Page 28 of A Match Made in Hell
The next award I lost out on, I reached into the winner’s bag when they weren’t looking and fished out the trophy along with the envelope of prize money. You’d think I’d have brought home this tiara, the way she reacted, calling her friends, blowing up Dad’s phone telling him there was finally something worth coming home for. He never responded. Then I got found out, and the screaming started anew.
Well, you can make it up to me now, can’t you?It’s still her voice, but it’s been twisted somehow, turning deeper and more guttural, like something demonic has corrupted the sound.
Take the crown. Bring it home. You’ll be sensational.
I would be. I picture it now. Mum always said working hard was meaningless if you had nothing to show for it, nothing tangible to prove your success, but nobody would question how hard I worked if I returned home drowning in gems. They’d take one look at me and assume I was capable of anything. I’d be Willow the Failure no more.
The thought has me salivating harder.
I’d surpass Mum, even. That tiara is better than all herpossessions combined. I could plant it pride of place in her collection of things, outshining every crystal ornament until it succumbed to dust like the rest of them.
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ Sath murmurs.
It is. The force of magic in the air intensifies and I can’t move away, not from him, nor the tiara. It’s mesmerising, the way it glitters. It looks bigger, now. Heavier. The gems are like fat teardrops. My arm outstretches. I want to touch it. Hold it. Place it on my head. Maybe I’ll take some coins too, and build my own throne of gold. Nobody can judge me if I owneverything. Sath’s hand is on my back, nudging me forward, urging me on, on, on.
I don’t need his assistance. This is exactly where I want to be. Here, with my shinys. I sway a little. Then swallow. I’m definitely drooling.
‘It would be lovely on you, don’t you think?’ His voice is like a lullaby.
He’s right. It would.
Sath trails a finger down my arm. ‘Why don’t you put it on?’ His finger stops on my wrist, right over my fluttering pulse point, and I frown.
The skin he’s touching shouldn’t be bare. I used to have a bracelet there. The memory is vague. It’s hard to imagine the shape of it. The way it weighed on my wrist. But it meant something. It was given to me on the one day I’d done something to make Mum pleased.
If I take the tiara now, I won’t get that chance again.
Why do you never bring me anything, Willow?
‘No,’ I whisper. Stealing that prize money didn’t work. Stealing the tiara won’t work either.
The tiara shines brighter, reminding me what I’m declining. The vision of me on the snake throne floods my mind again, but this time there are familiar faces kneeling at my feet: my parents, Sath, Noah, Sasha, all gazing at me reverently, whispering theirapproval. Only someone brilliant and wonderful would wear that tiara. My fingers twitch.
I’d give anything to be considered brilliant and wonderful.
But first I have to earn it.
‘No,’ I say again, with more conviction.
‘No?’ I can practicallyhearthe eyebrow raise in his voice. His lips press against the shell of my ear. ‘Think how ravishing you’d look in a crown, Willow.’
‘I don’t want a crown,’ I say firmly. ‘I want to go home and make amends. Owning something shiny doesn’t make me a better person.’
‘Are you sure?’ He’s playing with me, like a cat toying with a mouse it wants to eat for dinner.
I spin round to face him. ‘I’m sure.’
‘Last chance.’ Sath hooks a necklace on to his index finger. He pulls my hair to one side, and I arch my neck instinctively, giving him room to lay it across my collarbone, shuddering beneath its cold weight. Sath studies it, then me, his gaze so molten I could sink into it. ‘Wouldn’t you like to keep this? It makes your eyes shine. Your face glow. It really is fit for a –’
‘I said –’ I force the word out – ‘no.’
‘Well, all right. You win. You’ve passed the second task.’ He smiles, but the moment feels kind of anticlimactic. At least, it does until he jerks his head at the necklace. ‘You should keep that. A gift, for doing well today.’
‘Really?’ I brighten, tracing a finger over the thick chain. It’s no tiara, but it’ssomething. A sign I can do this. I’m about to fasten it, to show off my accomplishment for all the world to see, when something about Sath’s posture makes me pause. Despite the casual way he leans against a cabinet, hands tucked into his pockets, there’s a tension in his shoulders that wasn’t there before. I cock my head, studying him. ‘You didn’t give me a gift for passing the first test.’
‘A mistake I need to rectify.’ The smile fixed on his face doesn’t meet his eyes. ‘You should always have a present for doing well. Take the necklace. You’ve earned it.’
I don’t feel like I’ve earned it. The same way I never felt like I earned my bracelet either, because Mum pulled strings to get me on that course. I’d been so greedy for the approval it offered that I’d slapped it around my wrist anyway.
