Page 49

“You haven’t heard from them?” I ask.

“No. I’ve been so scared,” she starts again. “Right before Christmas, they started to get really paranoid. Locking us down here and only going out at night. They were talking about the Mercer holiday party, how they needed to make contact with the King.”

“They couldn’t just come by the House of Night?” Damon asks.

Regina’s eyes land on him, shifting from his face down to his hands. It’s obvious the second she notices the ring. She blinks. “Why are you wearing that?”

“If the ring fits,” he smirks.

Her jaw drops, and her eyes flutter, like she’s trying to make sure what she’s seeing and hearing is real. “You’re the Baron King, but what happened…”

He shrugs. “Someone had to step in after Liam stabbed the King.”

She scrambles backwards, thighs hitting the bed. She sits. “Liam stabbed him?”

“Yep, after kidnapping Arianette,” Hunter says, voice abnormally calm, “again. And then announced they were involved in killing the other girls while working for the Guardian.”

A tremor runs through Regina’s body, shuddering down her arms and legs. When she speaks, it’s low, almost to herself, “I can’t believe they would hurt those girls or betray the King? Why would they do that? What were they thinking?”

“I don’t know, Regina,” My voice cuts through her lies like a blade. “Why don’t you tell us? They’re your Barons, after all.” I throw the words she said to me after the hunt back at her. “‘You belong to them.’”

Regina flinches, but quickly recovers, tears glistening in her eyes. “You have to believe me. I’m just as much a victim as you were! They kept me down here–locked away, forced to do whatever they said.”

“No.” I rise to my feet, staring down at her. “You’re not a victim. You weren’t snatched off the streets away from your friends and family. Your body wasn’t posed on the edge of a creek or by the school fountain in some perverted honor of ‘rebirth.’ You’ve been waiting down here like a good girl, hoping your men will come back. Well, guess what? They’re not coming home ever again.”

She’s frozen, my words clicking into place. “What do you mean?”

“They’re dead, Regina,” I say slowly. “Or as good as.”

Her expression transforms, shifting from fear to grief to something else. The fake helplessness cracks, revealing something uglier underneath.

“You really think you’re special, don’t you?” she spits, voice dripping with venom. “Little Arianette Hexley. The chosen one. The sacred bride. What makes you so fucking special? I gave the House of Night everything. I survived the Hunt, having all three of my Barons pin me to the altar and use me. I never complained. I never cried. I stood by their side and did everything asked of me. I thought maybe if I did enough, he’d forget about you and see that the perfect wife was already here.” Her lips curl. “But no, you were already chosen. Groomed to keep that pussy tight and untouched, but we both know it’s more than that, right? Everyone knows the King has a kink for crazy chicks.”

The words hit like acid, but they only fuel the fire already burning in my veins.

“You want to know why I’m special?” I step closer, voice low and shaking with fury. “Because people thought I was weak and that made them underestimate me. I grew up in a house full of secrets and lies, Regina. Where my only value was my silence. My obedience. My virginity, which became a bargaining chip in someone else’s arrangement. You have no idea what it was like being me. You were part of the system, a true royal house girl. You have the bloodline. The legacy. I had to fight every single day of my life just to exist.”

Regina’s face twists with hatred. “Poor little Baroness,” she whines, “being forced to marry one of the most powerful men in Forsyth. Being in his bed. Getting to take his cock.”

“He gave me more than his cock, Regina.” It’s my time to smirk. “He gave me the one thing that he never gave anyone else. A wedding. A place in his family and legacy.”

“That’s a lie. Your marriage is nothing but a contract relationship and burden.”

I shake my head. “Husband. Lover. Daddy… he’s all those things to me, and if you want to live to see another day, you need to accept that you chose wrong. You could have warned him, warned us. Instead, you’re a fucking traitor with the blood of a King on your hands.”

That’s when I see it.

A delicate gold chain rests against her smooth collarbone, and hanging from it is a small pendant–a polished gold beetle, wings folded, eyes glinting under the light.

Fucking liar.

Snapping out my hand, I grab the chain, twisting it violently around my fist. Regina chokes, eyes bulging as I yank her close. “You’re part of this,” I growl, tightening the chain until her breath comes in short, panicked gasps. “You knew everything that was going on. You know where the girls are. You know where the Guardian is hiding.”

Regina claws at my wrist, gasping for air, but I don’t let go. Both Hunter and Damon hover nearby, murder in their eyes, but I grind out. “No. She’s mine.”

I stand over her, the only way I’ll have an edge against her height. I’ll never be as poised or beautiful or regal as Regina. She’s right. She would have made an impressive bride, but that wasn’t her fate. It’s mine.

Tears form in her eyes, and her lips quiver.