Chapter 23
“Are you down here again?” Arielle’s voice sounded from the doorway of the studio. I’d been painting furiously, even though I’d known I would need to leave all these behind.
I almost jumped out of my skin. A week had passed since my conversation with Ursuline, and they hadn’t returned to the manor.
At least not that I was aware of. The Tritons had been more present this week, Frederick and Darla emerging at the beginning, appearing at random when I was painting or in the kitchen, but then they’d abruptly left yesterday.
All three sisters had been in and out in regular occurrences, but with the weekend approaching, Arielle would want to head to the club every night.
“Yeah,” I said, attempting a fake smile.
“Just working on a piece.” Trying to pretend I hadn’t seen an uglier side of her exposed beneath the plastered, empty grins.
After seeing that glimpse, I couldn’t buy the superficial front any longer.
The truth leaked out of every tiny twitch to her expression, every sharper edge to her words.
“I’m supposed to invite you to the club tonight,” she said, leaning against the doorframe. “But you hated it, right? Papa isn’t here, so we can claim you went with me.”
“Definitely not my scene.” I told the truth there. “Go ahead without me. I’ll pretend I went.”
“Oh, thank fuck,” she said, flashing me another empty grin. “No offense, but I didn’t feel like babysitting.”
“None taken,” I said, forcing a smile. The idea of being away from the manor now, when I could get a text at any moment, sent a spike of panic through me.
I’d been existing on a perpetual state of adrenaline throughout the week, the readiness stamped into my bones.
My go-bag waited for me beneath my bed. I’d even packed the key to the cage, the pressure around my cock a reminder of who I belonged to—and I didn’t want to take it off.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and said adrenaline shot through the roof.
Arielle lingered in the doorway, even though I itched to check.
“This week we’ll be starting the preparations for the wedding,” she said. “A whole lot of boring stuff and decisions. Plus a prenup, you know, the usual.”
My grin faltered. The urgency filtered through my system stronger than ever.
Once I signed those papers, the Tritons would own me.
In the eyes of the city, in the eyes of society.
Ursuline had already warned me the clauses worked in there were nasty, not the normal stuff included in a prenup, and out of everyone, they would know.
My legs trembled with the itch to run, to bolt to my bedroom and grab my bag, but Arielle was still in the doorway.
“Sounds good,” I forced out, trying to keep my tone normal. “I like the details. I’m happy to do most of the work if you find it boring.”
“Perfect,” she said, her expression lightening. One of those tinkling laughs escaped her again, but everything had a phony edge in the wake of seeing her in a different light. “I’ll see you around. Have fun with your art.”
With that, she disappeared out of the doorway.
I let out a held breath and snagged my phone. The message was from Ursuline.
It’s time.
Oh fuck. I needed to leave. Now.
I didn’t bother cleaning up in the studio, which felt like sacrilege.
No one ever visited down here anyway, and I could guarantee no one cared about losing a few brushes.
Instead, I headed down the hallway and up the stairs, making sure to keep my steps slow and measured, even though my insides jittered like I’d mainlined an entire carafe of coffee.
The silence hummed around me, but I kept my focus forward, passing the familiar rooms as I headed to the room that had become mine during my time here.
One that would fast become a memory.
My gut churned.
I was leaving.
I was escaping the Triton family, my own family, maybe even Peregrine City.
But I was also leaving Ursuline.
My chest spasmed, and pain sliced through me. The idea of going without them wounded me in a way that would scar. In a way I’d carry with me every waking moment. They’d somehow emblazoned themself on my soul. I didn’t know when I’d fallen for them, but between midnight swims and diner trips, I had.
They owned a piece of my heart.
I reached my room and closed the door behind me as I grabbed the black bag I’d packed and left under the bed. As I slipped the straps over my shoulder, the weight of it settled heavily inside me.
I trusted Ursuline had let Jason know. I trusted they were sending me off to a better future.
However, they would remain in this hell.
I adjusted the bag on my shoulder as I stepped to the door.
From here on out, I needed to be quick, and I needed to walk through these halls unseen.
If the staff spotted me, my bulky bag could raise questions or sound alarms. If Arielle wandered through the halls, I’d be fucked before I even stepped foot out the door.
My hand rested on the doorknob, and I paused, staring around the room I had as little attachment to as the one I’d grown up in. For me, home hadn’t been a refuge but the spaces I carved for myself around safe people.
I’d never experienced the idea of a home or felt the comfort deep in my bones the way I did around Ursuline.
Except now I was walking away. The sense of guilt tugged at my gut, sent my stomach roiling.
However, if I stayed, we’d not just be trapped in hiding, in agony, but Triton would use my family’s connections for harm.
I opened the door and stepped into the hall.
Ever since Ursuline had given me the instructions, I’d practiced the trek from here to the back entrance.
I’d figured out the best pathway there, the one to avoid passing by most of the main areas.
The one that bypassed the staff lounge space too.
Oftentimes, they were the only people in this manor besides me, but ever since Jacques vanished, everyone who had been friendly before had grown colder.
Maybe I was at fault for his disappearance. If he hadn’t been talking to me, if Arielle hadn’t overheard…
I tightened my grip on the strap at my shoulder and slowed to peer around the first corner.
Clear.
I sucked in a breath and headed down the corridor.
Instead of heading to the main staircases, I detoured to a smaller one that was used by the staff to navigate around with laundry, cleaning equipment, or whatever else they were involved in for the upkeep of this massive mansion.
Even as I reached the stairwell, the idea still hadn’t settled in that I wasn’t going to be stuck under the constraints of a rich family.
Or any rich family. My actions had been dictated by the society I’d been born into my whole life.
But I’d be free.
Except Ursuline wouldn’t.
I kept my steps quiet as I descended the stairwell, one that would bring me close to the exit. Tension threaded through the air with my every move forward. Because the stakes at this point weren’t disappointment or a slap on the wrist.
No, I’d seen the cruelty in Frederick’s eyes. I was aware of what he was capable of, and betraying him would have consequences.
Shame flushed through me. How had I gotten myself into this situation in the first place? Maybe if I’d trusted Jason to be able to take care of himself, if I’d contacted him to run, I could’ve avoided all this.
Yet then I would never have met Ursuline.
And I couldn’t regret a second of our time together.
I reached the bottom of the stairwell, my heart lodged in my throat. Sweat burst on my palms, and I kept forgetting to breathe. I pushed open the door leading to a corridor that led to the back entrance as well as the staff lounge.
The moment I walked through the door, I paused.
In the far distance, a laugh sounded, coming from the other end of the hall, tucked farther down in one of the rooms. From the lounge.
Someone was there. Or several someones. My throat grew drier than I believed possible. If any of the staff walked this way, I was fucked. My naivete had dripped away the longer I stayed in this place.
I took the first step forward. And then another.
The sounds at the other end of the corridor continued, and I paid close attention to them, to any minute shifts, all while I approached the door.
Feet lay between me and my freedom.
As long as the car Ursuline had mentioned waited for me outside the door.
My heart squeezed tight. I wanted to see them again to try to convince them to come. To tell them goodbye. To feel their tentacles wrapped around my limbs just one last time.
I reached the door.
The tinted glass was difficult to see through, obscured further by the darkness of night that awaited me. This was the final step. My heart lodged in my throat.
The sounds at the end of the hall quieted. My internal alarms rang. If they weren’t talking anymore, they could be heading this way at any moment.
I yanked the door open and stepped out into the brisk night.
A black car thrummed before me, the engine on, ready to go.
Time to leave.
My back prickled with awareness, enough to nudge my feet forward. I stumbled up to the back seat of the car and tugged at the latch.
“Get in,” a low voice barked at me.
My pulse thundered, but I dove inside, drawing the door shut behind me. The car jerked forward, and we set into motion.
I sank against the seat, the breath rushing out of me. To my left, I could feel someone there, watching me, but I hadn’t caught up with the fact that I sat in a car, escaping the Triton manor.
That I was leaving my old life behind and heading into the unknown.
“You okay?”
That voice…no, it couldn’t be.
Hope surged into an almost sickening swell.
I whipped my head to the left, and the person I’d wanted to see most was sitting beside me.
Ursuline reclined in the seat, their dark gaze glittering with concern. The air hummed with an undeniable electricity as one question emerged in my mind. Hope fluttered to the surface, too desperate and insistent to smother.
Their tentacle wrapped around my wrist, and they squeezed. Their gaze met mine, and I couldn’t look away if I’d wanted to. My heart lodged in my throat.
“Why?” was all I managed to push out.
“I’m coming with you.”