Chapter 31 #2
“I could cut this baby out of you right now and you wouldn’t be able to stop me,” he says whimsically, as if imagining doing just that, his grip so hard on my belly, until it’s just suddenly gone.
“I could summon Billy here and cut his throat in front of you. Hack him up into pieces the same way you did my Imogen.”
My Imogen.
Now it makes sense as to why Billy wanted me to leave it alone. Why he wouldn’t do anything about her.
“Please,” I whisper in a plea. “Don’t take my baby.”
His expression softens, his smile reappearing, “Then join me. Become one of my girls, and you and the child will have every protection this place can offer.”
I shake my head, tears threatening to spill over, but I bite my tongue hard enough to draw blood.
“I can’t.”
I won’t.
“Of course you can.” He brushes my cheek with the pad of his thumb, and the gesture makes bile rise in my throat.
“But I am generous. I know these decisions require reflection.” He stands, towering over me, his chin tipped down, shadow smothering me in the deepest shade of black. “You have until tomorrow night.”
My breath stutters, and the air feels like smoke as I try to breathe.
“Twenty-one hours to decide if your loyalty lies with me… with The Obsidian, or… somewhere else.” He shrugs, slipping his hands inside his pockets and turns away.
Fear chokes me so thoroughly I can’t speak. Staring ahead, watching the flames of the fire flicker and spit.
And then, click.
The door unlocks.
He steps aside, gesturing gracefully. “Go on. Gather your thoughts. Choose your future.” His eyes flick to my bulging stomach. “Choose wisely.”
My legs wobble as I stand. The room feels distorted, spinning, the shadows reaching toward me as if eager to drag me back. I don’t look at him again as I walk to the door, but his presence presses against my spine like a hand guiding me forward.
“Oh, and Penelope,” he calls after me just as I step over the threshold. “Not a word to Two about this, we wouldn’t want him to have to suffer for another of your indiscretions, would we?”
The hallway feels just as suffocating as he closes the door at my back, the air thick with leftover fear that clings to my skin.
I wipe my face, try to breathe, try to think.
Twenty-one hours.
To save my child.
To not betray my husband.
Twenty-one hours to-
I turn a corner too quickly and collide with someone.
Hard.
We both stumble.
Hands catch my arms, steadying me.
“Penelope?”
I blink through the blur.
“Dolly?”
Barefoot, wide-eyed, her dress is simple white linen, cinched with black rope. Her blonde hair is braided down her back, adorned with small silver charms that glint like stars.
And her wrists-
Bruises.
Old ones.
New ones.
Recognition hits me like a blow.
One of his girls.
She looks at me, really looks, gaze flicking over my pale face, my trembling hands, the way I’m holding my belly.
Her expression changes.
Softens.
Hardens.
The usual glint of lunacy in her sapphire eyes sparks to life.
Breaks.
Withers and dies.
“He called you in,” she whispers.
I swallow. “Yes.”
“And he asked you to-”
“Yes.”
Her own breath shakes, her grip tightens on my arms, nails cutting in. “Listen to me,” she whispers, voice trembling as though the walls might tattle. “You have one chance. One. I can’t give you more than that.”
“What do you mean?”
She looks around, left, right, then pulls me closer until her forehead rests against mine.
“There’s a way out.”
My pulse thrashes, ears buzzing, “What?”
“A path he doesn’t know I know.” Her voice drops lower. “A tunnel beneath the medical wing, Amaranthine can show you. If you want to keep your child, if you want to keep him safe, you need to leave. Now.”
My world tilts.
“Why… why would you help me?”
Her eyes glisten, haunted and hollow and full of something like devotion turned sour. “Because I was you once. And no one helped me.”
I think back to what Dolly told me before, rain beating down on us, shovels in hand, hoods pulled up over our heads, but we were soaked through all the same, wet hair strewn across both of our faces in the blustering wind.
‘Sometimes there’s no time to think things through, Penelope. Only death can release us now.’
I didn’t ever understand the first part, it wasn’t said in reference to anything as we dug Thomas Avery’s grave, so I paid it no mind, instead only focussing on the words that came after. Those I understood.
Dolly’s voice fractures. “And because if you stay here, Penelope… he will take everything.”
My breath hitches. “Where does it go? The tunnel?”
She closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them with brutal resolve.
“Out,” she says. “Far enough that The Obsidian can’t reach you before dawn. And then you’ll have to run. And keep running.”
A flicker of hope sparks in my chest, and she squeezes my hands. “Come with me. Before anyone notices you’re gone.”
Anyone.
Billy.
I’ve run before; I could do it again. But I’m not alone this time. There’s more than just my life at stake. What will happen to Billy in my absence, will they punish him for my leave?
“Billy’s a big boy, he can take care of himself,” Dolly says as if reading my thoughts.
And then, without waiting for an answer, she leads me deeper into the dark.