Page 235 of Beast and Remedy
Leo steps in front of me, catching Marian by surprise.
She eyes him up and down, clicking her tongue with disapproval.
“Leo, Leo, Leo. You are my everything.” She sings sweetly and offers him a heartfelt smile. Leo relaxes a fraction as she shifts once more, cruelty pouring from her lips. “And you are a disgrace and will never measure up to the one who truly holds my heart.”
“Enough!” Papa yells, his voice booming off the walls.
He sidesteps Leo, his words carrying weight as he speaks. “You are unwell, Marian. And we have the cure to heal you and have you come home.”
For the first time since being here, I spare a glance at Beau, already watching me as if we both know whatever she says next will truly break my father.
“Heal me?” She laughs through ragged breaths. “I don’t need to be healed. I’ve never felt more alive!”
And yet she starts to cry.
My father releases a sigh, lowering to a knee. “Marian,” he murmurs when her sobs grow frantic.
Marian trembles, emotions overpowering her.
Papa tentatively reaches to touch her—
Marian’s sobs shift into maniacal glee.
With splotchy skin and red eyes, a deceitful grin spreads through her sinister remark. “I’m the reason we have a dead mother and you a dead wife.”
She breaks into a fit of elation again, and I cannot see Papa’s face, but he rises as she thrashes. “And I will be a reason you’ll be a dead king and have a dead daughter, too.”
Tove gasps, covering her mouth as Marian turns on her with a vicious promise. “And then I’ll be the reason that babe in yourwomb is dead,Snow Queen. And I’ll be the reason we’ll be able to take over your lands, too.”
Jerrick stiffens, and he blocks his wife from Marian’s scrutiny. He crosses his arms, and the cold, calculating aura I remember from so long ago takes shape. A haunting—deadly—darkness surrounds him as black takes over his glacial blue irises.
Goose bumps prickle up my spine at the sharp change, and Marian meets him in challenge.
Jerrick bristles, and his wife’s hand slinks through the bars.
“Jer.”
Tove’s voice is soft but steady, grounding her husband in some inexplicable way as my sister sneers.
“You’ll be too helpless, too pitiful to stop us and the army we’ll bring.”
“You won’t be alive to raise an army,” Beau says, stepping forward.
Her head moves at an unreal angle toward Beau, giggling with cunning delight. “Then, it’s a good thing I’m not alone.”
“What are you talking about?” Jerrick asks.
Marian presses her lips together, contemplating before whirling on me. “I’ll tell you if you heal me—”
“No!” Papa interjects, startling me.
Marian straightens, assessing him. “You aren’t going to execute your own daughter now, are you? Oh, but wait, we aren’t in Belmur for you to decide my punishment.”
She turns to Beau, accusation laced in her voice. “Wouldyoureally kill another member of the Sylvaine family? Do you want that on your conscious more than the death of my mother? You know I do want the details of how you did it so I could do the same for Vi—”
“We may be in Torgem, but I relinquished my judgment and cast the option to your father since your confession,” Beau cuts her off.
Light itself comes back into her mannerisms as she sways. “Wonderful! I’ll get to live and be healed and go home!” She glances at our father. “Right, Papa?”
