I pick at the food more than I eat it, the taste dulled by nerves. My skin prickles. Wraith’s silence is heavier than words, and every time I dare a glance, I catch his jaw clenched, his hands motionless beside his plate.
“Something wrong with the food?” Rook asks finally, tone mild but edged.
“No,” I say, forcing a small smile. “Just not very hungry.”
“Odd,” Vale says, smirking again. “You look like you’ve worked up an appetite.”
I freeze.
Saint sets his fork down hard enough that the sound makes everyone look at him. “Enough.”
Vale raises his hands in mock surrender. “Just making conversation.”
“Then makebetterconversation,” Saint says, voice low, steel beneath velvet.
The silence after that stretches, taut and uneasy. Rook breaks it first. “You’ve been quiet today, Ember.”
“Just thinking,” I answer, pulse thundering in my chest.
“About?” He questions.
“About how long you plan to keep me locked in this house.”
His mouth tilts — not a smile, not quite. “As long as it takes.”
“For what?” I ask.
“For you to tell me what I want to know,” he replies.
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you stay.”
Simple. Final.
I nod, pretending I’m not shaking inside. “Guess I’d better make myself comfortable then.”
Vale leans in, voice low enough that only I can hear. “You already are,sweetheart.”
I turn my head just slightly, meeting his gaze. “Keep talking, and I’ll shove your fork somewhere creative.”
His grin widens. “Promise?”
Rook’s chair scrapes back, the sound sharp. “Enough,” he says, louder this time.
Vale finally shuts up.
No one speaks after that. The only sound is the clatter of silver and the slow thud of my heart.
When dinner finally ends, I stand first.
“Excuse me,” I say.
Rook watches me go. Wraith still doesn’t move, an the moment I’m out of the dining room, I press my back to the wall, heart racing.
The plan was supposed to give me leverage. Instead, it’s turning into a noose.
I can feel the shift — the suspicion, the tension, the hunger. One of them’s already slipping, and the others will follow. And when they do, I’ll be caught between monsters who don’t share well.
