Drayton
Silence. Marian didn’t say a word as she rested on the bed. She was on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Gone… Since the doctor had left and said there was no severe damage and that she would need to heal, she was so far away. And me, I didn’t know what to think.
Did I feel any better for telling her my intended plans? No. But she had to be prepared in case—In case, what? Was I seriously thinking about torturing her even more?
I couldn’t help but feel The Unavowed had stolen my revenge.
I was torn between right and wrong. Between any shred of morality I had left and the need to sate the festering fury.
All my plans. All the pleasure I’d meant to get out of making Marian pay…
fucking gone. Pleasure? In what? The woman I’d meant to make suffer had experienced a hell I couldn’t begin to put her through.
She was fucking broken, lying on the bed before me, not even sure what the hell reality was. Did I want to hurt her worse than this?
“My mother is dead… My family.”
I stayed quiet as she continued. She kept doing this. She’d just start talking in random moments, but sometimes it didn’t get anywhere.
“I knew the day would come. I knew… I… She did this to me. She h-hurt me again.” A long pause as she seemed to roll into an episode but stop it with small whimpers.
When she glanced at me, I knew she was back enough to hold a conversation.
At least for the moment. “What did she do this time? It had to be bad. They killed her.”
I shifted on the chair I sat in.
“I’m not entirely sure. Elec’s only told me so much. Apparently, she’s taken things. Money. Property—without consent, whatever the fuck that means. It doesn’t matter. She did it to a lot of people, and they had evidence. Your father knew about it which makes him just as guilty.”
“My brother, Jett?”
I paused.
“He was somehow responsible for the death of Sebastian Rivers. That’s all I know.”
“Seb? He’s dead?”
Marian went to sit, but I surged forward, lowering her back down.
“He is. They just had his funeral. Rest, Marian”
Tears raced down the sides of her face as she went back to staring at the ceiling.
“None of that make sense. This isn’t real. It can’t be. I must be dreaming.”
My jaw clenched. “You’re not.”
Seconds passed. “Heir.” Her head shot over to face me. “The Unavowed mentioned an heir. Your heir.”
“Our heir. That’s the condition to set you free. A betrothal. Between our line and his. The Pennington and LaRoe line—”
“Like fucking hell.” Marian came to life, flying to a sitting position. Sobs and screams tore from her as she tried to shoot off the bed. “Never! Never!”
“Enough. Marian! Look at me.” I held her shoulders, keeping her on her knees as I had to shake her to meet my eyes.
“His world, our world, you know how it works. Whatever your mother did, it was bad. I know this because Elec already stressed to me how hard it was to acquire you. That means The Unavowed has claim. That claim could very well change The Council’s mind if we fight it too hard. I had to say yes.”
“No.”
“Yes. Or we risk more than just a tie to blacklisted royalty. Marian, if we fight this, you may not be able to leave. They may change their mind and make you stay here. You’d go to some London elite for breeding purposes.”
“No! This isn’t happening. This isn’t real! You wouldn’t give him our heir, Drayton. You can’t do that!” Sobs left her, and I pulled her in as her fists hit into my chest. A scream muffled into my shirt, and I felt my hand fist into her tangled hair.
“I didn’t have a choice. I agreed to sign a contract, and I will. It’s done.”
Again, hot air from her scream burned into me. I didn’t like what I had to do any more than she did. Betrothals weren’t popular anymore, but they did happen, and now I was forcing that on a child I didn’t even have yet. Tying it to him… to a monster worse than me.
“This isn’t a dream, it’s a nightmare.” Marian broke away, sobbing as she let herself fall back to the bed. “I want to go… h-home. I want to—”
A knock sounded, and the door opened. I turned to see Elec walking through.
“Bram is back. He didn’t have to leave completely to get service. The Unavowed will be here shortly. I’m not sure, but I can’t shake this feeling that something is wrong.”
Marian’s sobs grew heavier, and Elec walked around, lowering to sit on the side of the bed, closer to the foot. Something swept over his face as he took Marian in. It was a mass of emotions that flickered so fast, they were hard to make out.
“Will you let me try to calm you?”
Slowly, Marian’s head rose. A broken-up sob left her. “The Unavowed says you killed my mother. Was it you?”
Elec’s back straightened as he sat taller on the bed. “It was.”
“Did you take pleasure in it?”
There was a pause as Elec glanced at me. “I did. She was dangerous. She hurt a lot of people.”
Marian took a shuddering breath, but a sob rolled right over it.
“She did.”
“She hurt you.”
An agonizing cry became muted as Marian turned back to the bed and shook from the new round of tears.
More, Elec scooted closer.
“I can help ease the pain. I can calm your emotions. I don’t even have to touch you. Just… look into my eyes and let me help.”
The cries died out, and she went still. Marian slowly turned, her bottom lip trembling as she painfully sat to study Elec’s face.
“What did you say?”
“I’m a doctor, Marian, remember? I’ve studied—”
“Your eyes… my mother, her tricks… Can you make me forget?” Her voice was breathless, but she was scooting closer to Elec in a desperate crawl.
Her eyes were so wide. So round through the plea.
“You can… make me forget. You can…” Faster her eyes went back and forth between his.
“I want to forget. I want—” A new sob. “You… can’t. ”
“Shh. I can.”
“No.”
“Look deeply into my eyes, Marian. Listen to my voice. Did your mother have you do this too?”
He snapped next to her right ear, speaking almost monotone. The pitch wasn’t… normal. It had me shifting as I looked between them confused on what was happening.
“Yes.”
“Then, this should be simple. The rules are already ingrained. I’m going to ask you some questions.”
A double snap. One more.
“Is your name Marian LaRoe?”
“Yes.”
“Keep looking deeply into my eyes. Your body is relaxing. You can feel it in your shoulders, moving its way down your back. Let your tongue drop from the roof of your mouth.” Snap. Snap-Snap. “Are you twenty-nine years old?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect. Have you lived in London the last few years.”
“Yes.”
Snap.
“You’re getting a little sleepy, but that’s relaxation. You won’t fall asleep. That’s trust. You’re trusting me. You’re letting your guard down because you know I’ll protect you. I will, Marian. I won’t let anyone hurt you. You’ve experienced severe trauma being at The Order.”
“Y-Yes.” The sob was barely contained.
“But not anymore. I want you to give me your pain. Collect every memory you don’t want anymore about what happened here and imagine pushing them right towards me.
” Foreign words I didn’t understand poured from Elec.
He snapped twice, moving to her opposite ear to snap next to that one. “Do you have them ready for me?”
“Yes. Yes.”
“See yourself push everything my way. See it, Marian. Give it to me and feel the heavy emptiness and pain leave you. You don’t need it. Deep breaths. Keep looking into my eyes. Push.”
Snap. Snap-snap.
Her hand reached out, gripping into his suit’s jacket. Marian’s lids suddenly looked so heavy. A deep excel left her and she swayed.
“Good girl. There we go.” More foreign words I couldn’t understand. As he traced his finger in the air, Marian followed it. No words. No sound. Just a snap right in front of her face… and she was out. Unconscious. Yet, she still sat on her own.
Elec glanced at me, his face hardening.
“There’s resistance. A lot. I have her under, but I don’t think it will be for long. I’ll try but… Fuck. We have to take advantage of this while we can. Let’s get the truth.”
“The truth?”
“It’s time to see just how guilty your chosen is. How involved was she in your fall? How much of a role did she play in her mother’s games? Do you want to know what really happened or not? It’s now or never, Drayton.”
Something in his stare had me swallowing back the questions that wanted to come. He’d done that finger trick to me. And he worked alongside the one woman he’d brought down. One… who was accused of things he’d just demonstrated himself.
“You’re positive what she says will be the truth?”
“Absolutely.”
“I want to know.”
He nodded, pushing his finger under Marian’s chin to tilt her head up.
“Open your eyes, Marian. Look back into mine.”
A delay followed as she obeyed.
“I want you to think back for me. Let your memories go back all the way to the night you accused Drayton of raping you.”
Tears raced quickly down her face as she slowly blinked.
“I said that.
“Yes, you did. Did you say it on your own free will?”
“No.”
“Did you want to say it?”
A sob. “No.”
Snap.
“Go through that entire day and night with me. How did the day start off?”
“Happy. Drayton was coming over. We were going to be alone in the guest house. Together, finally. I’d been pressuring him. I wanted him.”
Elec slowly nodded. “Good. And when he got there, what happened?”
“We immediately started… making out. I was nervous. I asked him to pour me a drink. I had a little. I couldn’t get enough of him. He asked if I wanted to stop. I said no. We went to the bed. He… was so… gentle with me. We—It was… perfect.”
More tears as I clenched my jaw and moved around wider to watch her every expression.
“He left shortly after that. My mom was going to be home soon.” Her face turned almost angry, but her stare never broke from Elec’s. “I cleaned up the guest house. I forgot the decanter and the glass.”
“And your mother found it?”
“Hours later. That led her to watch the footage. She was so angry. She slapped me. She went crazy.”
Elec nodded.
“And then what happened?”
“She said he raped me. She kept blaming the alcohol, talking about consent. I told her I wanted it to happen. I told her we were getting married.”
Marian sobbed.
“What did she say to that?”
“That I’d never marry a Pennington. Never… marry a rapist. She kept saying he raped me, over and over. She… kept trying her… tricks on me. She—She—She—"
“Slow, Marian. You’re safe, remember. What did she do?”
“She told me to go to bed. I did… and then… my arm.”
“What about your arm?”
“There was pain. A pinch. She… gave me a shot of something.”
Elec inhaled deeply. “And then?”
“I… don’t know. I… I was so sick. And it was nearly noon the next day. My mom said I had to go to London. That it was best to get me as far away as they could from a rapist. She—She told me—W-What I did. I-I didn’t—I’d never—”
“She drugged you, Marian. Do you know that?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever confront her about it.”
“Yes. All the time.”
“And what would she say?”
“That no one would believe me. They didn’t. I tried to tell them. I… tried… everything. No one listened. No one helped me.”
“I’m going to help you, Marian. Listen to what I say and listen well.
Forget The Order. You were never here. If you start to remember, they’re just bad dreams. It’s not you.
This never happened. What happened was an accident.
A car accident on your way home from the airport.
That’s what you’ll remember when you wake up, and the missing pieces will be amnesia.
You know this. You’re in London, and you’re only here to collect your belongings.
You’re marrying Drayton. You will give him as many heirs as you can.
When you learn of the betrothal, you will not fight against it.
Penny needs you, and you will give this to her.
That is your mindset. That makes you okay with this.
” He paused. “Now, go lay down on your pillow and go to sleep. Let your body heal, and let the pain disappear. You feel no more pain. You won’t even wake up and regain memory of your new life until I say. ”
Marian blinked, turning to move back to her pillows. Her lids lowered and blue eyes rose to mine. Elec just stared at me, and there was nothing I could do. Nothing I could say. What the hell had I just witnessed? What did any of this mean?”
“You have a lot to process.” He rose, coming to stare me down. “You have your chosen, and you have her side of the past. What you want to do about it is up to you.”