This sick bastard was going to make Austin eat his own wife.
Felix leaned over the dish and inhaled deeply as if it were fine cuisine.
“Presentation is everything.” His eyes flickered from the cooked flesh to my face. “The line between feast and funeral is only in how you dress the body.”
I was going to throw up.
“Sick fuck.” Austin growled. “Don’t play their game, Mazie.”
A part of me was tempted to listen to Austin and get up, but another part told me to stay as still as I could. There was no doubt in my mind that they would make him eat his wife. I sat by once and did nothing. Now Gina was dead. I couldn’t do it again.
My gag reflex, however, didn’t seem to care. The longer I stared at Gina’s severed limb, the more my body convulsed. The candied fruit shook, the chicken slid a touch, and one of thegrapes rolled down my chest. It took everything I had to calm my stomach and still my body before something fell onto the table.
Felix lifted his glass in a toast. “Well done, Poppet. But I wonder how long you can keep this up?”
For the first time since I’d seen him in the hall, Flynn smiled, and I instantly wished I could go back to that painted-on grin. It was slow and diabolical, snaking up at the corners like a viper ready to strike. It sent a chill up my spine. And when he tilted his head at me, I could feel him daring me to move.
Ignoring Flynn’s smirk, I focused my concentration on remaining still. I tried to relax my limbs, calmed my pulse, and took small, shallow breaths, afraid that if I dared to breathe too hard, the grape teetering on my hip would fall.
I could escape the horrific sight of my situation and the tormentors that put us here, but I couldn’t escape the smell. Rosemary wafted up my nostrils like sour decay, causing me to suck back a few sharp gasps.
The grape rolled over my belly button to my other hipbone and stopped.
Phew.
Once I got my nausea under control, everything else was easy. All I had to do was lie there with my eyes closed and regulate my breathing.
“Well, that’s a pity,” Felix sighed. “You’re too good at this game, Poppet.”
Fuck you. I hope you choke on your wine.
“I think we should up the stakes.”
My eyes popped open. What did he mean, up the stakes? “We don’t need to do that.”
“Flynn, you look rather ravenous…”
No, he didn’t. He didn’t look like anything but a creepy mime.
“Perhaps you should taste our main course.”
Or he could stay the fuck over there.
Flynn wiped away my wishful thinking when his tongue darted out to lick his lips.
I couldn’t look away as the Mime slipped out from behind Felix and soundlessly walked my way. His hand slid along the edge of the table while his eyes remained locked on mine. Like a predator, he slowly stalked closer while sizing up his prey.
I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of his movements. Taut, firm muscles that made graceful glides across the floor. For a minute, I forgot who he was until he stepped up and tipped his head to study the dishes arranged across my body. Candlelight painted his white face in flickering gold, highlighting that terrible black grin.
Every instinct I had told me to run away, but I held my breath and reminded myself not to move.
Austin, on the other hand, was not as calm.
“Get away from her,” he shouted while pulling on his bindings. “You sick fucks.”
“Don’t fret, sir. Every banquet requires a centerpiece.” Felix lifted his glass and smiled at me. “And ours has never looked so exquisite.”
Humiliation burned through me as the weight of the food pinned me down in my own shame.
