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)
“I am,” Henri snapped. “I just…got trigger happy. Look, Vic, Peter weighs a fucking tonne. He needs your doctor, and I’m—”
“Yes, yes, you’re tired and want to rest.” Wrinkling his nose, Victor nodded slowly. “I admit you stink of seaweed, and Peter looks as if you should’ve left him for the gulls.” Leaning in, he flicked up one of Peter’s eyelids before letting it snap back down. “The doctor is in her personal rooms, not the surgery. She’s had a long day, and the patient rooms below are full. Go upstairs to her. However, you might’ve wasted your energy carrying him back. He smells as if death has already found him.”
“That’s his hands and feet, you bastard,” I hissed.
Henri turned on me, roaring in French. “Tiens ta putain de langue, Ilyana, ou je vais te la couper. J'en ai marre de ton attitude, tu m’entends?!” (Hold your fucking tongue, Ilyana, or I’ll cut it out. I’m sick to death of your attitude, do you hear me?!)
I recoiled and tripped backward on throbbing feet.
My heart spasmed with the sharpest pain.
I’d never been spoken to that way before.
Scolded that harshly.
Never had my entire soul tuck tail and hide, desperate to run far away from such violence.
Victor chuckled. “You better go rest up, Henri, before you butcher your favourite, hmm? I know what it’s like when your temper is on the edge.” Stepping aside from the marble stairs, Victor waved his arm for us to pass. “Tell Dr Belford to treat you first. You wouldn’t want to die from sepsis. She can then tend to Peter with my blessing.” Looking at us behind Henri, he purred, “Rachel, Mollie, return to the jewel quarters and shower off that paint. Report to me so I can count your bruises.”
Stopping me with a hand on my shoulder as I followed Henri toward the bottom step, Victor grinned. “And as for you…”
I forced myself not to squirm as he dragged me close. Too close. “It looks like you got most of the bullets because your Master is finally seeing the errors of your ways.” He chuckled as his horrible blue eyes skimmed down my hurting body. “You definitely didn’t hold back, Henri.” He clucked his tongue. “I’m impressed.”
Henri growled under his breath. “She deserved it.”
I fought the very real, very awful urge to sob.
Victor let me go with another laugh. “I suggest you rest before you discipline her any further. I would hate to tell you off for going too far.”
“Understood.”
“What are you two still doing here?” Victor barked, looking at Rachel and Mollie.
With a flinch, they shot me a look, then dashed to the left and the corridor leading to the jewel stables.
The corridor swallowed them whole.
I longed to go with them.
The thought of staying in Henri’s company after he yelled…
God, I felt like a naughty child about to be spanked.
“See you later, Mercer.” With a quick salute, Victor strolled toward the games room.
“Night.” Giving me a guarded look, Henri snapped, “Come on.”
He started a weary, slow climb up the stairs.
And I had no choice but to follow him.
Chapter Ten
………………………….
Henri
EVERYTHING FUCKING HURT.
My arms.
My toes.
My soul.
I’d struggled to stay sane the entire walk back to the castle. Carrying Peter had drained the rest of my nonexistent reserves, and having Ily, Mollie, and Rachel stare at my back as I led them home drove me closer and closer to the bottomless black pit in my mind.
I’d snapped when I’d stabbed Kyle a million times.
I’d snapped when I’d strangled Charles.
I’d snapped on my own in that glow worm-dotted cave, drowning in the darkness—screaming into the abyss all while it swallowed me whole.
I needed to be alone.
I needed to rock in the motherfucking corner and figure out how to fix the mess inside me.
They vouched for me.
My rotten heart fisted all over again.
Why?
Why put themselves at risk?
I didn’t have time for such questions.
Didn’t have the capacity to care about the answers.
Shutting everything down, I ignored Ily’s quiet breathing behind me as we finished climbing and headed down the corridor toward Victor’s dead zoo and Dr Belford’s chambers.
Peter moaned in my arms as I pounded a fist on the door.
A cold draft cut through my damp clothes, and my chilled bones added another level of torment.
My temper fractured.
I felt borderline insane. Itchy with the need to get Peter far away from me and to shove away all the mistakes I’d made today. “Open up!” I bellowed. “Now.”
The door swung wide.
I didn’t give a shit about etiquette anymore. Victor’s cornering had well and truly bled me dry; I had nothing left to give.
Bowling past the doctor as she finished drying her hands on a paper towel, I spied a white sheet-covered table by the wall and marched to it.
The relief in my arms and spine as I placed Peter onto it sent fresh waves of pins and needles through me. I put him down as gently as I could, but I suppose it wasn’t gentle enough as the doctor gasped and darted forward, carefully rearranging his legs so they straightened out before tucking a starchy pillow beneath his head.