Page 5 of Absentia Mori

Fabien stalks over. Once he’s under the light, I can see his face clearer. I’d forgotten how mesmerizing his blue eyes were. They pull me in every time. But there is something different about him. Something unhinged that wasn’t there before.

He looks down at me in disgust. “Don’t ever fucking thank me for anything. I didn’t do that for you. You are ours to destroy, and I don’t want him or anyone else tainting you before we do.”

I feel my cheeks heating. “Is this because I wouldn’t hang out with you after the Nocturnus party last year? That’s a bit fucking dramatic.”

Fabien grabs my chin and pinches it hard. “I don’t give a fuck about dating you. No. This is about you and your fucking family. Nocturnus. It’s because of all of you that we’re stuck in here.”

I almost forget that I’m strapped to a bed with my pussy exposed. I lurch up and growl in his face, “Fuck you, Fabien. You don’t know anything.”

He grabs my throat and squeezes. “I know you’re a spoiled fucking brat who’s just been brought down a few notches. Who else did you piss off to get your ass thrown in here?”

I glare back at him and try not to admire his thick full lips. “I have no idea why I’m in here. But you need to tell them who I am. They don’t believe me.”

Fabien smirks. “Nah. I think we’ll torture you for a while first. Before we kill you, that is.”

A chill snakes up my back. “You keep sayingwe… who else are you in here with?”

Fabien yanks the bedpan out from underneath me and throws it to the floor, laughing. “The only other two initiates whosurvived that night. You know, after your cousin and his friends stripped us of all our sigils.” He pulls up his shirt to reveal his torso covered in scars.

My stomach knots. Fuck. He blames me as much as them. All because I’m a fucking Thorn. Maybe Ishouldstart pretending to be someone else.

“I had nothing to do with that,” I plead.

He shrugs. “Maybe… maybe not. But either way, you’re the closest thing we have to them, so I think we’ll take it out on you for a while.”

I shiver as he slams the door behind him, locking me back in.

How the fuck am I going to get myself out of this mess?

Well, well… what do we have here?

Libra fucking Thorn.

I can’t get back to my room fast enough.

When I plow through the door, Raithe is doing pushups on the floor while Mordecai reads from his bent copy of Sun Tzu’sThe Art of War.

It took a lot of scheming to get the biggest room in Absentia Asylum so that all three of us could be together. After what happened during the Winter Solstice Ball at Tenebrose, we aren’t letting anyone get the jump on us again.

“You’re never going to believe who’s here,” I say, panting. I literally ran all the fucking way down the hall.

Raithe turns his head to the side, his eyepatch slipping slightly from the sweat dripping off his brow. He lowers himself to the ground, his arms shaking. This fucking guy’s been going for an hour. “I don’t care,” he grumbles.

“Yeah, you do. You both do.” I snatch the book out of Mordecai’s hands and toss it on his bed.

He hisses as he bolts up. “How many times have I told you to keep your hands off my shit?”

I tilt my head to glare at him. He’s got at least three inches on me, but I can take him in a fight all the same. There’s a reason the Nocturnus initiates used to call meFists. Well, one of the reasons. “What is the one thing you want more than anything in this world apart from getting out of here?”

“Vengeance,” Raithe growls in between pushups.

I nod. “Yes. Well, boys, we’re about to fucking have it.”

Mordecai backs up, giving me space. “Go on.”

I run my hands over my arms, tracing my scars with the tips of my fingers. “Libra Thorn is here. She’s been admitted. I don’t know how long she’s been here or why, but she’s right down the fucking hall. Strapped to a bed.”

Raithe pops up from the floor and grabs a towel. He lifts his eyepatch, revealing a hole where his other green eye used to be. “Are you sure it was her?” he says through the towel as he wipes the sweat off his face.

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