Page 6 of Forgotten Monsters
“Allie,” she repeats gently.
I spin around, sink my nails into my scalp, and use my hair as a shield to erase her pity from my peripheral vision.
Jules squeezes my shoulder. “There’s nowhere to go. You can’t run anymore.”
I skirt away from her. Prickly tears stick to the corners of my eye, and I wipe them down discreetly. I lift my chin, summoning the courage to listen to her story. “When did he kiss you?”
“In his cabin. Right before I left. He blew angel dust in my face and interrogated me.” She plays with her fingers, hands in her lap.
“He used angel dust on you?”
She nods, eyes cast down.
My stomach flips. “How do you remember?”
“Deveraux had given me a protective spell.” The itch from earlier doesn’t tingle anymore. She’s telling the truth.
A painful hiccup grates my throat. “But you kissed him anyway?”
Her mouth hangs open. “Are you for real? I had to pretend to be under his spell, but it made my skin crawl.” A muscle in her cheek ticks before she meets my gaze head-on. “He kissed me and felt me up and said he was looking forward to doing itagain. Don’t you dare imply that I’m to blame. You kissed Cole, too, by the way.”
Not in any way that counts, but I’m too shaken to admit it.
Arms crossed, I stare at the mirror at the front of the bow, the cabin’s reflection distorted by the shape of the glass. “I need to be alone.”
Jules moves behind me. “We’re stuck here together.”
“Just be silent, then,” I clip.
I won’t lie to myself and pretend I didn’t see the signs. Ever since my dragon took an interest in my sister, I was afraid it would come to this, but I thought I was just being paranoid. I hoped my thoughts were just tainted by my history with Jules, that I just couldn’t deal with all the petty sibling jealousy.
But I’d seen Daniel steal glances at her—my dark-haired, fearless, impulsive sister—the most powerful witch in the family.
She didn’t have the pedigree for his ambitions, so I figured he’d get over it, but clearly, his appetite for power didn’t end with me. “What was his plan? He thought he could marry me, the blue-blood politician dream, and fuck my illegitimate sister on the side?” I chuck out a dark laugh.
Electricity buzzes up and down my arms. Tears sting my eyes, but I won’t let them fall. Oh, that dragon has got a storm coming. There are no words to encompass the depths of my humiliation, the wretched taste of his betrayal, but I must admit, I’d felt it coming. Over the last few weeks, I’d slowly come to realize he wasn’t telling me the whole truth. His reassurances couldn’t soothe my soul anymore, the weight of what we had done pressing harder and harder on my conscience with each passing day.
As it turns out, an assassination, however sanctioned by the high spheres of government, is still murder.
I didn’t end up in the Underworld by accident. I didn’t trust Darkwood with my sister, accustomed to his schemes, and I grew cold toward Daniel’s speeches. As much as it pains me to admit it, I’ve been a fool. Both men used me for their own benefit. Darkwood is probably using my mother, too.
Did Daniel ever really care for me? Or was I just another piece in his wicked games?
3
CAT WOMAN
Athunderbolt and a fireball stuck on a small boat…could get messy. Eager to give Allie some privacy, I return to the bridge. She’s too emotional right now for us to have a meaningful discussion, and I sort-of want to punch her in the face. She framed Cole for murder and lied to me formonths. Saving my life counts for something, but it’s not enough.
Barron had steered the boat into a narrow bay while we were in the cabin. The change in scenery explains the absence of waves, and my stomach groans in gratitude. The weather bubble still protects us from the torrential rain, though wind blows around it in loudwhooshesthat whistle in my ears.
Next to the folded main sail, Onyx—no, Mallory—chats with our peculiar “savior.”
“Lucas and I, we waited for you—but ye’d disappeared—I made a point to return to the castle every once in a while, but I’d lost hope, Mal…”
“I was on Earth, Kay,” the beautiful woman sighs. She’s perched on her seat with her legs propped beneath her like she’s forgotten how to sit.
She looks young, her smooth skin not showing a hint of a wrinkle, but I know better than to assume her age using only her appearance. Dark brown waves frame her feminine features, her eyes draped in shadows, and black ink covers half of her deep brown skin.
