chapter fifty-one
THE POISONER
B eing watched like a pet was worse than solitude.
We moved down the stairs, and several men and women in their finest tea dresses and informal wear were sitting at tables and lounging around the general areas.
Their voices hushed when I was brought into view.
As I glanced at them, their eyes looked ravenous.
The men and women looked at me like I was some circus animal they’d paid handsomely to see.
It took everything in me not to shout at them in my already irritated state.
The only bright side to this seemed to be that I was so graciously granted clothing. They let me wear a simple white tea gown but kept the abrasive gold collar.
Before they sat me in a chair in the corner, I was already taking a mental inventory of how many wine bottles were scattered around the lounging room.
I also took notice of not one but two particular creatures in my midst. They both looked surprised that I was down there, probably wondering what I did to convince them to let me out of my neat little box.
They made my skin itch. I needed something. I stared longingly at the other figures, drinking and laughing with one another in this casual gathering. Hesitantly, I slunk toward a small ornamental table that held some small bites of fruits and cheeses set out for the Hosts.
The other Hosts wore the same white dress, minus the elaborate restrictions.
I stared down at the spread of fruits, plucking an apple slice and inspecting it.
“Need something stronger?” A hand with a glass appeared before me.
I slowly took the glass and looked at the man next to me, who could be nobody other than Silas.
“Do you think my forgiveness can be bought with liquor?” I sneered. I could feel my brow twitch with the anger I harbored. I was beginning to loathe him. He was selfish and hungry above all else.
“Possibly.” His eyes trailed over me, assessing the damage from the other night.
“Oh, I am so elated that you asked! I am doing much better after the doctor stitched me up after those two animals attacked me in my own bed! It is so kind and gentlemanly of you to ask,” I said sarcastically, turning away from him to look at the happenings of the parlor.
“Alina,” he started.
“I hate you, Silas. I want you to know that for whatever comes next.” I let the fruity wine disappear down my throat before I decided that it was time to breathe again.
“I know you do.” He leaned in. “Luka wouldn’t let me into the room unless he came too.”
“Have you thought maybe you shouldn’t have come?” I snapped my head to him. “Have you considered that if you hadn’t been so selfish, I wouldn’t be here?” I raised my voice.
“Alina, please lower your?—”
“My what? My voice? Are we afraid of public perception now? Like I was afraid of being seen with you ?” I yelled at him.
Luka approached out of the corner of my eye.
“No!” I screamed, throwing the glass at his head, though he moved just in time for it to shatter against the wall behind him.
The parlor guests gasped and muttered. How dare they act surprised? Why would no one help me? Why was it not alarming to them that a battered and bruised woman with a collar was locked away upstairs?
“Enough,” Luka spoke lowly as he grabbed one of my arms.
“Apologies! We have it handled!” Silas addressed the gathering as he grabbed the other arm.
The two dragged me toward the back of the estate, bringing me to the garden.
The garden looked like a maze of tall hedges. It was a perfectly private place to tear these two to shreds.
“What? Sorry, is this embarrassing for you ? How do you think I feel being treated like livestock in captivity?” I shouted, pulling my arms away from their grip and backing away. I stood in the middle of the grass, the two creatures eyeing me cautiously.
“Alina, the Nest is full of very old, very strong Vipera that would not hesitate to slaughter you if you step out of line like that. If we weren’t there, there is no telling what they would have done to you,” Silas said calmly, stepping toward me.
“If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t be here either! See how that works? Both of you are currently the source of all of my problems.”
“Well, technically, I am only involved because you were poisoning the Nest,” Luka corrected. “You’re here because it was a step below killing you .”
“You can’t just lash out like that. They think you are feral. If a Host becomes dangerous, they will put them down,” Silas scolded. “You need to cooperate.”
“Like I did last night? Was that not enough cooperation for you? Even when I trust you, you nearly kill me by feeding on me too long!” I spat at them. “You are both fools.”
“The meal was worth it.” Luka smirked.
“You are not helping,” Silas snapped at him.
I could not stand them. Their presence alone was grating against every one of my senses. I took a deep breath and let out the most bloodcurdling scream I could rip from my throat.
Silas rushed to me and clamped his hand over my mouth.
“Go calm the Nest. I’ll handle this,” Silas instructed Luka, and began dragging me into the hedge maze.
I thrashed against his grip, pulling and biting at his hand until he let me go, pressing me against the prickly hedge.
“Alina, I can’t help you if you keep acting like this,” he pleaded.
“Like what? Like an animal?” I glared.
There was something in his eyes that looked genuine. Like he was worried for me. I did not believe one bit of that act.
“I need more time. Please just trust me,” he whispered, resting his head against mine.
“How much more time? How many more hours of torture will you subject me to while I wait for my golden knight to break me free?” I mocked him. “Will you let Luka fuck me again? Or feed from me while you stare at your hands and wonder what to do? I’m done waiting.”
“It’s complicated.”
“For you maybe,” I scoffed. “I’m getting myself out of this, and when I do, I never want to set eyes on you again.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Oh, but I do.” I laughed. “I will kill myself if that is the only way to get away from you and this awful place.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would do whatever it takes.” I pulled away from him. “You know that.”
He yanked me back. “You are just saying these things because you are angry.”
“Unhand me, you unnatural thing!” I screamed at him. “I will not be told what I can and cannot do by a creature so abominable that he must keep me here in chains to keep me at all.”
“You don’t mean it.” His jaw clenched. “Say you don’t.”
“I should have dissected you and sold your corpse to the museums,” I seethed. “They would applaud me for slaying such a beast. The world, in turn, would have been brighter if I had removed your stain earlier. That is where my mistakes started when it comes to you, Creature .”
The pain in his eyes was like nothing I had ever seen.
It was how I used to fantasize about how maybe he would look if I sunk the blade through his heart.
This was for his own good as well as mine.
We simply could not exist together while I made it my purpose to destroy these things that surely were unnatural.
We were unnatural. If I made it out alive, I needed to sever everything .