22. Teddy
TEDDY
“Idon’t like this,” Baron grunts, his concern matching the twist in my stomach as Archer and Ivy disappear.
“Me either, but we’re here now,” Sax confirms, fueling the dread that threatens to overwhelm me.
The more out of my depth I feel, the more I tend to do something irrational, like kill the man who tried to marry my fated mate before proceeding to cart her away from the damn church, wedding dress and all.
Dragging a hand down my face, I survey the room.
It’s as if no one else is aware of the turmoil we’re in. They’re too busy drowning in liquor, raging over money lost, or riding the high of a win.
I don’t feel any of those things, especially as I spot my mother across the casino. A chill clings to me as she glances over the room, a champagne flute pressed against her lips as her eyes narrow.
When the opportunity came up to slip into the realm of Frederick Bowen, we snapped up the chance. Not to help, but to try and figure out what my mother wants with him, and why he seemed almost pleased at the idea of being hunted by her. Regardless, she wasn’t supposed to be here.
Her presence only turns a situation from bad to worse because nothing good ever happens when she is around.
If my father could see her now, what would he think?
“How about you guys do a lap, see if you hear anything, while I go and deal with the devil?” I offer, nodding toward my mother, who chooses that exact moment to lock eyes with me.
Fuck.
“Will you be okay alone?” Sax asks, and I grunt.
“It’s better this way.”
I trudge across the garish green carpet before I can change my mind, the shrill wails of euphoria swirling around me, tainted by the thuds of damnation as everyone loses themselves to the casino.
Approaching my mother is never fun, but there’s an extra level of… something glistening in her eyes, and I don’t like it. I stuff my hands in my pockets as I stop beside her table, and she rolls her eyes.
“Don’t be so useless and block my view, Theodore,” she grinds out, her anger hidden behind the champagne bubbles, but the way her red lips tilt up in a sneer is undeniable.
Pursing my lips, I take a step to the side, forgoing the stool beside her as I tilt my head.
“What are you doing here?” I mumble, and she scoffs, discarding her empty flute on the table, only for a waiter to appear with another.
“I should be asking you the same question,” she retorts, cocking a brow at me for a brief moment before she returns her attention to the room.
“I’m here helping Archer, at his father’s request,” I grumble, hating having to explain myself to her, but she needs to know that I’m here and Frederick knows it, but the way her red lips twist with amusement doesn’t extend the intended flurry of irritation my way.
“And what is it Frederick would require your assistance with?” she muses, making my chest tighten, and I swallow the rage threatening to bubble to the surface.
“Why are you here, mother?” I repeat, and she sighs, placing her flute down to turn her full attention to me.
“I’ll explain it to you when you’re older,” she mutters, getting under my skin, and my hands clench in my pockets.
“Funny.”
“Nothing is funny, Theodore. The world is crumbling, and not in the way that ends up in my favor,” she hisses, her perfect facade slipping for a moment as anger burns in her narrowed eyes.
“I don’t understand.”
“You wouldn’t,” she sneers, disregarding me and patronizing me like always.
It cuts deep into my soul, shattering the child inside of me. I should be used to it by now, immune even, but she has a way of twisting the blade just right so that it’s impossible to avoid.
The anger that bubbles inside of me is uncontrollable, and I don’t realize I’m moving until the wood splinters beneath my clenched fist, spilling champagne everywhere.
My mother’s gasp is muted by heavy footsteps approaching, and I brace for security, but as I tilt my face, it’s Baron and Sax storming toward me.
“Let’s go,” Baron grunts, glowering at my mother, and it takes me a second to realize he probably heard everything she said.
Embarrassment threatens to overwhelm me over my vulnerabilities being exposed, but I swallow it down, along with the pain, as Sax pats me on the shoulder, silently guiding me toward the back of the room.
I don’t turn around, embracing the calmness as I’m sandwiched between the brothers, until the night air finally greets my skin.
My eyes clench shut with anger as I curl my fingers into my hair, desperation getting the best of me as I will the pain to disappear once and for all.
“Sorry,” I rasp, dragging a hand down my face. “We need to get back in there and—”
“The fuck we do,” Baron grunts, eyebrows furrowed as he stares down at me. “Is she always so fucking wretched?” he grunts, anger palpable in the air as I sigh.
“Don’t worry about it,” I mumble, loosening the collar of my shirt, and he huffs.
“Someone has to,” Baron insists as I step further into the darkened alley, leaning back against the brick wall for support as I catch my breath.
“I’m just too—”
“If you say some shit about yourself instead of acknowledging how much of a cunt your mother actually is then I might be inclined to punch you. Just to make sure I knock some sense into you, of course,” Sax interjects, and I turn to him with wide eyes, Baron mirroring my stance as the Land Protector shrugs under our stares.
“What? You were repeating it to me the entire time. We should have interrupted sooner. Maybe that’s where I should throw my punch,” he offers, cocking a brow at me as if it’s an actual question, while all I can do is shake my head at him in disbelief.
“I thought I was the unpredictable, unhinged one,” I mumble, and Baron scoffs.
“It seems Sax is full of surprises,” he adds, making his brother roll his eyes.
“Fuck this shit. Let’s get out of here,” Sax declares, scrubbing a hand over his cropped hair.
“Won’t that fuck this up?”
“It was fucked the minute Archer chose to leave for his family, and we all know it. That was probably his father’s intention,” Baron declares, concern twisting in my stomach.
“And we let him take Ivy?” I clarify, and Sax nods.
“There or here, with his father and your mother? I think we know we made the right decision,” he mumbles, and I exhale.
“True.”
“So we’re agreed, we’re leaving?” Baron clarifies, just as a haunting cackle bleeds into the night air from behind me.
I know the source of the sound before I turn, my heart lurching in my chest as my mother stands before me, one hand on her hip with the other perched at the corner of her mouth with a freshly lit cigarette wedged between her fingers.
“You’re not leaving so soon, are you?” she rasps, inhaling slowly before tilting her head to the sky to release the smoke.
“I think you’ve done enough,” Baron states, and she grins, the tilt of her lips as wicked as ever.
“I’m only just getting started,” she promises, taking another drag as she steps toward us.
“I’m done with your mind games, so why don’t you do all of us a favor and go,” I grunt, my spine stiffening as the need to protect my friends from her wrath takes root.
“Oh, Theodore. You’ve always been so delusional. It’s almost amusing to watch, but it’s growing tiresome, and I feel like it’s time you learned the truth.”
“About what?” I blurt as Sax shakes his head.
“Don’t listen to her; she’s just trying to get under your skin.”
“How sweet of you, but I’m always under his skin, and that’s never going to change,” she vows as Sax’s hands flex at his sides.
The vision of his fist darting toward her face plays in my mind, threatening to make me laugh, but it’s quickly interrupted by another thought, one that involves her magic and what she would do to him if he even tried.
“Spit it out then,” I state, attempting to sound indifferent, but she pays me no mind as she takes another drag of her cigarette.
“Here I am, trying to plot out the safety of my future, all while you’re living in some kind of fantasy land, filled with hope, wisdom, and fond memories.”
“Get to the point,” Baron grunts, seemingly despising her stories more than I do.
Inching closer, I sense the brothers wavering over whether to block me from her path or not, but I eliminate them from the equation as I meet her in the middle. I hate standing toe to toe with her; she has a way of making me feel like I’m two-feet tall, her presence bigger than her actual height.
“Who is your hero, Theodore?” she breathes, the tightening in my chest unbearable as I blink at her.
“My father,” I answer with ease; it’s not even a question, and she knows it.
So why ask?
“Ah, little Theodore Lupus is besotted with his father, Jeremiah Lupus, the great and mighty warrior lost to the war between kingdoms.” It’s almost a song on her tongue, lilted with amusement, and it makes my stomach turn.
“Let’s go,” Baron murmurs, but I’m lured into her trap, tangled in her web, and there’s no escaping, no matter how much I want to run.
“Do you want to know the truth?” she asks, and Sax scoffs.
“Truth? From you? Do you even know what that word means?”
She bares her teeth, sending panic through my body, but to my surprise, she doesn’t respond. Instead, her attention remains firmly on me. “Maybe you’re not ready for the truth. Who am I kidding? You’re never going to be ready for the truth.”
I’m anchored to the spot, legs tied and arms bound by her poisonous words.
She’s going to shatter me into a million pieces, I can already feel it, but she wants me to beg for it, to demand it, to plead with her to ruin me. Despite my awareness, it is impossible to shield myself from the impending doom.
“Try me,” I say, my pulse swirling in my ears as my heart threatens to beat right out of my chest.
She stumbles back a step, eyes wide in disbelief as her cigarette falls to the ground.
Confused, I glance behind me, double-checking where Baron and Sax are, when the latter clears his throat.
“Your eyes, Teddy.”
I rear back. “Orange,” I mutter, rubbing at my lids as if that will make it go away, but he shakes his head.
“Blue.”