38. Chapter 38
Maryn
Two days had passed in a blur. Vera was there, feeding me soup and forcing me to drink water.
Elias came and stayed at least an hour each day, sitting a respectful distance away in the living room.
He had saved me. I tried to remember that when I thought about the women in that building whose names I would never know.
I could have been one of them if he hadn’t come.
“Buckle.” Elias leaned across me, reaching for the belt.
Metal clicked. My breath stopped. Cold metal against my wrists. The smell of that room.
I blinked.
Elias’s car. Just a seatbelt.
I exhaled.
The car pulled away from the Rite house. I glanced at the back seat where my chaperone sat, hands folded in her lap. I didn’t recognize her. I looked again, certain I was wrong. I wasn’t.
Vera’s soup turned to stone in my stomach.
My fault.
I hadn’t even known her name.
I turned back to the front. Elias gripped the wheel loosely, his smile easy.
It was easier to be angry at him.
I laced my fingers together, squeezing.
“I hope you’re hungry.”
I glanced at Elias. “Yes.”
His lips drooped.
I turned back to the window, eyes blurring, the world flying by outside. I should be trying harder to engage. This was our public date. If the nation didn’t love me, I was done.
But the cameras weren’t on us yet.
My gaze flicked to the rearview mirror at the car behind us crammed with Paul’s entire film crew.
“Maryn.”
I turned, eyes locking with Elias’s. “Yes?”
“What happened to you is unforgivable. I’ve talked to my father and security. None of the women in my Rite will be questioned under such conditions again.” His brows drew together. “But I had hoped…”
Something tightened in my chest.
“I owe you a debt,” I said to his unspoken words. “I don’t know what would have happened if—”
“You owe me nothing.” His words were sharp, and his teeth ground together. “What I mean is, it wasn’t your fault.” He ran a hand over the steering wheel. “I shouldn’t have taken you to that place.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
His hand left the wheel, wrapping over mine and tugging my fingers apart.
“Did you know that marriage vows once required both parties to repeat an oath?” He glanced at me. “For better or worse.”
I raised a brow, my fingers tightening around his. “What?”
“That’s what they promised each other.”
“I don’t—”
“It means whether you’re having a good day or a bad; whether your partner is an idiot and doesn’t think before he acts.” He grinned, and the tightness in my chest eased.
“Did you just admit to being an idiot?”
His smile widened. “I wanted to let you in, to share some of my world with you, but my job is to protect you from the harshness of life, not to expose you to it.”
I forced myself to nod.
He tugged my hand out of my lap, pulling it up to his mouth and pressed his lips to it. “It was selfish of me. Forgive me?”
Our hands sank down, resting on his thigh. Heat burned my cheeks, but I didn’t pull away. I glanced up, noting the drones already buzzing behind us. Our break from the cameras was over.
“There’s nothing to forgive.”
Elias’s lips stretched wider, teeth gleaming.
We pulled up beside a dark building, a row of drones hovering overhead. He turned toward me, reaching for my other hand. I let him lace our fingers together, leaning closer.
Our eyes met, and for once, I didn’t look away.
He squeezed my fingers. “Ready?”
I glanced over his shoulder before nodding.
“Hey.”
My gaze shifted back to him.
“Just look at me, you’ll do great.”
Focus on the date, Maryn. The trial.
I pasted a smile on my face, and he released my hands, stepping out of the driver’s side and coming around to my door.
Looking up, I reached for his outstretched hand and let him tug me out of the car.
I fell into him, giggling, and he caught me, wrapping an arm around my waist to steady me. For a moment, we stared into each other’s eyes, the world around us fading to nothing.
Then, he cleared his throat, putting distance between us, and my cheeks flushed, glancing around and ducking my chin.
"Come on," he said, pulling me forward. "I've been wanting to show you this place." He grinned. "I know how much you love the water."
He led me through a door, down a wide set of stairs lit by flickering candles, the steps barely visible ahead of us.
At the bottom, he pushed the door wide.
My mouth fell open.
He let go of my hand, and I spun to take in the space. When I finished turning, I stared at him.
"Elias." The word was a whisper.
His grin widened, nearly bursting with excitement as he pulled me into the room.
I tipped my head back at a ceiling made entirely of glass. Overhead, sea creatures swam in lazy patterns, completely at home in their world. I was a voyeur, soaking in every moment.
Something I'd been holding since my interrogation broke open, and I exhaled a long breath.
He pulled out a chair, and I sat. Behind him, a wall of glass held back the full weight of the lake.
A school of fish darted across it, curving into an S before resuming their trek.
My gaze met Elias's, finding him already watching me.
“It’s…”
He leaned across the table, taking my hand. “Do you like it?”
I swallowed. “Like it? It’s… perfect.”
His face lit up. “I’ve been planning this for weeks.” He laughed softly, shaking his head. “I wasn’t sure if it was enough.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m glad.”
I found myself grinning back at him—genuinely.
Ruth would never have believed this place existed. Not for the first time, I found myself wishing I could see her. Tell her about everything that had happened these past weeks.
His eyes dropped to my ears. “Where are your earrings?”
My stomach dropped.
Calden brushing my hair back. One earring, then the other.
I reached up, my fingers tracing a slow circle around the bruise on my neck that hadn’t completely healed yet.
“They must have fallen off.” I dropped my hand.
He held my gaze for a beat, then straightened, understanding what I didn’t say in front of the cameras. “I’ll get you new ones.”
Elias waved a hand. In moments, a man appeared with two glasses. He set them down, backing away. We lifted them, clinking them together.
“For better or worse,” Elias said, winking at me.
I laughed. “For better or worse.”
We pressed our glasses to our lips, taking a full drink.
***
After our public date, I managed to sleep more than I had in weeks. The weekend passed. Monday came and went. Calden didn’t. Tuesday, I exercised. By myself. I missed Ruth. And Nami.
Even with nothing to do, I had no desire to leave my room.
When Friday arrived, I shook myself out of my haze. Focus, Maryn.
Everything before this moment had been practice. I tore my nail from the skin, wincing as fresh blood welled along the tear. Tonight, I would prove myself to my father. There was no room for failure.
Vera poked and prodded and shouted insults at my nails. I let her. My mind was elsewhere.
The car arrived, and I slid inside. Rakel said something, but I ignored it, patting the bulge in my pocket.
We pulled to a stop outside the Hale Mansion, and I slid out after her. I had imagined this moment so many times. The reality of it pressed down on me like a physical weight.
Elias’s mother greeted us at the door, a vacant expression in her eyes that reminded me of my father’s when he’d had too many drinks. Frail hands wrapped around mine, welcoming me to her home.
“Thank you, Mrs. Hale. I’m honored to be here.”
She stared through me, already prepared to shake the next guest’s hand.
I moved beyond the foyer, eyes tracking each hall. At the end of the second, a man stood at attention, staring straight ahead. I looked away before he could feel my gaze.
We continued through the house, stepping into a grand space that had been converted for the evening into Elias Hale’s ninth Rite ball.
He stood at the center, easily one of the tallest men in the room, his tailored black suit as much a statement as the set of his shoulders or his wide stance.
Partygoers buzzed around him, eager to soak up his energy, to leech a moment of his aura.
There was something different about him here, in his own home.
He held himself more like his father than I’d ever let myself notice before.
Ice blue eyes found mine, freezing me in place.
They were remarkably similar to Elias's, the same eyes that had filled my living room a hundred times over the years. In person, they were far more frightening.
August Hale cut through the crowd, headed straight toward me.
Where his mother had been a soft, quiet thing, his father was a fireball, streaking through the room and burning anything that got in its way.
My feet sank into the floor as he approached. Finally, after all this time, he was right in front of me.
Elias cut across his path, and I exhaled a shaky breath. They exchanged words too low for me to make out; I didn’t waste time trying, turning and rushing to find a place out of his line of sight.
My hand found the bulge in my pocket. Still there.
I watched the pair continue to speak, both sets of shoulders growing stiffer by the moment.
“At least when you fail, you’ll never have that man as a father-in-law.”
I stiffened, glancing over at the woman skulking in the corner.
Sera was less put together than I’d ever seen her. Hair pulled back, dark circles badly concealed. She wasn’t the only one unsure of how tonight would go.
She looked at me, and her lips twisted up. “He’d keep a closer eye on the windows on Mondays than we do at the Rite house.”
I held her gaze. She hadn’t used it. The question was why.
My hands squeezed into fists at my side.
She pushed off the wall, melting into the crowd.
August had disappeared, and Elias was also out of sight.
My pulse thrummed, my heartbeat loud in my ears. Both gone.
My feet were already moving before I’d decided.
The second hall. The guard’s post was empty.
I didn’t let myself think. I crossed to the door, twisted the knob and slipped inside. The click of the latch behind me was the loudest sound I’d ever heard. I pressed my back against the door, gloved hands flat against the wood. Listening. Nothing.
Just my own breathing, too fast, too loud.
I forced a slow inhale.
Moving into the room, my gaze swept the walls: photos, construction shots, a younger August beside Nicholas Brown. On the far wall, books. And beside them, a low table of glass bottles.
I lurched toward it, tugging the pouch from my pocket and scanning the table. One was more than half empty. I reached for it, tugging the stopper out. I pinched the tiny vial inside, revealing clear venom. It was the most concentrated dose I’d ever handled. Even a drop on my skin would mean death.
Lifting it to the lip of the bottle with steady fingers, I watched as poison trickled down its slender neck, settling atop amber liquid.
I lifted the bottle, swirling it the way I had dozens of times.
Joel had been my test subject for years. He never noticed. Some nights were just better for Mother and I than others.
The dose was stronger now, much stronger, but the drink was richer. It should hasten the effects. And this time, it wasn’t being used as a sedative.
The door handle to the president’s door twisted, and my heart stopped.
It pushed in.
I set the bottle down, too hard, too loud, gaze darting around for anywhere to hide.
I dropped underneath the desk.
“Come out.”
My arms shook as I held them against the edges of the desk, pulling my feet up.
“Ms. Veil, I saw you.”
My heart was in my throat, my mind teetering between pure terror and the urge to run. Sweat ran down my forehead and into my eye. I couldn’t swipe at it, or I’d lose my grip on the desk.
A head dipped below the desk.
I screamed.
His hand came up, wrapping around my mouth, but the scream didn’t stop. It pressed the bounds of thick fingers, seeking release.
Rich brown eyes met mine, and Elias’s aide searched my face. “If I release you, will you promise not to scream?”
My chest squeezed, making it impossible to breathe; another scream tried and failed to burst from me.
“I’m not here to arrest you.”
I grabbed his fingers, tearing at them, trying to free myself even as I knew the best course of action was to come up with a lie.
Then his words sank in.
I sucked in a noisy breath through my nose, releasing my grip on his hand.
“Okay?” His fingers loosened their death grip on my face.
I nodded, and he let go as I sat back on my heels.
Wiping my mouth, I searched behind him for the army of guards that should be right on his heels. Nothing. The room was eerily silent now that my heart wasn’t working overtime. Some of the tightness squeezing my ribs lifted, and I inhaled sharply.
He backed up, and I climbed out from under the desk, never taking my eyes off the door. Nothing. I straightened, smoothing my dress with shaking hands.
“Now, tell me how you plan to kill him.”