3. Sol
CHAPTER 3
Sol
I took another gulp of whiskey and inhaled against the raging vengeance burning in my blood, steering my SUV up the winding mountain road. Hot furious tears stung my eyes, dripping down my cheeks and blurring my vision, but I wiped them away with my sleeve and kept driving. I hated that I cried when I got angry. It made me look weak when I wanted to appear anything but.
“It’ll be okay, Sol,” Avalon said over the speaker of my SUV.
“Maybe he’s rich,” Maeve added. Only ten months older than me, the three of us had always been close—though they were understandably closer to each other than either was to me.
“I doubt he’d be marrying a Vanderbilt for the dowry if that was the case,” Ava argued.
“I’m just saying,” Mae said. “Perhaps the situation is not as dire as it appears.”
“Being rich doesn’t change our stupid brother selling her off to those barbarians.” Ava let out a sardonic huff. “It’s a shame Guin already left. If she were here, she’d have his nuts as a necklace. Have you tried calling her?”
“She wouldn’t have been able to stop him,” I said, taking another long gulp of whiskey. “Not even Liam could change his mind. He blindsided both of us with this arrangement.” I grabbed my phone to check for a call back from our eldest sister. I’d been trying for hours, only for it to go to voicemail. “You two need to be careful. He mentioned it was time for all of us to marry, so I suspect you’ll be next.”
“Over my dead body!” Ava said. I could just imagine her shaking her head and turning beet red.
“I think the Scorpions would even take you like that.” I sneered, indignation dripping from each syllable. Like the Bastards, there was something off about the Scorpions. Their pale, transparent skin and lifeless eyes could have been taken right out of a horror movie.
“Maybe he’ll be good in bed,” Mae added. “I’d give up riches and good looks for a big co?—”
“Mae!” Ava gasped, clearly affronted. “Don’t be gross.”
“There’s nothing gross about cocks, I assure you,” Mae replied with a giggle so much like her twin’s. I tried not to grimace thinking about a possible future where I’d have to sleep with the man. I’d heard rumors, of course. The Scorpions treated their women nearly as bad as the Bastards did, but I hoped being a Vanderbilt would change that.
My ass still stung where Marx had gripped me like an object, like the very horse he’d called me. I hated his touch. How would I ever sleep with him? How would I have children with him? Certainly, he would expect that.
I wiped my eyes and sniffed as another bout of irate tears rolled down my cheeks. Tomorrow, I’d find a way out. Tomorrow, I wouldn’t let my sorrow have me. But tonight, I needed an outlet, if only for a few hours, if only to get it out of the way so I could think more clearly. Emotional Sol was not a pragmatic Sol, and I’d only be able to come up with a solution if I were more levelheaded…and sober.
“Thank you both for listening,” I said. “To be honest, if this had to happen to someone, I’m glad it’s me and not one of you.”
“I’m sorry it has to be any of us,” Ava said.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Mae added. “Come home, Sol. Don’t face this by yourself.”
“No, I need some time,” I said. “I’ll be back by the morning. I just…I just want to be alone…to gather my thoughts.”
“And you’ll be able to do that with the fifth of Father’s favorite I hear you chugging?” Ava sounded judgmental, but I wouldn’t let that deter me. Sure, driving around the back country with a little bit of a buzz probably wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had, but if any situation called for it, surely being potentially betrothed to one of the worst monsters on the planet was reason enough.
“Is that criticism?” Mae asked.
“Hardly,” Ava said. “I’m just worried about the ole gal.”
“I love you both,” I said. “Please cover for me and don’t fret. I’ll see you soon.”
Before they could argue, I hung up and dialed my eldest sister again.
“Guin, it’s me,” I said when I got her voicemail. “Please call me back. Our brother—” I hiccuped and swallowed another furious sob. “Our brother has lost his mind. I need your help fighting this…fighting him.”
I hung up the phone and squinted, attempting to see through the whiteout of the storm. The blizzard was well underway now, and I chastised myself for leaving. But I couldn’t stand to be in that house any longer. Big fluffy snowflakes fell on the windshield faster than the wipers could clear them, and I drank down a big gulp of liquor, wincing as the sting in my throat matched that in my heart.
“I can’t believe Percy thought he could command me like this.” I shook my head and huffed out a sigh of extreme annoyance, bemoaning the life I could have had if my father hadn’t died. Perhaps I would have found someone I loved, someone I truly cared about.
The riling bile in my throat made me grimace as visions of that deplorable beast holding me down and taking what he wanted filled my vivid imagination. His disgusting breath would assault my face, and I nearly vomited remembering it.
Oh, God. Please help me. Please give a sign. Show me how to get out of this.
God and I had never been on the best of terms, especially after She took my mother from me at such a young age. But in that moment, I prayed for absolution. I prayed for some miracle to come sweep me away. I prayed for divine intervention.
The snow fell harder, creating a sheet of white so thick I could barely see. I’d made quite the mess for myself, and if I turned around now, I might be able to make it home before it got too bad. But I was up in the mountains, and making my way down might prove to be more treacherous than climbing up.
I’m such an idiot. A stupid, stupid girl. Just like my brother said.
I took another long pull from the bottle before putting the lid on and chucking it into the passenger seat. The world spun, and I squinted, trying to keep up. I hadn’t eaten in hours, and the whiskey took advantage of that, going straight to my brain. Perhaps I’d die out here. Perhaps I’d go sailing off a cliff into a ravine.
What would my dear brother do then? How would he secure his alliance with the Scorpions? I chuckled at my own gallows humor, imagining the look on Percy’s face when he got the news of my untimely demise.
No.
I couldn’t do that. He’d just thrust it on Maeve or Avalon. Lord knew he couldn’t make Guin do anything, and I wondered how I could secure such a position for myself. How had Guin made herself so powerful in our family? She’d been close with our father, sure, but his death seemed not to have changed her life at all. Was it because she was older than me, near the same age as Percy? Or did he have some ulterior motive for her, one that had yet to be revealed?
I could kill him. I could take one of Father’s hunting knives and cut his heart out.
I laughed harder, sobbing through my hysterics as I coasted through the unplowed snow. Killing my own brother would certainly land me in Hell, if such a thing existed. Was it worse than selling a sibling out to the highest bidder? Who could say?
The higher up I climbed, the worse the driving conditions got. I’d lost track of where I was an hour ago. I’d grown up in these mountains. I’d been riding my horse through them since I was a girl, but everything became suddenly unfamiliar.
Had I been so caught up in my drama that I’d gotten confused in my own backyard? I eased off the gas, slowing down so I could glance around me. But the flakes fell too heavy for me to make anything out. The world had been blanketed in a thick sheet of frost, and after the sun went down, it all looked the same.
Pursing my lips, I stepped on the gas again, fiddling with the GPS so I could navigate my way out of this mess.
Just as I looked back up, something tiny and orange darted across the road, and I slammed on the brakes, trying to avoid it. The back tires hit a patch of ice, and the end of the vehicle fishtailed around. I struggled to hold on to the steering wheel, jabbing my foot into the brake pedal. Nothing I did gave me control again, and I spun, the seat belt tightening into my chest.
With a loud crunch, the SUV came to a stop and the airbags deployed. My head bounced off the hard cushion, my hands flying backward from the impact. For one peaceful moment, I thought I’d died. The world had gone blissfully quiet, and I thanked God for hearing me, for putting me out of my misery. I wanted it to be true. I wanted Her to have taken me.
The crinkling of soft snowflakes on the windows brought me back to reality, the bitter taste of airbag dust in the back of my throat choking me.
“What the fuck?” I groaned as agony shot down my head and into my torso. I blinked and leaned against the seat, grimacing as the taste of whiskey burned up my esophagus. The windshield had been cracked in the accident, but I could tell that I’d gone off the side of the road and pummeled into a big thick tree.
On the hood, a mere two feet in front of me, sat a medium-size burnt orange fox. Its bright amber gaze met mine, a smirk on its lips, its dainty paws poised in front of it as it thwapped its thick, fluffy tail on the crunched metal.
I’d never been so close to a wild animal, and if the shattered glass wasn’t in the way, I could have reached out to touch it. I got the sense that it would let me, that it wanted me to. Instead, I panted while we stared at each other.
Was this the being that had darted out in front of me? Was this the creature that had caused my accident to begin with? I’d seen a flash of orange fur just before I’d crashed.
It raised its ears and tilted its head to the side, seemingly curious about me and scolding me at the same time. For what, I didn’t know. Perhaps driving drunk in a blizzard. Perhaps acquiescing to my brother’s hair-brained schemes in the first place.
“What else am I supposed to do?” I whispered. “I don’t know how to fight him.”
The fox seemed unamused, simply tapping its tail faster before giving me a slow, indignant blink.
“I’m not Guin,” I said as another sob forced its way out of my throat. “I’m not my father.” I unclicked my seat belt and hung my head in my hands, wiping away the wetness on my cheeks as grief swelled up in my chest. When my fingers came away bloody, I tilted the rearview mirror at myself, realizing I had a cut on my forehead that had leaked down the side of my face. A bruise had already started to form on my cheek, and if I hadn’t been so wasted, I’d probably be crying over how badly I ached from the crash. Instead, I cleared my eyes and glanced back at the fox, who tilted its chin up, giving me a much sterner look.
Be strong, it seemed to say. You are strong. You are special.
“I don’t think I can be,” I murmured, my voice dry and cracked. “I don’t know how.”
Clearly done with me, it gave one last disparaging stare before hopping off the hood and disappearing into the winter storm. I had only a moment to wonder if I’d actually seen the creature before blinding headlights sent a spear straight through my eyes and out the back of my head, making me slam my eyelids shut and hold up a hand to block them out.
I didn’t know who this was, and I scrambled to find my purse on the passenger seat. I always carried pepper spray with me, but the damn thing had flown to the floor in the chaos. I leaned as far as I could go to grab it, digging through the tossed-up mess before gripping the circular device just as footsteps crunched through the snow toward me.
“Are you okay?” came a deep voice outside my window as the beam of a flashlight bounced around in the snow. “Hello?”
Finally, a face came into view, but I could only see his outline as I grabbed the door handle and pushed the barrier open. He was tall with a dark beard and a black cowboy hat on his head.
“Hi,” I said, stumbling out of the driver’s seat. My foot slipped on the snow and the stranger grabbed my shoulders to hold me up, looking at me with a concerned obsidian gaze. It was the middle of the night and the snow fell hard and fast, but the moon reflected off his mahogany eyes in a way that made them shimmer. I stared at him, transfixed by the beauty and depth of color, and all of my fear suddenly melted away. My anger, my grief, my perceived helplessness…it all vanished. I ran my red-soaked fingers over his face, his soft skin like velvet under my touch. “Are you an angel?”
He narrowed his gaze and furrowed his brows, nodding back toward his truck. “My place isn’t too far from here. We’ll get you warm and figure out how to get you home.”
If I hadn’t been so intoxicated, a thousand alarms would have gone off at the thought of getting into a stranger’s truck and letting him take me wherever he wanted. But those sirens never came, and as I clutched the pepper spray, I let him lead me back to his Chevy. After securing me in the passenger seat, he went back for my purse and other belongings, making sure to lock the door before closing it behind him and trudging to the truck.