Page 107 of Taming Seraphine

That’s why we need to kill him first.

I drift into slumber, my mind processing my first revenge kill. One down. Four to go. Their faces drift in and out of my consciousness. Julio’s is red and twisted with agony, while the guards who attacked Mom all share the same smug masks.

They crowd around her, cheering as she’s pinned to the desk and violated. Dad stands on the other side, holding her face between his large hands. He’s yelling at her for being a cheating whore.

I’m trembling behind the door to his office, my gaze fixed on Mom. Can’t Dad see that she’s being raped? I rush forward to stop them, but Raphael’s corpse blocks my way.

Blood still oozes from his cut throat. He stares up at me and rasps, “Help her.”

The red liquid rises from the floor, engulfs my bare feet, and glues my soles to the ground. I can’t move backward or forward. I can’t even close my eyes.

Dad orders a man with a black ponytail forward. He flips Mom onto her belly and enters her with one thrust. Behind him is Julio, but nobody notices him standing in the corner with blood oozing out of a stomach wound.

I turn back to Dad, who’s no longer the father I knew. He used to call Mom and me his princesses and explained that we were the reason he worked so hard. Now, he’s a monster ordering his men to go harder, deeper, faster.

Mom screams again, and Dad orders a curly-haired man to fill her mouth. I break free, my feet moving me away from the scene and down the hallway. As I round the corner, large hands grab my shoulders, and I scream.

It’s a dream.

It’s a dream.

“Wake up,” a voice yells. “It’s a dream.”

Fathomless black eyes stare into mine with an intensity that sends shivers down my spine. I raise my hands and try to claw out his eyes, but he’s too fast, too strong. Before I know it, he’s pinned me to the silk sheets, yelling at me to wake up.

It takes a few heartbeats for my mind to catch up. I’m already awake.

“Leroi?” I rasp.

He pulls me into his chest. “You were having a nightmare.”

As I draw back, Leroi props me up against his side. I glance around the darkened room, my heart still pounding hard enough to muffle the roar of my blood.

“Oh,” I say through ragged breaths.

Leroi draws back and stares down at me from the other side of the bed. “Are you alright?”

“I was dreaming about the last time I saw Mom,” I murmur. “It was so vivid.”

He exhales a long breath. “Was it because I let you confront Julio Catania?”

“No. Maybe. I don’t know.” I scoot across the mattress and lean against his larger body, trying to convince myself that it was a dream. “Seeing him this morning brought back a lot of details I’d forgotten.”

Leroi wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me even closer. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Let me rephrase,” he says. “You need to talk about it.”

“Why?” I pull back and stare into his profile. “I don’t want you to judge me.”

“For what?”

I shake my head.

“Seraphine,” he says, his voice hardening. “If you want me to help you control impulses, then I need to understand what’s going on in your mind. Did killing Catania make you feel better or worse?”

I bite down on my bottom lip. “It changed the dream.”

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