Page 129 of Devoured

“I thought I said, your father or your friends.”

“You also said the station or my school.” I pretend to meet her gaze and hold it, instead focusing on the deep line between her brows and emptying my mind of all other thoughts. “I didn’t realize you expected me to make a quick detour to my house to kidnap my father.”

Cora’s teeth crack as her jaw hardens. “Didn’t you, Vanessa?” She glares at me, and I’m sick of it. I am sick of the constant torment. She has made my life a living hell. I will not give her more power over me.

“Is there something else you need?” I ask, my voice darker, more vicious, than ever before. “We did as you asked. We brought you strong courtiers. They should wake any moment now—”

“I asked you to bite them.” Cora sits on the edge of her throne, a hundred different versions of her refracting torchlight around the room. She leans forward, scraping claws over the armrests. “I suppose I should assume you’ve done as instructed. You’ve split your soul between these five mortals.”

Don’t look at Evander. Don’t think about the truth.

I nod tersely. “Yes, and I’m exhausted. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave.”

“Arielle,” Cora says. “Come here, girl.”

I clench my hands into unforgiving fists as Arielle hesitates. As Arielle looks at me with wide-eyed fear before taking a step toward Cora. “Yes?” She exhales. “Your Majesty?”

Cora doesn’t glance at Arielle. She keeps her gaze on me, her black eyes in the mirrors surrounding us shimmering like that demonic spider’s, turned into a hundred eyes. A thousand eyes. They burn through mine, but I do not tremble or cower. “Do you know my new little pet, Vanessa?” Cora stretches out a hand and runs a claw through Arielle’s hair, shearing a few locks of auburn. Arielle holds her breath, but she can’t stop the gust of sweet rot from fleeing her. She is undeniably afraid.

“Arielle Jerez is a Mind Reader. She will be quite powerful once she’s properly broken.” Cora’s lips stretch into a revolting smile. “Go ahead, Arielle. Read Vanessa’s mind. Tell me what thoughts my son’s fiancée is keeping from us. Did she bite these humans?”

I scowl at Cora as Arielle turns those soft brown eyes onto me.

Brown like Celeste’s, I think suddenly. And I can’t stop the memory from surging through my mind. The hallucination. My resolve. The way I gave everything up to save my father. No no no. Stop thinking. Stop thinking.

Arielle inhales sharply. Her gaze darts to Evander, to the queen, as she picks at the skin around her thumb. Picks and picks until it begins to bleed. “I… I…”

Lie, I think in a burst of ferocious heat. Lie to her, Arielle. Please.

Arielle staggers a step, knocking into the side of Cora’s throne. Cora whirls around and slashes out with her claw. She cuts Arielle’s shoulder. “Hurry up,” she barks. “I don’t have all day.”

Beside me, Evander falls silent. The reflection of his gaze collides with mine, and he jerks his chin once. As if in warning.

But I don’t need to be warned. I already understand how dangerous this is. Lie, I think again. Arielle, tell her I bit these people. She’ll have no way to know you’re being dishonest. Tell her I bit them, and they suffered. There was screaming and blood. So much blood. I fill the thoughts with images of gore, with memories of Evander banging on the door, with the sound of those brutal screams. She will believe you, I promise.

I promise—only I can’t. Can I?

I have no idea what Cora is capable of anymore.

Arielle gnaws on her lower lip. She smears blood from her thumb to her palm, anxiously rubbing her fingers together. “Her thoughts are painful, Your Majesty,” she says slowly, shifting her gaze to Cora. “They were screaming loudly. They were… suffering.”

“I didn’t ask if they were screaming,” Cora spits. “I asked if they were bitten by our dearest Truthseer.”

Please please please, I think, not even sure if Arielle is listening to my thoughts. I don’t dare to breathe, to look elsewhere, as she sucks in another harsh breath.

“Yes,” Arielle murmurs. “She bit them.”

Cora tilts her head. She pivots to face Arielle. “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

Arielle’s gaze hardens then. Just a bit. Just enough to appear offended at the accusation. “Never, Your Majesty.”

Evander whistles abruptly and forces a grin that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Now that that’s cleared up, are we dismissed? I’m starving.”

“Not so fast.” Cora stands and descends the stairs. She steps over Officer Warren’s body as if he’s not even there. The sound of her nearing—the stench of those decaying roses that seem to cloak her—sets my pulse racing. I bite down on my tongue, stifling my anxiety with a burst of pain.

“What can we do for you?” Evander asks cheerily.

“Shut up,” Cora snaps, glowering at him.