Page 29 of Vicious King

I hoped they were all fake, but something told me they weren’t.

“Hey, check this out!” Pri called to me, her head turned over her shoulder. She’d wandered down to the far end of the room.

I headed over to her. Right in front of us was an enormous cabinet filled with beautiful china dolls. Each looked different, but all of them boasted delicate features, shiny hair, painted cherry-red lips, curly black lashes and hand-stitched gowns.

“These are so pretty,” Pri said breathlessly. “I used to have a collection just like it, back in New Zealand. My grandma and I used to hunt down old antique dolls at weekend markets.”

“That’s cool. I always used to wish I had a dollhouse,” I said, recalling my childish desires. Back when I was eight or nine, I thought I’d be trapped in poverty forever, but I thought if I could just have my own miniature mansion in the form of a dollhouse, at least I’d be able to decorate that and picture myself inside it, living a life of luxury. Better than nothing.

I never got the dollhouse. My parents couldn’t afford it. And now, here I was, living in one of the world’s biggest and most luxurious mansions with the nickname Doll. Funny how life turned out sometimes.

“It’s kinda funny that one of the members collects all these dolls,” Pri said. “Don’t you think? You assume they’re all so dark and twisty, and then you see this.”

We both snickered. It felt good to laugh, to find some amusement and beauty in this terrible place.

“Took you guys long enough to find this room. Pretty, isn’t it? All these trophies everywhere.”

A breezy voice sounded from behind us. We turned to see Mellie sweeping into the room. I rolled my eyes and turned back to the doll cabinet. I had zero desire to speak to her today. Or ever again.

“You like the collection?” she continued, sidling up to us. “I bet you want one made of you, right?”

Pri turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“If you’re chosen as a hostess for the Artemis Festival, you get one of these dolls made in your image. It’s a huge honor. Also, it’s a way out of here.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed Pri’s arm. “Don’t listen to her,” I muttered. “She can’t be trusted. There’s no way out of here. Not unless you escape.”

Mellie sniffed and took Pri’s other arm. “I’m sure she can make up her own mind. Besides, I don’t mean that it’s a way to go home. I mean it’s a way out of the Lodge. That’s all.”

I was curious about what she meant, but I didn’t want her to know that. I stepped over to another cabinet and inspected a series of trophies. Mellie began to tell Pri all about the so-called Artemis Festival, and I kept my ears pricked, listening to every word. I knew at least some of it had to be true, because she’d already mentioned the festival to me a few weeks ago.

“It happens twice a year. A bunch of the guys from the society come here for a whole week of wild celebrations. They drink, they smoke, they fuck, and they hunt.” She waved a hand at one of the deer heads on the wall.

Pri shuddered. “Poor animals.” She looked sadly at the trophy on the wall.

Mellie patted her shoulder. “Oh, honey. Don’t be so touchy. Deer around these parts are pests. They chew up everything and destroy the environment. So hunting them is actually a good thing. It helps the local ecosystem and also helps other species flourish, which is hard when one animal population is too large. Besides, quickly shooting them is actually far more humane than the suffering and starvation they experience when the population is left unchecked.”

I rolled my eyes and turned away. Mellie was like a mini Chernobyl, shimmering with toxicity and constantly spewing poison into the air around her. Get too close and she’d spread it to you too. I’d regrettably fallen victim to it myself all those months ago, let her fill my head with noxious lies.

She was probably far worse for the environment than a few extra deer.

“I thought hunting permits were only given out in fall,” Pri said.

Mellie snorted. “This is private land. Besides, there are other animals around this area that aren’t deer, and they prefer to roam around in the spring.” She motioned to the bearskin rug on the floor.

“So that’s when the next festival is? Spring?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. So what were you saying about the festival being a way out of here?” Pri asked tentatively. She was right on Mellie’s hook, dangling off every word.

“Well, because it’s such a popular event with so many attendees and they’re all in good spirits, one girl gets a chance to be voted in as the festival hostess for the week. She gets a ton of privileges, a doll made in her image for the collection, and at the end of the week, she’s allowed to leave the Lodge forever.”

“Seriously?” Pri’s eyes widened.

I wanted to tell her not to fall for the trickery so she wouldn’t get her hopes up. Fortunately, Mellie did it for me.

“Well, it’s not like she really gets to be free. Whichever man wins the most hunting prizes takes her home as a grand prize. So she’s allowed to live out in the real world with him. Sort of.”

---