Page 73 of Midnight Wedding

The pillow? How’d I end up on a bed?

I try to sit up but my head swims. I grunt and thrash, but it’s like I’m swimming through mud. I jerk myself and land in an ugly pile on the floor in the gap between the mattress and the dresser. I’m making a mess, knocking over a lamp and the bedside clock, but I can’t help it. My head’s a wreck. All I can see are those skeletons, all that blood, and Arsen’s disappointed frown as Maud sank the needle into my arm.

“It’s okay, honey, it’s okay.” Maud’s voice. She gently gets me back into bed. I feel floppy and weak. I try to struggle, but she’s a lot stronger than she looks. “The doctor was here a bit ago. He said you’d be just fine, assuming I got the dosage right. Which I did.”

“You drugged me.”

“Isedatedyou because Arsen didn’t have the heart to do it himself.”

“Skeletons,” I moan at her as the memory of finding that horrible room plays through my head again. “He’s going to kill me too. You’re going to help him, aren’t you?”

“No, he’s not. Hush now. I’m sorry it came to this, I really am.” She soothes me gently and pulls the sheets up to my chin. “I’ve been watching over Arsen for a very long time. Believe it when I say he’s a good person. Troubled, yes, but a good person.”

I start crying. Because fuck, I’m beyond overwhelmed. “You knew about them,” I say, sobbing at her. “The bodies.”

She nods sadly and hugs me. “I knew about them,” she confirms. “But please don’t ask me about it. When he comes back, he’ll tell you himself.”

I cry harder. Becauseshit, he’s going to come back, and then he’s going to murder me just like he murdered those people in that room.

And Maud’s going to help him stretch my body out and clean off my bones until I’m pearly white.

I’m going to become a part of his creepy serial killer shrine.

I don’t understand what’s happening. My brain’s a mushy mess. Whatever Maud dosed me with really fucked me up and I’m having trouble coming back to myself. She sits with me though and seems like she’s trying to be soothing and calming, but it’s not helping.

She shoved a freaking needle in my arm.

“We knew you’d go in there eventually,” she admits once I’ve calmed down enough to sit up. My head’s still fuzzy like someone jammed cotton in my skull, but the room’s not spinning anymore and I’m starting to be able to think. “I told him to getrid of it. I told him it was time to move on. But he said he couldn’t.”

“I don’t understand,” I admit, rubbing my face with both hands. “Why is he keeping skeletons in a locked wing of the house?”

The door opens. Maud moves away from the bed as Arsen comes into the room. I push myself back from him, flinching away, and I can tell Maud’s concerned. He stands at the far end of the room staring at me. His face is caught between anger and disappointment.

Maud goes to him. “Don’t punish her,” she says sharply. “It wasn’t her fault.”

“She disobeyed me.”

“Won’t be the last time she does, either.” Maud glances back at me and the worry in her face makes my adrenaline start pumping. Does she think Arsen’s about to hurt me?

“You disobeyed me too.” He glares at her then. “I told you to stay out of those rooms.”

“I heard the commotion and thought you needed help.”

“You drugged my wife.”

Maud crosses her arms defiantly. “And I’d do it again. That girl was losing her mind.”

“Don’t you ever do that again. Do you hear me?”

“It was for her own good.”

“I don’t care. Don’t youeverdo that again. Do you understand?”

Maud looks annoyed but she nods her head. She leaves the room, the door clicking softly shut behind her.

Which leaves me alone with my psycho serial killer husband.

He looks like himself still. That’s the worst part. Arsen’s still handsome. Beautiful really. He’s in a dark suit and his hair’s pushed back in that perfect lazy wave.

---