I sit in the chair across from her, keeping my hands visible.I don’t want her thinking I came with claws bared.
“The kind where we stop pretending, we hate each other long enough to expose what your father’s actually doing.”
Her lip trembles.
Just barely.
For the first time, she looks genuinely shaken.
“You think he just wants land?”she whispers.“Or power?You have no idea what he’s willing to sacrifice.”
“Then help me,” I say.
She turns her face away, her voice a raw scrape.“I’m afraid you’ll believe me.”
And for the first time since Becki came crashing into my life like a curse…
I don’t see a threat.
Or a rival.
Or a girl who once tried to steal everything from me.
I see someone who might be the key to all of it.
And I hate that it doesn’t scare me nearly as much as it should.
Chapter 28
Royal
The hallway outside Becki’s door feels colder than the night outside.Maybe because I’m colder.Maybe because I haven’t slept in days.Maybe because the Reverend’s voice is still in my skull like a hook.
The world is falling apart.And she…
The girl I nearly claimed…
She’s humming.
A soft sound.Barely a whisper.
Mocking me.
I unlatch the door and sneak in.
Becki sits on the bed, knees drawn up, blanket around her shoulders.She looks small.Wounded.But her eyes…
Those eyes are knives.
“You sent Sophie,” she says quietly.
I lock the door behind me.
“I didn’t send anyone.”
She smiles, just a little.
A dangerous smile.
