Page 31 of Consort of the Crime Queen

I'm pretty sure I won't like the answer.

We pass through endless corridors, delving deeper into the mansion's sprawling wings, into places I've rarely been. Hadria leads me to a thick, iron panel I've always assumed led into a security room, inconspicuous and blank. She presses her palm to a hidden sensor panel, just like the one on the underground gun range, and the door slides open soundlessly.

The thick stench of blood and sweat hits me as Hadria leads me into the dim room, and I instinctively cover my nose, turning away for a moment to steel myself. I waver on the threshold, but Hadria's fingers, gentle but firm, clasp my wrist and pull me inside.

My eyes struggle to adjust to the dim light, discerning only hulking shadows and a deeper darkness slumped in the room's center. Oh, God. What's going on?

A light comes on, shining straight into the face of a man in the middle of the room, bloodied, bruised, secured to a chair. Ricky paces behind him, the glint of a knife catching my eye. He pauses to glance my way, his face impassive.

Lyssa leans against the cement wall on the other side, paring down her nails with a knife of her own, as if bored. But her sharp gaze fixes on me like a hawk zoning in on prey, and I have to look away.

I forget how terrifying Lyssa can be, sometimes.

Hadria's cold voice echoes throughout the bare room. "Is this him, Aurora? The one who took you from me?"

"What?" I'm still confused. What does she want from me?

"Take a closer look," she says softly. "This is the man who claims to have abducted you for my father. But I want to be sure."

I force myself to look at the man slumped in the chair, features obscured by shadows. His head lolls forward, dark hair matted with blood. My breath catches. Is it him?

I take a hesitant step closer, and the man's head snaps up at the sound. The last moments before I was drugged are hazy, just glimpses of a scruffy beard and dark eyes. But looking at him now, something clicks into place.

Yes. Yes, this is him.

I give Hadria a shaky nod, unable to tear my eyes away from the man who stole my freedom again in one terrifying instant.

Hadria turns toward Lyssa. "Get what you can out of him about my father's plans. Then let Ricky finish it."

My pulse jumps. Finish it. There's only one way that phrase ends in a room like this.

Lyssa's answering smile is wolfish and hungry in the faint light. She saunters to a table lined with sinister instruments that make my insides roil and twist. This is wrong. Hadria can't truly mean to let them?—

I back away, the reality of what's about to happen hitting me. "Hadria, wait?—"

A guttural scream splits the air as Lyssa goes to work, Ricky circling like a feral dog waiting for his chance.

I can't watch this. Can't listen to this man's agony, sanctioned by the woman I've come to care so deeply for.

Spinning on my heel, I flee the horror behind me, racing for the hallway, my ragged breaths loud in my ears,

When I can stand it no more, I whirl and burst from the room, Hadria's footsteps echoing after me. Her hand clasps my shoulder, halting my panicked flight.

"Aurora." Her voice rings sharply with command, then softens. "I'm sorry. I thought—I thought you would want to see. To know that he is suffering like you have suffered. To understand that justice is being done."

I round on her, anger and revulsion churning inside me. "Justice? They're torturing him, Hadria!" My shout strains the silence of the empty corridor.

Hadria's eyes flash like the edge of the blade Lyssa was using to carve into the man's face. "And he stole you from me. He must suffer the consequences." She runs an agitated hand through her hair. "But I…I didn't mean to cause you more pain. And I can see that I have."

Her sincerity gives me pause. I know she inhabits a ruthless world where retribution and vengeance are everything. I understand it, even—in an abstract sense.

My next words come out a strangled whisper. "I just don't know how to reconcile the Hadria I love with the one who permits such cruelty."

"You…love me?" Wonder and vulnerability creep into her smoky voice.

Warmth creeps into my cheeks but I lift my chin. "Yes. But I wish the first time I'd said it wasn't tainted by…" I gesture weakly behind her, willing her to understand.

Hadria takes a breath, pauses, then speaks. "You don't understand, Aurora. He deserves to die. Not just for taking you, but for other evils. Ricky—" She pauses while a horrible scream carries down the hallway, and I flinch. "That rat back there is the one who took Ricky's fingers. Tortured him. Nearly killed him. I'm bound by the code of the Syndicate to allow Ricky vengeance on the man." She pauses, her lip curling. "And maybe it does make me a monster, but I'd burn the whole world down to keep you safe."

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