Chapter 31
Jack
I’m a fool.
Right now, it feels as though every shitty, stupid decision I’ve ever made is a brick that’s laid over my chest and I’m lying here, slowly getting the life squashed out of me.
Something happened to me in the labs, while I was scrabbling around in the dark and caked in stolen magic.
I felt this rush go through me as though I’d stuck my head into a vat of pure energy that flowed through every part of my body.
And just like that, I had power for the first time in my life.
I went from the useless whelk my parents could barely stand into something entirely new.
Something useful.
And in my infinite wisdom, once we escaped from the labs and went on the run, I figured who else could help to clear our names?
Who among us had contacts that might be powerful enough to get out of this jam?
My family is high up in sorcerer society, which means they have contacts all over the place.
I thought to myself that if anyone could do a backroom deal with the right person and have every name expunged from the arrest records, it would be them.
Well, it seems I overestimated my powers of persuasion.
Or perhaps my issue was that someone more persuasive had got to them first.
“Come along, sweetness,” her voice cuts through me and echoes off the bare stone walls of this mausoleum of a mansion, setting my nerves on edge.
She’s putting earrings in, wearing a dress that’s gaping at the back which will need buttoning by my unwilling fingers. Her smile widens as she takes in the state of me, dressed in a full suit that’s itchy and too tight around the collar.
I’m dressed up like a prize turkey, ripe for stuffing.
And then she says the words that send a cold shiver down my spine. “Could you do me up, sweetie?”
No. I’d rather chop my fingers off and cook them into a pie.
But a familiar fuzz fills my head, and I get to my feet, moving forward on stiff legs as she gives a little giggle, twisting so I have full access to her back. I reach out, fighting against myself and gritting my teeth as I run a finger down her spine.
Revulsion fills me. But I can’t stop myself, can’t fight the compulsion to brush my fingertips over her with each button that’s fastened.
“Thanks, darling,” she says, twisting over her shoulder. “Now, you’d better get your shoes on. We don’t want to be late for supper with your parents.”
She sashays out the door, and I slump onto the side of my bed in this rented townhouse.
We never should have left Araminta alive. We just left her there after Finch had destroyed the labs, assuming she’d get her just desserts.
But I’m not the only one who was changed when I stepped out of the labs.
Now I know why Aster looks like he’d rather jump off a cliff than suffer another moment with her.
And why Kit’s been royally messed up ever since he tangled with her.
She’s an expert at delving into your mind and fiddling around, using her stolen magic to make you think and do things you wouldn’t normally, all while your body is screaming at you that it’s wrong.
I surge to my feet and hurry to the sink, washing and rewashing my hands until they’re dry and cracked. I’d frankly like to peel my skin off and start over, like a snake. Maybe then I could slither back to my crew—my real family—and they might accept me in my new, skinless form.
“Darling,” she calls up the stairs. “We’re going to be late.”
Right. Dinner with my family. A chance to find out how far they’ve got in what they promised me; a clean slate for the entire crew. Their records mysteriously expunged.
Then all we need is to deal with the king, and they’ll be home free.
I had thought the sorceress might be my solution to that issue. I’d thought I could charm her into assisting, that I could offer her my family’s connections and she could set my true family free.
But I should have remembered how slippery sorcerers are. All of them have kept me on the same hook for weeks now, and I’m just about ready to wriggle off.
“Sweetie?”
Or at least, I think I am. And then I wind up a mile from the house, clutching a handbag in one hand and a jar of stolen magic in the other, with no idea how I got there.
It’s a terrible feeling to have these great scars in my memory, where I can’t recall where I’ve been or what I’ve done. Part of me doesn’t want to know the truth.
I force my feet to carry me downstairs where she’s waiting with a smile fixed on her face. Her hair is tied so tightly it makes her look vaguely skull-like and unsettling. But I paste on a charming smile and hold out my arm for her to take.
Our special dinner is at an exclusive restaurant in the centre of the city. My parents have lowered themselves to make the trip, due to the special occasion, and I’m hoping this will finally, finally be when they make good on their promises.
The restaurant is busy with a low hum of voices all around as we’re led by a stiff-backed waiter to a table right in the centre of the room. Crystal chandeliers glint above us, their light boring into me, and I stumble over my feet, earning myself a sharp nip on the arm with Araminta’s fingernails.
My parents and brother are already seated around the table, clutching drinks that are already half empty. The air seems to thin, and I fight to take a full breath as I sit down.
“Mother, father, Miles. So good of you all to make it.”
My father gives a curt nod before turning back to his conversation with my brother, who smirks over his glass at me.
Clearly, I’m not being accepted into the family fold anytime soon.
But I don’t need that. All I need is for them to have pulled some strings. To have had a word in the right ears and get the records expunged. And it’s not as though the king himself will know any of the crew’s names or details.
My heart pounds as Araminta bares her teeth in a smile, squeezing my thigh. “Shall we share the good news, sweetie?”
I nod and then wait an awkwardly long couple of seconds for my family to turn their attention to the two of us. “Myself and Araminta are engaged to be married,” I say.
I feel like a rat in a trap as the words come out. As though once they’re out in the world, they cannot be unsaid.
“Oh, darling.” My mother reaches across the table to pat my hand with cold fingers. “How wonderful.” She turns to my father and brother. “Isn’t that wonderful news, strengthening our family with a new member.”
Her surprise is entirely false. They’ve all known for weeks that this was the plan all along and that it’s part of the deal.
My mother is thrilled, obviously. Although Araminta might not be quite the pedigree of sorceress my family were hoping for, the level of power she’s now pumping out is enough to persuade her.
Beside me, my new fiancée rakes her fingernails over my knee, and I fight against a shudder of revulsion.
Thankfully, I don’t need to say another word, not when Araminta and my mother commence a slightly stilted conversation over wedding plans.
My brother and father are still locked in their own conversation that I’m not important enough to be involved in.
What a shame.
It’s too hot in this room. Airless too. My collar feels like it’s constricting my neck, and I reach out for a glass of water, but snatch my hand back when I see how badly I’m shaking.
Now’s not the time to show my hand or lose my cool.
Plus, I deserve to feel this overwhelming sense of discomfort.
I knew what she was doing to Kit, confusing him, messing with his head.
I knew what my brother was doing too, that he was manipulating Kit until he barely knew which way was up.
While I tried to distract her, nothing I could do worked while she’s oddly obsessed with him.
She was the one to insist on dragging Kit from the island into the city when my brother had alerted the authorities to the crew’s location.
Then I spot a curly head of hair from across the room, and my insides all turn to stone. Shoving to my feet far too abruptly, I meet my mother’s unimpressed stare with a curt bow.
“Excuse me for one moment.”
Without waiting to hear a word of complaint against my rudeness, I stride across the room and grab Reva’s arm as I pass by, steering the two of us toward the cloakroom close to the door.
How I wish I could just keep going, right the way out into the street.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss. “And how did you find me?”
Reva blows a curl from her face, glaring up at me. “I felt you. Your anxiety, your regret. You’re not doing your usual job of masking the bond. I couldn’t seem to stay away.”
Closing my eyes for a moment, I huff out a pained sigh. The mate bond, of course. Another complication I hadn’t anticipated.
“You should have. You should have stayed far, far away.”
Reva’s brow creases. “What is happening, Jack? What the hell’s going on with you?”
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” I keep my tone cold, channeling my dear mother as much as I can.
“Are you all right?” Reva continues, ignoring my words as though I never even spoke. “Because you don’t feel all right. It feels like—”
“Darling?”
Before Reva can say another word and I can soften toward her genuine concern, that voice has my hackles raising and my blood running cold.
“Just ordering some more drinks to toast us, darling.” I twist around to address my new fiancée, wanting to tear my own tongue out when I turn back to Reva and her expression creases into one of pure bafflement.
“A round of drinks for the entire table,” I say to Reva as though I’ve mistaken her for a staff member. “We’re celebrating our engagement.”
“Your en-gagement.” She says the word oddly, like she can’t quite force them out of her mouth.
That makes two of us. But I willingly got myself into this mess.
“You little fucker,” Torin growls into my ear. I can’t see him anywhere, but I can certainly feel his menacing presence.
Fuck.
Taking one for the team has never felt worse. Especially when I feel the bond in my chest lighting up. There’s so much confusion and hurt zipping through my veins right now, and only a fraction of it is my own.
What kind of man tells his mate that he’s engaged to another woman? Not only that, but a woman who has actively manipulated and tortured two of her other mates?
I’ve been trying to stifle the bond, smothering it until I can’t feel it any longer. It’s the only way I’ve been able to keep my sanity over the past few days, and there’s absolutely no way I can risk Araminta getting wind of it.
If I focus on it for too long, I’m going to vomit. It’s all the things I’m turning my back on by working with my family and by joining myself with the venomous sorceress.
I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s not forever. At least, I hope it isn’t. I just need to stick it out long enough that the rest of them are safe. Although I don’t know how I’m going to get myself out of the web I’ve willingly chosen to tangle myself up in.
Araminta takes a long look at Reva, who is blinking at me in confusion before she gives a brief nod and heads toward the bar.
I don’t like the way Araminta continues to watch Reva with a puzzled expression on her face that I don’t like at all. Stepping forward so that I’m blocking her view of Reva, I brush my hand over Araminta’s elbow, cringing as I make contact.
“Let’s head back to the table, darling,” I say. “My mother wants to get to know you better.”
Araminta gives me a long look. I can see her mind working as she’s trying to find an issue with my words, but I give her a goofy smile and she just nods briskly before turning on her heel.
Before I follow her, I shoot Reva one last look to check she’s safely out of the way, and a phantom hand claps me on the shoulder, stopping my progress forward.
“You should get out of the city while you still can,” Torin mutters in my ear. “You know how Finch feels about traitors.”
Then the bond in my chest shutters, deadened until I can’t feel a thing.
Seems fitting, really, as I head back to my family and the fiancée I can’t stand. And I hope against hope that this turns out to be worth it, and that my real family forgives me at the end of it.