Chapter 15
MADNESS
Ahundred beefy, bulky Stalkers, exactly like the one who watched us like a creep in our realm. They were just missing top hats to complete the look, but it was probably hard to find a hundred hats on an island as small as this.
I glanced down when Cat grabbed my hand, squeezing tight enough that my finger bones shifted. I didn’t blame them; I’d twist myself into whatever arrangement my Lioness wanted, too.
“The vials in the cabin,” she whispered, little tremors moving through her as she stared at the kitty corner space between two buildings where the Stalker squad lined up and waited for orders.
I slid a glance at their generals, contemplating how to kill them to draw out their pain the most. I’d make Violence’s last the longest. My wife couldn’t sleep because of him.
Her body was lashed with scars and bruises, and I knew there were worse things he did to her, mind games and detailed verbal threats, that hadn’t left a mark.
I brought our hands to my mouth and kissed her knuckles. Soon, we could kill them. We just had to rescue a damsel from a mirror first.
“I have a question,” I said, peering at the Stalker squad again.
I pointed at the super-tall, super soldiers.
Or rather, at a grassy green structure above their heads.
Call me crazy, but I was a teeny bit suspicious of all bush and hedge related things after that green man attacked us at Cruelty’s mansion. 1 “What is that?”
“The main event,” Cruelty said in a whisper, like she was sharing a secret. “But don’t worry about that. Your first class starts in five minutes. Are you excited?”
I exchanged a glance with Cat and my brother-husbands. I thought I was crazy, but I had nothing on this lunatic.
“One toe out of line,” Violence warned in an ominous rumble. I wondered if he practised it, if he spent hours in his bedroom trying to get his voice as low and deep as possible. He probably practised that steely expression in the mirror, too.2 “Mirrors break so easily, and my sister is so clumsy.”
Cruelty grinned at the threat, the impact it made on our little group. Miz hissed, canines bared, but he couldn’t launch himself at them like he wanted. Couldn’t even rip their hair out or snap off a fingernail without risking Tor. It sucked.
On an unspoken command, the students in their blood red uniforms turned and marched back towards the main building’s entrance, unmoved by the psychotic gods or the gothic building that loomed over them. Not as impressive as my castle, obviously, but game recognise game.
The school body lined up on either side of the doors, a robotic, emotionless firing squad we’d have to walk past to reach our ‘first class.’ What was it going to be—beginner’s guide to kidnapping the most beautiful and brave and fearsome woman in the entire known universe?
Well, I didn’t need that because she was already my wife.
“Chop chop,” Cruelty said in an attempt at sternness, standing with her back straight, head high like she was a brutal headmistress and not a sad bride in her true form.
“There better be no literal chopping involved in this lesson,” Pain muttered as Cruelty and Violence moved aside and we progressed, cautiously and slowly, down the long path to the school building.
“Don’t worry, Lioness,” I murmured, tucking her safely between Death and me. “If they try to hurt you again, I’ll burn this school to the ground.”
Pain shook his curly head. “Is that supposed to be comforting?”
“Well, yeah.” I gave him an odd look. Who didn’t find arson comforting? “Duh.”
I peered up at the spire above us when we reached the stone steps, an archway gaping wide and ready to swallow us into the shadowy, ominous building and devour us whole. When Cat strode inside, I didn’t hesitate to follow. For better or worse, we’d enrolled in Ford University of Cruelty.3