Page 136 of Queen of Nothing

I loosen a harsh breath and it puffs out my cheeks. I drop my head and consider the bruises on my thighs, curtesy of Sal’s kicking and screaming and moving boxes at work.

At work…

The shudder runs through me.

And that’s how I know for sure, I have lived as a whole other person these past few years, not as myself, and now that I am home, she is home, too.

Every time I let myself imagine what was going on back here, among the Videralli, in the world I yearned for, I brought trackers closer to me.

Every time I sat at a phone booth and let my pain break free—I was calling to them.

Breaking the shield.

And I’m not at all sorry about it.

Dray is right about me.

I wipe at my face, my breaths hitching through me, and look at him.

I see a beast so determined in its hunt that it bypasses all the other prey, just to catch the one that flees the furthest.

He asks, ”Why are you so ashamed of it, Olivia? It is only us in here. Your family do not judge you for wanting to come home. Only you are making this difficult for yourself—as always.”

I scoff, and it jolts my shoulders. But I don’t look away from him. The predator. The one who came to my room, left a celebration in the parlour, to talk to me. Just to talk.

We do not have that sort of relationship.

We are not friends.

And my heart lurches—because it clicks in my mind, and I realise what an idiot I am.

As if reading me, Dray’s stare is unflinching, a quiet challenge.

I part my lips around empty words for a beat.

Then I just do it, just ask it, the question that’s lurking around my mind, the one I don’t want to pay any attention to, because if it’s true and it’s spoken, it becomes real—

“Who did you marry, Dray?”

Dray’s smile is small, that dangerous, knowing smirk of his that darkens his whole aura.

“I did not marry,” he says, unapologetic. “My fiancé has been very ill. Too ill for the wedding ritual. But it seems she has made a full recovery overnight—just in time for the summer solstice.”

A bitter sound chokes me.

It’s me.

He is still engaged to me.

As I am to him.

Father and Oliver aren’t in the office deliberating where to put me for the rest of my life. They are going over the logistics of the marriage—because the quicker they can pass me over to Dray, the sooner it’s done.

Mother and Amelia aren’t just celebrating my return. They are gushing over the wedding they have just months to put into motion—because I’ve been brought home right in time for wedding season.

The smile I lift to Dray is sad.

Defeated.