Page 107 of Gothikana

‘The slut went and slept with him,’ Jade gritted out, leaning forward. ‘He was mine.’

‘He’s… you have the same grandfather. He’s your family,’ Corvina stuttered.

‘He’s mine,’ the girl shouted suddenly, making Corvina flinch, her green eyes going wild, the wind hard in her short hair. ‘We both have Deverell blood in us. That makes us strong. He’s the devil of this castle and I’m the devil’s breath. Together, we would be a force to be reckoned with. We could leave behind a legacy for our children.’

The vomit rose up to the back of her mouth, and Corvina swallowed it down. This girl, whoever she was, was truly, deeply sick.

‘You’re sick, too, Corvina,’ the insidious voice said. ‘Or else why would I be here?’

‘Focus on the girl, Vivi,’ Mo cajoled.

It was harder to focus this time.

‘It’s so wrong,’ Corvina muttered, her entire being disgusted. ‘He would never have accepted you.’

Jade smiled a smile that chilled her to the bones. ‘He wouldn’t have had to, Cor. He wouldn’t have had a choice. He will accept me after you’re gone.’

The sickness couldn’t be contained anymore. Corvina heaved to the side, her stomach empty but her throat burning, the idea, the very idea of her Vad becoming a helpless victim of this girl’s deceit making something red hot come alive inside her.

No. No.

‘Kill her,’ the insidious voice said.

‘Vivi, focus.’ Mo was loud.

God, they both needed to shut up. Her head was pounding.

If she was going to die tonight, she was going to take this girl with her. There was not a world in which she would let her live and make her lover a slave. No.

‘We would’ve never come to this, Corvina,’ Jade sighed, finally standing up, dusting her ass. ‘I tried to warn you away from him so many times. You. Just. Wouldn’t. Listen. You went ahead and spread your legs for him like a whore all over the castle. I just couldn’t take it anymore.’

She stood up and brushed off her hands, walking a circle around Corvina’s helpless body. ‘Now, you’re going to jump off this roof and he’s going to find me. We will share the grief of losing you, and I will help him heal.’ The earnestness on her face truly made Corvina want to kill her.

The betrayal was so deep, of her, of Troy, of Alissa, of everyone she had ever come in contact with.

Corvina tried to will her hands to move, her legs to move, for anything to move at all, and nothing happened.

‘What is this drug?’ she asked the girl.

‘I don’t know the exact composition.’ Jade walked to the edge of the narrow roof, looking down, the girl who had clearly lied about her fear of heights. ‘Grandma said it’s native to the Amazon. Someone must have planted it here years ago. It has scopolamine, from what she said, and something else. Depending on the dosage, your will is mine. For example, I told you to come with me to the roof and you did. Do you remember?’

Corvina shook her head once, her heart pounding at the black before she’d woken up.

‘That’s because I told you to forget it. Now, I’m going to tell you to stand and walk to the edge of the roof.’

Corvina wouldn’t have believed it possible if her muscles suddenly didn’t relax, sending feelings to her limbs. She found herself standing up even as she fought it with everything inside her. Her body stood upright, the muscles in her feet urging her forward as her brain tried to override whatever was happening to her.

‘You’re resisting.’ Jade’s surprised voice came from behind. ‘That’s not possible. Usually, the consciousness isn’t at the forefront when the drug takes effect.’

She felt Jade come to stand in front of her as she stood shaking in the strong wind, her hands fisted by her sides.

Green eyes looked into hers, and for the first time in her life, Corvina felt truly terrified. She was looking true evil in the face. The monsters were real, and they didn’t live in her head. What existed in the world was scarier than anything her mind could conjure. She was seeing one with a beautiful, innocent face and energy so deceptive it had fooled her instincts. And she had to find Vad and tell him he wasn’t evil, that true evil didn’t wear it on the outside for the world to see. True evil was insidious.

Her time for the dance with death was coming, and Corvina didn’t want it. She had to go see her mother one more time. She had to get herself a dog, a family. She had to find her happy ending with Vad. She wanted a life with him, even if it was a life of risk for her mind. She wanted to kiss him out in the open without fear anyone would see. She wanted to travel with him to places she read about in her books. She wanted her ending like in the books she loved. She wanted to one day have a child with him. She wanted everything.

She wasn’t ready to die.

‘But death might be ready for you,’ the insidious voice crooned.

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