Page 97 of Midnight Wedding

“Make sure nobody bothers her,” Arsen says to one of them before leaving the wing again. I’m tempted to follow him, but what he said makes me pause.

Who isher?

Snippets of what I heard throughout the day start to coalesce. I crawl under a few loose boards, shift around a tight corner, and find myself in the walls outside of the old office where Arsen used to keep the bodies. The skeletons are long gone and the room’s mostly scrubbed clean now.

There’s a light on inside. I shuffle toward a narrow gap in some boards, but I have to stand on my toes to see through. I canjust make out a person sitting in a chair—no, a womantiedto a chair—when I lose my balance and fall backwards into the wall behind me.

It thumps loudly and I freeze. My heart’s up in my throat. If anyone catches me in here, Arsen’s going to bepissed.And I won’t even blame him for being mad.

“Is someone there?”

A woman’s voice. Older, I’d guess in her sixties. Shit, she must’ve heard me.

“I know you’re there,” she says, louder this time. “Arsen, is that you? Or is it Tigran? Hiding in the walls like you used to?”

My breath’s coming fast. Arsen and Tigran used to explore these passageways? But of course they did. If they grew up in this place, there’s no way a couple of young boys would ever leave these tunnels alone. They’re way too fun and tempting. I’m a full grown adult pregnant woman and I can barely stay out of them. Forget about some dumb kids.

“No, it’s not either of you,” the woman says. “You two wouldn’t need to hide. Then who’s in the walls? Is it that old poisoner bitch? Or maybe someone else. Maybe it’s someone new to the house.”

I lean forward and squint into the room again.

Then jerk back in shock.

The woman’s looking over her shoulder. She’s got a big, vicious grin on her face,and she’s staring right at me.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The bitch that caused all this trouble?”

I nearly choke on my fear. How the hell did she know? How did she see me? I’m panicking and I’m about to run away, but I force myself to stop.

If I make more noise, she’ll be sure I’m here.

She’s just guessing right now. I bet she knows these passageways too, and she’s aware of where the hidden peepholes are. That must be Sona, Arsen’s aunt, which means she probably grew up in this house too.

I work up some courage and look back through the holes.

She’s still looking back at me, but it’s clear she can’t see anything. She looks like an aging movie star with crow’s feet and bad hair. But there’s a strange dignity about her too, despite being tied up.

“You’re not going to say anything. I understand. I’m guessing you’re not supposed to be here.” She laughs and it’s a wicked sound. “Poor Arsen really fucked up when he took you as his wife. He would’ve been happy with the girl we had picked out for him. A nice, obedient Armenian girl. She would’ve given him lots and lots of legitimate heirs. Instead of some disgusting half-Russian hybrid.”

She presses against her bonds. Anger surges in me. Why does this woman hate Russians so much? Why does she hate me, in particular? I had basically nothing to do with any of this. Arsen’s the one that turned his back on his arranged marriage and took me as his wife instead.

But clearly, Sona needs someone to blame, and it might as well be me.

She struggles again, rocking the chair so violently I think she might fall over. Then she stops, breathing hard.

“Still there, Russian bitch? If Arsen only knew the truth, he’d never have married you. But that’s the thing with families, isn’t it? We’ve all gotskeletonsin the closet. I think Arsen’s going to kill me soon, but maybe I can get the last word before I go. Maybe you should go looking around my old bedroom in those passages. You might find something interesting about your husband. You rotten Russian slut.”

I bang my fist against the wall, unable to help myself. Screw her, that nasty old woman. She’s trying to goad me, and it freaking worked.

She jerks sideways in surprise and the chair suddenly topples over. Her body hits the ground with a grunt. I scramble backwards as she lets out a horrible shriek and flops sideways on the floor.

The guards bang open the doors to check on her, but I’m already racing back toward the library.

What the hell did she mean back there? What does she know about Arsen? Obviously, Sona’s just messing with me, but my curiosity’s going insane. This family is filled with dark secrets, and I get the sense I’m only scratching the surface.

Only problem is, I can’t tell Arsen about any of this.

He’ll be pissed that I disobeyed him again and risked my safety. I want to find out which room was Sona’s, but there’s no real way without Arsen figuring out what I was up to. Which means I’ll either ignore Sona’s weird little challenge back there, or I’ll have to search every single passageway, one after the other, painstakingly trying to find?—

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