Chapter 5 Maddox
Chapter five
Maddox
My chest squeezes painfully as I glance around my father’s study.
Dottie is hidden from Griselda’s perceptive abilities—for now, at least. But Griselda is like a dog with a bone, especially once she’s tasted blood.
I realize too late that I've led my evil ex-fiancée right to the hidden treasure she’ll be only too happy to destroy in front of my eyes.
Idiot.
Every time I look at Dottie’s pouty lips or catch a whiff of her incredible scent, I want to destroy the world for keeping me from her. She’s the ultimate forbidden fruit, and I’m tired of being so fucking hungry for her.
What the fuck is she doing back here now?
Of all the times to return. I clench my jaw in frustration.
I left this world ten years ago, partly to keep Dottie safe.
If anybody had figured out my obsession with her, she would’ve been used as a pawn to get me to do my father’s bidding, or eliminated.
My stomach turns at the thought of a world without her in it.
When I caught Dottie slipping through the ballroom doors, I cloaked her with my magic.
She was stealthy, but not nearly enough for a room full of wizards.
Especially in that uniform. It's hard to blend in with a body like hers on display.
She has more curves than a mountain road.
An icy pit forms in my stomach when I think of what might have happened if I hadn't helped her. Demetrius, my father's head of security, would’ve crushed her without a second thought if she hadn’t been invisible.
I followed her, so preoccupied with getting her safely away from everyone else that I didn't consider Griselda's persistence.
"Maddox, you can't run away from this." Griselda stands in front of the door with her hands on her hips, tapping her pointed fingernails against her dark green dress. "I know your father wants you to pick a wife."
"Do you?" I ask, leaning against the desk with feigned disinterest. Of course she does.
Griselda is the most sought-after public relations director and political fixer in the city.
She knows everything about everyone. Or at least about the wealthy and famous who sell their souls to get what they want.
Griselda runs her gaze over me, lingering around my zipper for a moment before pursing her pouty lips. "My job is to put out fires, Maddie. And this fire is raging out of control."
I hate that nickname, and she knows it. Nobody has ever called me that but her, which tells me everything I need to know. Griselda doesn't want to marry me. She wants to marry into my family.
But I've known her my entire life, and it's not worth making her mad. Griselda is a cruel woman. Even when we were children, she delighted in torturing others.
I clench my jaw, wanting desperately to get her the hell away from Dottie, but Griselda walks further into the room and straddles my outstretched legs, batting her eyelashes at me. She runs her hands lightly over her body in a seductive move, and I try not to vomit in my mouth.
"Some might say it’s you who starts the fires, Gristle," I say, using the nickname I know she hates.
Her grin is sickly sweet and makes my skin crawl. "If I have to start a fire here to put out a fire there, all the better." She shrugs her thin, bony shoulders and taps her finger lightly on my chest. "Just depends on who's paying me more."
A tiny, almost imperceptible noise emerges from the cupboard where Dottie is hiding, and Griselda's head whips in that direction.
I quickly throw up a second shield around Dottie with a flick of my fingers and whisper a distraction spell into Griselda's ear.
She turns back to me slowly, blinking like she's coming out of a haze. "What were we talking about?"
I turn quickly so she doesn't see my smirk. Griselda is powerful, but not nearly as powerful as I am. "I think you were attempting to seduce me. And it wasn't working."
"Still saving yourself for marriage, Maddie?" Her voice is sweet, but her sneer reveals her true feelings.
I don't respond, refusing to confirm or deny her fishing expedition.
Griselda was genuinely flabbergasted by my disinterest in her body when we were teenagers.
I get it. It must have been confusing to know that I was one of the few boys at Emerald City Prep who didn't dream of burying myself between her long legs.
But Griselda's heart reminded me of everything bad in my life.
Still does. She became another person I had to wear a mask with to conceal my real feelings.
"We could make it official, and you could let me pop your cherry." Griselda's lips brush my cheek as she whispers into my ear.
A shudder of revulsion skates through me.
Interpreting my reaction as interest, she pulls back and reaches for the snap on the halter top of her dress.
"Go back to the ball, Griselda. I'm sure a lot of people out there are looking for what you’re offering."
Her hands freeze in place as I straighten and move away from her. "What the fuck, Maddox?"
The real Griselda comes out to play as she shoves my chest and paces in front of me with a furious scowl. "You think I'm such a terrible prospect? Do you want to end up with Vera instead?"
"Nice way to talk about your friend."
"Oh, fuck off!" she screams.
I throw up a silencing spell in the room so she doesn’t draw attention.
"We were supposed to get married, and you were on board right up until graduation. Then you fucking leave town, and that's the last I hear from you?"
Raising an eyebrow, I channel all the patience I can muster, tamping down my fury at Griselda’s warped version of events. "We were eighteen, and our dads were forcing us to marry. You couldn’t possibly have wanted that."
"Yes, I did!" Griselda snarls, her eyes wild as she whirls on me. She pinches the bridge of her nose and takes a deep breath. When she speaks again, her voice is soft. "There was a time when you did too. When you wanted to marry me. For love."
Guilt washes over me because she isn't wrong. But that was when I wanted to win my father's affection. When marrying a woman I didn’t love was worth it if it meant he’d pay attention to me.
Mistaking my silence for reconsideration, Griselda takes a graceful step toward me and pinches my chin between her thumb and forefinger. Her eyes shine with tears. "I was promised a life, Mad. I was promised you."
For a brief moment, I believe her. I almost feel sorry for ruining her dream, especially since it’s a dream that will never come to fruition.
Then I notice a trace of pink glitter from a sparkle weed glinting in her tears, and I realize she's using a spell to create the waterworks.
"Wishes and hopes, Gristle." I narrow my eyes at her. "You'll get over it. And under someone else in no time."
She slaps me hard across the face. Her long, razor-like nails slice tiny cuts across my cheekbone. I let it happen, hoping it gives her enough satisfaction that she'll leave.
"I don't love you, Griselda, and I never will."
Her chest heaves as she levels me with a menacing glare. "Oh, please. This isn't about love, you selfish fucking prick!"
Storming to the door, she throws it open, pausing on the threshold.
She turns with a regal air enhanced by the golden light framing her from the hallway.
"Just remember this decision might not be up to you, darling.
And you should think twice before pissing off your future wife.
Welcome home, Maddie." She blows me a mocking kiss before slamming the door behind her.
I clench my jaw as the quiet of the room settles around me. I turn my attention to the cupboard, furious that Dottie took such a stupid risk tonight. If not for me, she would be dead.
"You can come out now."