Page 209 of Owned

But how long? How long would it take?

“Did you make it worse?” Valen asked.

I glared at him.

“Did you get the whiskey?” Bastian called out as he emerged from the trees. He zipped his fly as he strode over to us and grinned as his eyes fell on the bottle in my hand.

“I told her about Lucian’s plans,” I said and glared at my brother as he snatched the bottle from my hand and removed the cork with his teeth.

“Let me guess,” Bastian said as he spat the cork into the dark. “She already knew.”

I nodded. “She doesn’t care,” I said. “She doesn’t—”

The words caught in my throat.

But if she didn’t care— What did any of it matter?

I didn’t know anymore.

Nothing made sense.

Avril’s indifference had left me shaken.

The way she carried herself, the steadiness in her voice—that wasn’t her.

I found them amid the dancers, moving together with a fluid grace that made my stomach churn.

“Where’s he going?” Bastian asked.

I looked back at him in confusion. “What?”

Bastian points with the whiskey bottle.

Valen— He moved through the shadows at the edge of the celebrations like a wraith. He’s focused on the ornate table where the bride and groom enjoyed their luxurious supper and accepted the cheers and hollow adulation of their guests.

He moved with certainty, already reaching into his coat.

No one notices his quick hands, and my breath catches with each careful step.

How can they not see what’s happening?

Bastian came to stand beside me and we watched him as he uncorked the vial of silvered liquid and poured it into the flask of dark wine beside Lucian’s goblet.

“Valen knows how to make a good poison,” Bastian said before he took another swig.

“Give me that,” I growled and grabbed the bottle out of his hand.

“Hey!”

I drank deep as my gaze moved back to Avril and Lucian. They held each other with a terrible intimacy that made me want to break things. “That better work—”

“It will,” Bastian said.

They danced so smoothly it looked like they were floating, and I thought of the way she’d pulled back from me.

From us.

Something wasn’t right.

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