Silent Vows (Kingdoms #8)

Chapter 1 Grace

GRACE

It's the day of the auction.

I always knew that my mother was capable of cruelty, but I never imagined she would sink this low. I should have seen it coming, though. I was always her least favorite child.

The unwanted one.

The ugly one.

She's standing in front of a mirror, getting ready for the event.

"I gave you everything," she says, fastening a diamond necklace around her slender neck. "I put a roof over your head and protected you from the world. I gave you access to the finest private tutors. I paid for your piano lessons and personal trainers. And this is how you repay me?"

I don't say anything. I haven't spoken a word since she found me.

I don't let myself think about what's happening either. It's easier to exist in a state of sweet oblivion. It's easier to be numb to it all.

"You didn't just disobey me, Grace," she says, her beautiful eyes flashing with malice. "You betrayed me."

I pull my knees to my chest and stare at the chipped red nail polish on my toes.

The sight of it is bittersweet. It reminds me of how close I was to getting everything I wanted. I almost escaped the shackles of my past, but my mother hunted me down.

She found me.

And now, she's going to punish me for leaving.

"I carried you for nine months," she says. "Do you have any idea what that does to a woman's body? You were so big, even as a baby. You nearly killed me, Grace."

I feel a twinge of something deep inside me.

Despite everything, she's still my mother. Maybe I was wrong to run away when I knew she needed me.

But I can't let myself forget about the things I witnessed in the dungeons. I can't forget about the children she kept shackled there. I still see their faces in my nightmares.

My mother's cold eyes are fixed on me as she fastens her diamond studs.

"You left me to die," she says. "After everything I did for you, that was how you repaid me. You showed me how much compassion you had in your heart for me, and now, I'm going to do the same.”

I discreetly tug on the metal cuff enclosing my wrist. She chained me to the bedpost in case I tried to run again.

My mother turns around to look at me.

"Don't you have anything to say for yourself, Grace?” she says. "No words of remorse?"

I stare at her in quiet defiance.

She can do whatever she wants to me. It's not like I have much else to lose.

"Very well," she says. "I bet you'll have more to say when your sisters get here."

The blood drains from my face.

My sisters?

She relishes watching the terror spread across my face.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" she says. "We're about to have a little family reunion."

"What?" The word is barely audible as it leaves my lips.

"Now you want to talk?" Her violet eyes light up with satisfaction as she sprays perfume over her pulse points.

"Mother, please leave them out of this," I say. "Chloe and Briar have their own lives now. They have families.”

She whirls to face me. With her white skeleton fingers, she pushes aside the neckline of her dress, showing me the scar in the middle of her chest. It's a thin sliver on her flawless skin, but I know it bothers her. Anything less than perfection is unacceptable in her eyes.

"This is what your sisters did to me, Grace," she says. "Did you show me mercy when you saw me bleeding out on the ground? Did you come back for me?"

I stare at the jagged scar.

It’s the only reminder that the past few months actually happened.

I did something I never thought I’d have the guts to do—I ran away from home.

Things had reached an all-time low. One of my sisters was in a drug-induced coma, and the other was put in the dungeons. I helped my eldest sister, Chloe, escape from the dungeons before I decided to run away.

I wanted a fresh start.

A new life.

I almost had it all, but it all turned to ashes when my mother found me. The dagger that Chloe buried in her chest wasn't enough to kill her.

Our mother is back, and she's more vengeful than ever.

She enlisted me in a human auction where I’ll be sold to the highest bidder. And I suspect that she’s only getting started.

"It's a trap, isn't it?" I ask, watching her closely. “You’re using me as bait to draw Chloe and Briar here.”

“Smart girl,” she says.

"What are you going to do to them?" I ask.

"Oh, you'll see," she says. There's an inhuman gleam in her eyes that sends a shiver down my spine. “But if you must know, I’ll be starting with Chloe."

My mother has never hidden her disdain for Chloe. She is her stepdaughter—and the one who stabbed her in the chest.

If she catches Chloe this time, she won't show any mercy.

My mother walks toward me. The scent of her perfume makes me flinch like it always does. She opens the bedside drawer and pulls out a mahogany box. It’s the one she carries with her everywhere she goes.

My pulse spikes at once.

I hate that thing with a vengeance.

She filters through her collection of pills and vials, her long, slender fingers graceful like she's picking daisies for a bouquet.

"Mom, please," I say, hating the pathetic way my voice breaks.

She selects a vial. Her Swarovski-studded nails click against the glass as she screws it open. She uses a syringe to carefully draw out the milky content.

It's not the first time I'm seeing her with a syringe. She gives us microdoses of drugs to keep us under her control. But today, she empties the entire vial.

“I purchased this one just for Chloe,” she singsongs.

"What is it?” I whisper.

“I’m so glad you asked,” she says, her lips spreading in a dazzling smile. "It’s an extract of neurotoxins from an Amazonian snake. It kills the victim slowly, painfully. And the best part is that there is no known antidote.”

My heart squeezes in my chest.

This is what I’ve feared my entire life. She's going to kill one of us.