It wrapped all the way around his neck, the head and the tail meeting at the side of his throat and looping around each other. Almost like a bow.
Tilting my head, I tried to figure out what it reminded me of, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
My attention to it drew his gaze to me. With his snakelike eyes, he leered at me. “Ahhh,” he breathed. “So, the rumors are true.The King’s Maidenended up in my prison.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m a Lady now. And no one’s possession, thanks.”
“Mmm, but it would be tempting to possess you, wouldn’t it, Maiden? And I bet I could’ve swayed you to give in. If you’d been my Match in the last challenge.”
“Nope.” I popped thepfor emphasis. “I also don’tput out.”
His lecherous grin made my skin crawl. “Perfect. I prefer when there’s a bit of a struggle.”
I narrowed my eyes on his, and Izzy chimed in before I responded. “Quit it, Ben. You’re being gross.”
He shrugged, and when Elaine questioned him about his favorite memory, he curled his lip before throwing his head back to reminisce.
“Ahhh, yes. I remember it well. A pretty Maiden who reminded me of all of you.”
We shared a look, most of us growing more creeped out the longer Ben talked, and it was getting harder to tell if he was playing his role or just dazzling us with his usual personality.
“She put up a fight, too. A good one. That’s how I ended up in here, after all. I got away with it for a while. I had the story laid out in front of me, so they made it easy for me. All I had to do was follow it. But lies catch up with you, eventually, I guess.”
One by one, he stared at each of us.
“Don’t they, pretty Ladies?”
“How’d you do it?” Vivian snapped.
“I trapped her. Gave her two choices. And she picked the wrong one, I’m afraid.” He inspected his fingernails as he answered the question. “Life often comes down to our choices, don’t you think? One wrong move sends you down the wrong path. That’s how it was for her.” He smiled cruelly at Vivian as he continued. “You should’ve seen the blood on the sheets. It was beautiful. That crimson staining the black silk.”
Black silk.
My mind jolted with the memory, running through the possibility, and my eyes fixed back on his neck. It was part of his clue, but it was also the answer. Hidden right in front of us, if we knew how to find it.
“The item—Have any of us seen it, heard it, or worn it since we applied for The Quest?”
“What?” Elaine scoffed. “What the hell kind of question is that, Quinn? You just used our last one.”
But it didn’t matter.
Because as Ben’s lips curled into a smirk, and he nodded, I knewexactlywhat he wanted. I hurried back over to the lost and found box, pulling out the tattered and stained scrap of fabric I’d found earlier.
The one I’d assumed couldn’t be useful.
To anyone except a pretend serial killer with a blackgartersnake around his neck. Like the belt around the thighs of his victims. The one I’d worn the night of the Maiden Selection.
The third item hidden in invisible ink on our invitation.
I held it up, and I sighed in relief when he nodded again.
“You’ve escaped me this time, pretty Maiden. But I’ll get you in the end.”
I bristled, over him and this whole trial. “Just give us the answer, Ben. Tell us how we get out.”
“At the next break, I’ll create a distraction in the common area. Walk out the front doors, and you’re free.”
Nodding, I went to hand the garter to him.
