time.”

Maddox lowers his hand and looks up at me, his expression softening. “You didn’t mess up.”

“What do you mean? I spilled our biggest secret.” I huff out and cross my arms, feeling like a fool.

“Amaya provoked you.” He leans back with a sigh, shaking his head. “She tricked you into meeting with her and threatened your friend. This was bound to happen eventually. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be this soon.”

The knot in my chest twists tighter. “So… what happens now?”

He stares at the floor for a moment before answering.

“Well.” His voice is grim. “There’s no chance Amaya keeps this to herself. The first person she’ll tell is my father. He’ll likely demand an audience.” Maddox’s mouth flattens. “Then Riven. Then whoever else she thinks she can sway with the information.”

He looks up at me.

“She’ll use this as ammunition to pull more of our siblings to her side. She can be brutal when she has information to use as leverage.”

“I noticed that,” I mutter.

Maddox’s brow furrows. “What do you mean?”

“She hinted at what her power is. I think she used it on me. That’s how she knew Cleo would work as leverage,” I mumble.

He exhales sharply through his nose.