Page 3 of Twisted Empire

2

Tatum

2 days earlier

I wasto die in forty-eight hours.

Fifty-something, perhaps, if I managed to survive a while in the woods before one of the members found me. Either way, at some point within the next few days, I would be dead and buried. Or more specifically, cremated and made into a trophy doll to remind whoever killed me of their hunting success.

My heart thudded painfully fast as I looked out the barred window of my room. All I could see from this side of the mansion was an expansive green lawn with a large beige stone fountain and a path leading up to the forest. The very same forest I would soon be hunted in by a pack of evil predators.

I saw Pri walk by on the lawn with a member a couple of times. I tried to call down to her to warn her about the true nature of the Artemis Festival so that she could tell all the other girls here. That was when I discovered the windows were soundproofed, something I should’ve already realized by now.

I swallowed the lump of defeat in my throat and flopped down on the bed, a wave of exhaustion overcoming me. It had only been a couple of hours since Tobias forced me back in here and told me I wouldn’t be allowed out again until the hunt (they couldn’t risk me telling the other girls what was really going on here) but it already felt like an eternity had passed. Like I’d aged twenty years in just a few minutes when I learned the truth. I knew if I looked in the mirror, I would see something had settled into my face. Something that wasn’t there before.

The minutes seemed endless as they slowly ticked by. I eventually realized I should be grateful for that. It made it feel like I had more time until my own murder, when really, I had barely any time at all.

Just two days.

When I remembered once more that my life was rapidly ticking down to nothing, the gloom and panic set in all over again. It started out with a quiet sorrow, a tired acceptance of my fate. There was nothing I could do about it, after all. That melancholy morphed into a discomfort in my chest, a feeling in my brain like too much caffeine, and then it set in deeper. I felt the urge to run, hide, escape. Shivering, quaking, cold. The constricted feeling grew like a jungle vine and soon the very air seemed to suffocate me. It started to feel as if I could simply lie back, close my eyes and wait for my life to ebb away.

I could only wish that I would die so easily…

But that wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t be allowed to go quietly, slip away in the night in my own room. The twisted men of Crown and Dagger wanted to see me run, wanted to witness my abject terror, wanted to torture and brutally kill me. They wouldn’t settle for anything less.

I glanced over at the door, wishing for the millionth time that I could slip out under an invisibility cloak like a character from a magical fantasy novel. There were guards stationed outside to make sure I didn’t bother trying to leave and the security cameras in the room flashed with warning red lights, reminding me I was caged and observed at all times like a zoo animal.

It was just like my first few weeks at the Finishing School, when I’d been trapped in that tiny cell with no human contact aside from whomever pushed my meager meals into the room for me. The loneliness, the boredom, the sheer dread of waiting and wondering what horrors would soon befall me… it all felt so terribly familiar.

At least I had a few luxuries here at the Lodge, I suppose. Space. A comfortable bed. A real bathroom. Clothes and shoes. Books and TV if I needed some sort of mental stimulation. I didn’t need that right now, though. I already had all the stimulation I could ever need with my own crazy, jumbled thoughts.

In just two hours, I’d ridden what was probably the biggest rollercoaster of emotions known to mankind. First there was the stark fear and burning anger when Tobias told me the truth about the festival. How the men of the third level hunted women down like animals, killing them in whatever way they saw fit, all for fun. Fun. As he spoke, I could feel sweat beading over my skin, my head throbbing, silent screams vibrating in my mind, the pounding of my heart against my chest. My fingers curled into fists so tightly that my nails almost pierced my palms as terror and rage tortured my body, churning my stomach in tense cramps. It engulfed my mind, knocking all other thoughts aside, turning my limbs to exhausted jelly.

After that was a strange rush of warmth and hope when Tobias told me I was pregnant. I was only nineteen and I didn’t particularly want children at such a young age, but on the other hand, it felt like a lifeline had been thrown to me. Surely Elias would save me when he found out I was pregnant. He said he loved me the other day, after all, and now we were also connected by this baby, forever bonded by the life we’d created between us. He couldn’t abandon me.

And then, after all that, came the shock, horror and sorrow when I found out that all along, he was playing me. Lying to me. I was still tangled in that web of emotional torment right now. Trapped, beaten, despondent.

Strange as it may seem, the worst part of all this wasn’t actually the thought of my impending torture and death. It was the knowledge that Elias betrayed me. That it was all a game, just like I suspected for all those weeks until he finally broke through my barriers and made me believe him.

There was nothing to believe in anymore. He never loved me.

Somehow, that was what it took to make me see that I loved him. Funny, that.

After all of today’s harrowing discoveries, I’d finally realized with a jolt just how strong my feelings for Elias were. They hadn’t dissipated one bit over the last few hours, either, despite how much I wanted them to vanish. I knew he didn’t return them, of course, but that didn’t mean it was instantly gone for me. No, those feelings for him were flooding through my veins every second, overwhelming me, spilling down my face in hot tears when it all became too much to deal with.

So I guess he got what he wanted in the end. He made me fall for him against all odds. Against all reason and better judgment. Now I was paying the price for being naïve enough to let it happen.

And yet, despite knowing all that, I still couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t flick a mental switch and turn my love off. Couldn’t pretend my heart didn’t skip a beat at the mere thought of Elias, even in the face of his betrayal.

Being with him felt like resting in a warm house while a freezing gale raged outside, like in his presence the whole universe instantly became calmer and safer. I could dream up a million different scenarios or write a million different letters, and each one would wind up exactly the same in sentiment, boiling down to three main things: I loved him, I missed him, and I wanted him here with me.

Too bad, I guess.

My heart was missing a piece now, a part that kept it from working properly. Only Elias could fix it, but he obviously didn’t care. He didn’t feel anything for me but hate and disdain, and he wasn’t coming. So when would I let go of my useless feelings of love and adoration? Would it happen when Crown and Dagger released me into the wild and I turned to see him right there with the rest of them, gun or knife in hand? Or would I hold on to the bitter end, hoping and praying against all odds that he’d change his mind and come to my aid, even when I was choking on my own blood and screaming in pain?

The latter seemed to be where I was heading, because these emotions weren’t letting up. Not even for a second.

I stretched my tired limbs and headed into my walk-in closet, over to the wide vanity at the end. Like a robot, I began to quietly and methodically brush on foundation and blush over my pale skin, liquid lipstick over my dry lips, bronze shadow over my eyelids.

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