“I hope not. I hope she has no clue. But Bellamy, while Rowan is gone, I want you and the children to stay close to home. I know you wanted to take them to the children’s museum in Tourin, but I don’t think that’s safe right now.”
Bellamy releases an exhausted sigh. “Sebastian, following a lead on a fingerprint has nothing to do with us going to a museum.”
“Just please.”
“Honestly, nothing has happened when we’ve left the palace. If anything, everything that’s happened occurred while we were in the palace.”
He makes a turbulent noise.
“You know it’s true. Whether there is a curse or not, we cannot allow it to continue to control us.”
“I’m not. At least I’m trying not to. But right now, nothing feels good. Nothing feels safe. Just when we start to get a handle on things, everything spins out of control again. Please, just this once, listen to me. For my own peace.”
Lightning flashes across the sky, immediately followed by a loud bang of thunder. It distracts them, and I take that as my moment to sneak out. Except my foot snags on a lamp cord, causing it to move and grate against the table it’s sitting on.Fuck!
My heart batters against my ribs, and a cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck.
“What was that?” Bellamy asks.
I don’t stop. I keep going because it’s too late now.
“Was that the lamp?” the king questions.
I reach the door and continue through it, getting to my feet and pressing my body against the wall. I don’t know if they saw me or will get up to investigate. As it is, I unhooked the monitors and will have to sneak back in tomorrow before dawn to reattach them.
Shit. This is bad. This is really bad.
I don’t look back. I push myself along the dark corridor when a sound behind me tickles my ears. Fuck. Adrenaline pumps a steady cocktail through my blood, and I crouch and move, keeping to the wall and the shadows.
Then I hear another sound. The door to the study closing.
They could look me up on the cameras now, and that will be that.
I continue along the hall and down the stairs, going faster and faster. The weight of everything is like an albatross around my neck, making my steps heavier. I don’t want them to catch me. I don’t want this to end. The longer I can drag this out, the more money I can earn. I can create a résumé and get Jaqueline and build us a real life.
She could go to school. Hell, I could too.
I make it down to the servants’ area, but I keep moving, needing to get out, needing air, needing breath. The walls are closing in on me, and I pick up my pace. The servants’ entrance that leads to the delivery area beckons me, and I plow into it, struggling with the lock for a moment, only to break through.
Rain instantly soaks me, the air balmy and electric.
I keep going, racing around the side of the palace and up the sharp incline, fighting slick grass and mud, the darkness and the rain, trying not to jump with each massive bolt of lightning that claws like the devil’s fingers across the ink-black sky.
I stop when I reach the rocks, my chin lifting and my eyes blinking against the onslaught of rain as I search. The window. That’s the window.
I take a step, the earth blanketed by jagged rocks, and I climb up the first tier.
This is where he fell. Where he threatened to push Bellamy to.
I run my hand along the shiny black surface.
Harrowing grief consumes me, staining my face in tears of acid.
I love him, and I hate him.
I hate them. I hate what they made me. I hate the neglect and abuse and toxic fucking poison. I hate the blood on my hands and in my soul. I hate that this family is hurting, and so much of it is because of mine.
A scream lurches from my chest, drowned by the thunder, but I don’t care. My fists pound on the rock as blind fury consumes me. I rage, screaming and howling until there’s nothing left of me except for a panting, sobbing mess.
