Chapter Thirty-Four
Madame Allegria was pissed. Furious. Valerie could hear it in her tone.
She had to know about Gabriel too. About the engagement.
Valerie kept silent though she struggled in her grip, to make a good show of it, which would undoubtedly delight her sadistic aunt.
Madame Allegria motioned forward at her guards, who went down the left corridor and forced open the nearest door, breaking the lock.
Mercifully, the room was unoccupied and Madame Allegria dragged her in there, tossing her towards one of the two chairs that flanked the small table. For a moment, Valerie was disoriented because the room was almost a perfect replica of the one she’d shared with Dravka. Everything was positioned the exact same.
“One of you stay out there and guard the door,” Madame Allegria said. The blond guard nodded his head and stepped out into the hallway while the darker haired one stayed inside the room with them, his hand straying to the stunner on his hip, watching her carefully, though his expression remained blank.
The door slid closed and silence stretched, uncomfortable and thin, as Madame Allegria seemed to regain her careful composure. She frowned down at the only other empty chair in the room, then regarded the bed with the same distaste, before deciding to take a seat at the table.
Her aunt sat straight and rigid, as if every surface in the room was incredibly filthy. She took one deep breath in, one deep exhale out, and then she turned those blue, cutting eyes on Valerie.
But Valerie was immune to such a look now. Once, it might have made her cower. Once, it might have made her afraid to be whipped and abused again.
Now, Valerie had purpose.
“Where are they?” her aunt asked, her words clipped.
Valerie ignored the question.
“How did you find me?” Valerie asked quietly, glaring at her aunt across the table.
Madame Allegria settled back in the seat, keeping her icy eyes on her, narrowed. Observing. Watching.
Valerie wondered what it was that she saw.
“Celine Larchmont is a bitter bitch of a woman,” Madame Allegria said. Valerie’s stomach dropped slightly. Had Celine betrayed them? “She thought she could sneak you all off Everton andIwouldn’t find out?”
Valerie kept her confusion well-hidden.
So…maybe Celine hadn’t betrayed them?
“Though you destroyed your tracker,” Madame Allegria said, her tone changing, becoming light like they were discussing the weather, “maybe you didn’t realize that the last transmission came from the Larchmonts’ private port.”
Relief went through Valerie. So Ravu reallyhaddestroyed it after all. Valerie had been mistaken.
It only strengthened her resolve to be free of this disease of a woman. Because if she managed to get away, Madame Allegria would never find her again.
“And pilots aren’t always so discreet, especially when…incentivized,” Madame Allegria continued.
“So you tracked us to the Larchmonts’ port and paid off the pilot when he returned,” Valerie said. “Isn’t bribery a little beneath you?”
“Not when it gets me what I want,” Madame Allegria said, a satisfied smirk crossing her features.
“How’d you know we were here at the inn then? The pilot didn’t know that,” Valerie said, continuing to glare.
“No, but a shopkeeper did. When I told him I was looking for three Keriv’icriminalstraveling with a human…well, that would be easy to remember, wouldn’t it? He told me he’d seen some Keriv’i coming and going from here.”
So it hadn’t been the customs agent, Valerie thought. Which meant that her aunt might not knowwherethey were heading. A small relief.
It didn’t matter, as soon as they landed on Nzonito, they would need to take a departing flight off the transport hubanywhere, just to be safe.
“Youwillbe returning to Everton with me,” Madame Allegria said, her features taking on a cold, unyielding expression. “You and the Krave. After what they did to Gabriel, I’ll have them imprisoned.”
