Page 130 of An Inheritance of Monsters

“Now, I’m going to untie your legs, Juno. You do need to be able to walk.” Carson slid a hand into his pocket, and I half-expected him to pull out the flashlight again… but that would be too lucky.

He brought out a pocket knife and flicked it open, the blade shining in the candlelight.

“I’d prefer to leave you safe and sound right here, where I know you can’t cause trouble.” He nudged my chair with his foot, his mouth twisted. “But as you’re the only blood relative, you’ll have to come with us into the Void. I can’t take any chances of this ritual going wrong.”

I sneered up at him as he bent down and began sawing through the ropes binding one of my legs. “I don’t think you know anything about how this ritual works.”

He spared me a single glance as he finished cutting one rope, and moved to the other leg. “I know enough to make myself the richest man in the world if this works. And if you play your cards right—” He tapped me on the nose, a little gesture I used to despise more than his stupid nickname. “—you’ll be enjoying the fruits of our labor right alongside me. Now get up.”

He tugged me to my feet, blood rushing downwards and filling my legs with awful pins and needles.

I sucked in a breath, stumbling a step—at least he’d torn off my high heels and tossed them aside at some point—and Carson gripped me by the arm, holding me upright.

My arms were still tightly bound behind me, useless and unmoving.

“Remember, Junes: not a single wrong move. Or you’ll live out the rest of your life in a closet somewhere in this manor, and no one will ever know you survived this.”

I gifted him with the most scathing glare I could muster.

Carson just smiled. “You’ll thank me when this is over.”

Chapter38

Juno

He carried Sierra over his shoulder like a sack of meat, prodding me in front of him with the knife. Every once in a while I felt its sharp point dig into the bare flesh on my back and was spurred faster.

I knew exactly where we were going as he prodded me towards the grand, winding stairs.

I tried to drag out my steps, tripping on my long dress, dithering around corners, doing my best to buy time while I thought of what I could possibly do to stop this.

Carson, unfortunately, was not as stupid as I would’ve liked him to be.

“If you want to play games, I can make this much worse for the both of you.” The knife tip dug into my side, and he twisted it slowly.

A bead of warm blood slipped down the inside of my dress, soaking my filmy skirt. It clung to my leg with every step after that.

“I’msosorry that it’s hard for me to accept you outright murdering my friend.” It was impossible to keep the smoking sarcasm out of my tone, even with a knife at my side.

Carson let out a short laugh, hiking Sierra’s limp body up over his shoulder as we approached the winding staircase. “You’re not friends. You fucking hated her. And let’s be honest, she hated you, too. She told me all about it.”

“While you were fucking her?” I glanced at him over my shoulder, and almost tripped for real.

Carson dropped me a wink. “Keep your friends close, and your human sacrifices closer.”

My god, he was completely batshit insane.

But that knife was sharp, and with my hands tied, I couldn’t see many options. So I took another step before he felt the need to prod me again.

Carson’s panting filled the stairs before we’d made it halfway up. “What does this bitch eat?” he grumbled, shifting her again.

Sierra groaned, her fingers twitching, but she didn’t wake up.

I eyed her thin frame. “How out of shape are you? She weighs a buck ten soaking wet.”

“If you’re trying to get me to snap, it’s not gonna work, Junes.”

Right. Because he had billions of dollars at stake.

---