Chapter 32
Jessamine didn’t want more power. That was the reality of it. When she became queen—and she knew that was a when, not an if—she didn’t want to be responsible for even more. There was too much at risk here, and too much that she could take.
It was tempting, though. So tempting to look them all in the eye and tell them she would take care of them.
She would make the decisions, lift the burden from their shoulders, and if anything happened, it was no longer their fault.
They would be absolved of all responsibilities if she took over the coven. But she could not.
For too long, Jessamine had been the one who looked the others in the eye and told them she was right, even if she feared she was wrong. She’d held that burden along with all the others that plagued her. She couldn’t do that anymore.
Elric saw right through her. He could see the worries in her gaze, the fears she hid from everyone else.
He was the reason she’d said no. Because if anyone knew the depths of her soul, it was him.
Everything was already a little too much for her.
She’d lost her life to Leon, then her soul to a god, been forced to kill the man she looked at as a father figure, and now?
Now she was planning to ruin the life of her own cousin like it was an afterthought.
Jessamine wasn’t sure she liked who she was becoming. It was far too easy to believe she should kill Fortuna and get it over with, far too easy to want to hurt her childhood tormentor. But was such an action the just choice? Would her mother be proud of her for making it?
She took a deep breath and watched them all settle into idle chatter.
The witches in the room all started talking about how many more witches they would like to add into the fold.
Both Agnes and Elissa had candidates they thought would be important to bring in.
Women who were trustworthy and who hated how the Pleasure District was being run.
“Don’t forget the Factory District,” Jessamine mused, making eye contact with Sybil. “It’s already in turmoil. If we can find someone with enough power to take over there, we can make sure we have our fingers in that place as well.”
Sybil nodded. “I know just the person. A wife of a politician there, a man who is younger than most. He’s quite persuadable, and easy for her to control. If there’s anyone who could rise after the Iron Knuckles dissolve into chaos, it’s him.”
“Get a message out.”
She nodded and then turned to the others who were still talking about those in the Pleasure District they would need to convince. It didn’t escape Jessamine’s notice that Elric’s hands were twitching underneath the table. Just a few shudders that he likely didn’t even recognize were happening.
She knew him well. Some part of him was excited to feel the sacrifices that would soon flow in his direction.
But there would always be a fear inside of him because he was dealing with witches.
They were glutting him. Fattening him up with magic, and soon enough, someone would want to take that power from him.
She just had to be strong enough to stop them.
Hugo meandered over to her, his big arms crossed over his chest as though he was trying to take up the least amount of space possible. Like he was sneaking over to her so his grandmother wouldn’t notice him.
She took another sip of her tea, watching him over the rim of the cup until he leaned against the cabinets with her, watching the other witches. It took him a while to start talking. But when he did, her entire body stiffened.
“The man in the basement wants to talk to you,” Hugo said.
“I heard he knew who I was.”
“He’s been asking about you this morning. It’s the only thing he’ll say. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone but Lady Jessamine Harmsworth.” A shadow flickered in front of his dark eyes. “I don’t like it that he knows so much, and I don’t think you should trust him.”
“No, I don’t doubt that I should keep my guard up around him. Do we know who he is yet?”
Hugo shook his head.
That wasn’t a lot of information to go on, but Jessamine loved a mystery. Glancing over at Elric, she made eye contact with him and then pointedly looked at the door. With a small nod, he stood as well, and together they strode out of the room.
Hugo didn’t come with them, Jessamine noticed, but she hadn’t expected him to. He was never far from his grandmother’s side, even now that she was younger. If nothing else, he was loyal beyond reason.
“Where are we going?” Elric asked, his voice a little too bright.
“You know where we’re going.”
“I’ll admit, I’m curious to understand how he even found us. He didn’t say, and when I asked, he practically ran from me,” Elric mused as they approached the basement door. He held it open for her in a mockery of chivalry, his arm outstretched for her to step into the darkness.
She waltzed in front of him without a hint of fear in her step. And that… was odd.
“You know,” she said as she placed her hand against the wall for balance, “I used to be scared of the dark.”
“Is that so?”
“When I was little, I had to have a candle going all night. If it went out, I would run to relight it in a panic, my hands shaking and my heart racing like something would come out of the shadows and get me if that candle wasn’t flickering in the room.
” She could feel an echo of the memory, her heart kicking up beneath her ribs, the familiar claws of fear tangling around her mind and coiling through her body.
Her feet hit the basement floor, and Elric’s warm arm wrapped around her waist. He tugged her back against him, flush to the heat of his chest and the hard planes of muscle she now knew so well.
“What changed?” he growled into her ear, his muscles bunching beneath her fingers.
“You.”
That growl turned into something far more possessive. He tightened his grip on her, dragging her deeper into his embrace before murmuring in her ear, “If anything happens, turn your head.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to see the pieces of him that will be left after anyone tries to touch you in front of me.
I will suffer fools if you wish, but the moment they try to harm you, Jessamine, I make no promises.
” He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, trying to make what he just said a little less monstrous.
“There will not be much left of him, but I would appreciate it if you did not see what I can really do.”
She swallowed hard, then nodded. Because even though it was wrong, even though she should have feared him as he said that, she just wanted to turn him around, press him against the wall, and have her way with him again.
Jessamine had spent her entire life with people who were willing to take care of her. There had been countless guards who would have laid down their lives for the royal family in a moment. But no one had been willing to be a monster for her. No one had been willing to be so… evil.
“Understood.”
“Good girl.”
He released her onto wobbly legs and chuckled as she made her way to the rooms in the back of the basement.
She could only barely see the doors, the candlelight down here was so weak.
But she’d seen the rooms when she’d first taken the tour.
Very simplistic, with little more than a cot, an end table, and a bare light that hung above their heads.
“Did we really need a prison down here?” she muttered.
“Yes,” he replied before walking ahead of her and opening the door. He looked inside with a disapproving glance before nodding at her. “We clearly did.”
She strode inside and was shocked to see the young man chained to the wall in there.
The brilliance of his golden hair, the rather greasy complexion that she’d never seen so slick with sweat.
The wild look in his handsome eyes. All of it was so familiar to her, though slightly different at the same time.
“Jessamine!” the young man gasped.
She knew him. She recognized that face, his hair, the sharp beak of his nose. “Unchain him,” Jessamine said, her voice shaking.
“Jessamine,” Elric started.
“Now.”
She waited as Elric moved forward and did just that. And then stepped forward as the young man rushed to her without any fear of the god who stiffened at her side. He gathered her up in his arms, ignoring the immediate tension that rose in the room, and said, “You’re all right.”
She remained frozen even as he hugged her. Her cheek was pressed against a very real shoulder, but her mind was wandering so far that it was impossible to even think straight. It wasn’t possible that this was… he couldn’t be…
“Alexander?” she asked, her voice raspy with sudden confusion. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me.” He leaned back just slightly with her still in his arms. “You are well? He didn’t…
When I heard you were still alive, I didn’t think it was possible.
I saw you fall. I saw you fall into the sea, but then everyone was talking and I heard you were here and I couldn’t…
The spell they are using, Jessamine. It’s so terrible. You could have been caught in it.”
Stunned, she barely had time to even open her mouth before another voice interrupted them.
Elric’s tones were dark, laced with violence as he quietly said, “It would be wise of you to take your hands off her, boy, if you want to keep them attached to your body.”
She looked behind her to see that his shadows had spread out like giant wings.
They were burned into the very walls by the single light over their head, pulsing with power and magic as he leaned against the now-closed door.
He had one foot up on the wood, his arms crossed over his chest and his head tilted just slightly down.
But those eyes… Those dark slashes were filled with more malice than she’d ever seen.
And he was looking at the points where Alexander touched her. He didn’t stop staring at the man’s hands until Alexander took a few stumbling steps back.