Page 30 of Vicious King

“So… still a captive,” Pri said, her shoulders slumping.

“Trust me, most girls would think it’s better than being here,” Mellie said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Don’t have to be shared with other men, don’t have to go to any of the parties if they don’t feel up to it. Just one man, forever.”

My heart raced, and sparks of hope zapped through me. I stared at the golden medals in the glass cabinet on the other side of the wall, turning my face away from Mellie again so she wouldn’t see the excited flush rising in my cheeks.

If I could get voted in as a festival hostess, then my future escape might be easier. Escaping from one man’s house in the real world would be a hell of a lot easier than getting out of the Lodge with all its guards and security measures.

It wouldn’t be easy leaving Elias behind, not considering the feelings I’d developed for him, but I had to remind myself they were just physical. There was no future for us, and if I didn’t tamp my feelings way down, I’d never get out alive. I’d never be free.

“How do girls get voted in as the festival hostess?” I said, trying to sound breezy and nonchalant.

Mellie saw straight through me. She laughed, a mocking cackle that made my face turn hot with anger. “Oh my god, you don’t seriously think you could get picked?” she said, her pretty features contorting in a sneer.

“Why not?” Pri asked.

She scoffed. “Neither of you have a chance for the next festival. The girls that get picked are chosen because they are memorable to the men. All of them have done something to make themselves stand out. In a good way, I mean,” she said, casting a dark glance at me. “And so far, the only memorable thing you’ve done is stab someone. The president of the society, no less. Not exactly good, is it? As for you, Priyanka, you’re basically invisible. You haven’t even gone to a party yet. The members barely know you exist.”

Pri frowned. “But there’s still a chance we could be picked in future, right? For other festivals?”

“Sure. If you’re really good. But you’re competing against a hundred other women, and usually only one gets picked per festival. So don’t get your hopes up too high.” She turned her withering gaze back to me. “Especially you, Tatum. After all the shit you’ve pulled, you’ll never be picked. Not in a million years.”

I squeezed one hand into a fist by my side. Ooh, I was so tempted to hit her.

“How’s Henry doing?” I said instead, giving her a sweet smile. I knew her brother was a sore point for her. He was a traitor to the society, a stain on the edge of her narrow world.

She glared. “None of your business.”

“Still exiled, I presume. How do you know he won’t risk everything one day and turn you all in, even if it gets him killed?”

I was baiting her, trying my best to annoy her, because I was so goddamned sick of her. If I made her angry enough, she might leave me alone and pick on someone else.

Mellie snorted and folded her arms across her abdomen. “I very much doubt that. What’s he gonna do, call the New York Times and unload what sounds like a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theory that he has zero proof of? It’s literally just his word against everyone else’s. He’d be toast, and nothing would ever come of it. So shut the fuck up about him or you’ll regret it.”

When she was done talking, she flounced away. She’d had the last word, as always, but I’d succeeded in annoying enough to make her leave. I counted that as a win.

“I know she said we don’t have a chance, but we should still try to get picked as hostesses, right?” Pri asked, staring at the dolls again. “I’d do anything to get out of this hellhole and go home with another man. Even if he’s horrible, he can’t be worse than the man they’ve assigned as my master.”

My heart ached for her. At least Elias was trying to be sympathetic to me these days. He may still be my jailer, but at least he didn’t leave me covered head to toe with bruises after sex like Pri’s master did. If I didn’t get picked for this upcoming festival, I hoped she did.

I patted her shoulder. “You’re right. We should definitely try.”

She shook her head slowly. “What are we supposed to do to make them vote for us?”

“Everything we can,” I said softly.

An image of Elias flashed in my mind, and my stomach lurched once more at the thought of leaving him behind. It felt like gnawing off my own arm. Cutting out my own heart.

Shit.

Maybe I was wrong earlier. Maybe the feelings were real. Something more than a physical response.

It certainly seemed like it, but it didn’t make a damn lick of sense to start falling for a guy like Elias. No matter how I tried to spin it, our bond wasn’t a real one. Not like normal couples in the real world. It was forged in molten hatred, forced upon me in my darkest hours. That sinister black thread would always be woven through every inch of the vast tapestry that made up our relationship.

My feelings and desire for Elias couldn’t cut that thread out, regardless of how strong they became. There would always be some deep-down part of me that resented him for everything that had been done to me over the last few months. But on the other hand, he was still my lifeline in this place. I had to respect that.

So for now, as long as it suited both our ends, we could remain in this twisted affair. I would let him touch me, caress me, punish me, fuck me. I would do anything he pleased, and at night, we would hold each other beneath the sheets and pretend it was the real thing, ignoring the dark divide between us. We would simultaneously be separate and together.

But not forever.

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