19. Chapter 19
Arwen
After sleeping like the dead, I force myself out of bed. I open the door to my room and nearly trip over the remains of a makeshift bed.
A pillow and a blanket twisted together on the carpeted floor. It’s been like this for four nights. Four nights of him sleeping out here like a guard dog. I haven’t left the room much and never without Maddox.
I’ve used the time to sleep and heal. Greed feels a million miles away, but I can’t help thinking I’ve switched one cage for another with the way he keeps me holed up in here.
Since he’s not out here, I step back into my room before I hear my name being called down the hallway.
Maddox is already halfway down the hall, moving like he always does. Urgent and intense. His shoulders are tight, jaw set, eyes locked on me. He’s wearing one of those distracting, tight shirts again.
A familiar face from dinner follows him. Her hair is cut into a precise dark bob, not a strand out of place.
Maybe a couple of decades older than Maddox, but there’s no mistaking their relation when you compare their eyes.
Valentine.
Composed in a pantsuit that says power.
Not a dress or a skirt. I like this lady a lot. I can already tell.
“She should have trained me for dinner,” I say to Maddox as he rolls his eyes.
Thankfully, I have seen none of the siblings since dinner.
“You weren’t leaving, were you?” Maddox asks, in what I’ve deemed his growly voice.
I lean against the doorframe, folding my arms. “No. Of course not. Just checking if my stalker was still here.” I gesture towards the bedding sprawled across the floor.
He reaches for my hand, and his grip is warm and grounding, a quiet check-in.
“Valentine needs to talk with us,” he says, softer now. “Is it okay if she comes in?”
“Of course.” I step back, opening the door wider.
Valentine moves past him without hesitation. Up close, her features are sharper. The pantsuit looks like it costs more than our entire hut back home, furniture and all.
I glance down at my sleep shorts and rumpled tee. Bare feet.
Did I even brush my hair?
I resist the urge to squeal like a pig, run into the bathroom and pretend this never happened.
She looks at me anyway with a pleasant enough smile and offers her hand.
“Arwen, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Her grip is firm and measured.
“We didn’t get to speak much at dinner,” she continues, “given the… seating arrangements.” There’s the faintest flicker of annoyance in her expression. “But I’m with how you held your own. My family is tough enough to manage individually. Altogether, they’re… an impossible beast.”
I blink at her. Was that a compliment? For me?
“Th—thank you?” It comes out more question than a statement.
Maddox releases my hand only to move closer, positioning himself just off my shoulder.
Valentine’s gaze flicks between us, taking that in, filing it away somewhere I can’t see.
“I asked Maddox to speak with you both,” Valentine says, folding her hands in front of her.
“Typically, I refrain from involving myself in family affairs outside my territory… But this—” her gaze sharpens, cutting between us “—I feel this is something that could affect us all. It’s necessary to call out what is happening in the shadows for the safety of all Gluttons.”
Maddox straightens beside me. Tension pulls tight across his shoulders.
“The scales are tipping,” she says. “And not in your favor.”
“What do you know?” he asks.
“You’ve always been a threat to them all, Maddox.
” She tilts her head, considering him. “But it was… workable. Precariously balanced. You, Amaya, and Riven held the top, and the others didn’t cause a fuss that couldn’t be managed with a quick intervention of physical force. Not peaceful, but predictable.”
Predictable. In Gluttony, that’s probably the closest thing they have to safety.
“Battle lines were being drawn before you ever brought Arwen into Gluttony,” she continues. “When the bond completed in front of the Council at her trial, the others started getting nervous. This was inevitable.”
Her eyes flick to me.
“The threat of your bond, especially one at a 100% power level, regardless of her lack of sin power…” She pauses and looks at me. Waiting for me to fill in the blanks. Another test.
So she noticed my slip up at dinner.
I keep my expression flat. Blank. Give her nothing. Maddox’s warning echoes in the back of my mind.
Trust none of them.
Valentine watches me for a second longer. When I don’t fill her silence, her brows pull together—just slightly—before she moves on.
“Even without a visible ability, your bond amplifies him. That alone makes you both more dangerous than before.”
Her gaze returns to Maddox.
“I believe Amaya and Riven have been aligning. Making plans.”
Maddox doesn’t react right away, but I see the calculation in his eyes. Wheels already turning.
“They’re aligning… against us,” I say.
Valentine nods once. “It appears that way.”
I push off the wall, arms uncrossing without me realizing. “Well, what are our options? I haven’t given them anything to worry about. We’ve stayed on the sidelines.”
She exhales through her nose, the closest thing to frustration I’ve seen from her.
“I don’t believe you can stay out of this, Maddox.” Her tone drops.
“If they are forming a truce with the others, even a temporary one, and you sit on your hands… your territories will be in trouble.”
“I won’t do nothing,” Maddox snaps, pushing off the desk. His voice drops, rougher. “I’ll fight. You know I will, Val.”
“No one doubts your physical prowess and capabilities.” There’s no edge in her tone—just facts. “But a fight against the entire family at once?” A slight shake of her head. “That is not one you win. And right now, your silence is not being read as restraint.”
She pauses.
“It’s being read as a threat.”
Fuck. We can’t have this whole family against us. It will rip Maddox’s territories apart.
“This will not resolve itself even if you try to fade into the background,” she adds.
Maddox’s jaw tightens.
“So we need allies too,” I cut in.
Both of them look at me.
Valentine’s expression shifts first. Approval? Or maybe I’m letting the first compliment go to my head.
She inclines her head. “That’d be wise, Arwen. Allies of your own in the family would make Riven and Amaya and whoever else they’ve amassed think twice.”
“We’ll go to Duval,” Maddox says. “He’ll align with us.”
“That’s likely,” Valentine agrees. “But there’s no certainty. And time is of the essence. My recommendation would be to approach someone who is likely to align with them, but hasn’t committed yet. Someone whose window of influence for their decision is closing.”
“Who?” I ask, dreading the response.
“Please don’t say Teeth. I think I would pummel him in the first 15 minutes,” I grumble.
Valentine smiles without restraint, and I feel like I’ve won some sort of major battle earning her amusement.
“Teeth would not be a particularly powerful ally,” she says.
“I think you should go to Kael first.”
The room stills as I recall his face from the dinner table.
“Kael?” Maddox’s voice goes flat. He huffs sarcastically. “You want me to take Arwen into Kael’s territory.”
“You cannot keep her removed from this, Maddox.” Valentine’s tone sharpens, just enough to cut. “Keeping her confined to this room is not a solution. It is a delay.”
My gaze flicks to Maddox to weigh the response of her truth.
“Father will continue to apply pressure,” she continues. “Amaya and Riven will move. And when they do, they will not do so cautiously. She is your bonded. Do you truly believe the Universe would bind you to someone unprepared for what that means?”
“And it’s not just your decision,” I add before I can overthink it.
Maddox looks at me in surprise.
“I will not sit in this room while everything around you burns,” I continue, holding his gaze. “And I will not be the reason your position weakens. Let’s go see Kael.”
“Arwen—” His voice drops.
“That’s my cue to leave,” Valentine says, stepping away. She moves toward the door, then pauses in front of me.
“Good luck, Arwen. And… welcome to the family.”
The words don’t feel like a welcome. They feel like a warning.