“My father built his entire career on stopping men like them. And there I was, spread out on display, letting them use me however they wanted while he was forced to watch. While half of Ravenwood’s elite watched, people who watched me grow up.”
Her voice cracks on the last words. “I can never facehim again. How can I look him in the eye, knowing what I did? Knowing what I am?”
She shakes her head, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. “And now I’m bound to the three of them for a year. Surely they got their revenge, so why keep me for a year when they don’t even wantme, when all they want is to destroy him?”
I pull her back into my arms, holding her tight against my chest. “Everything will be okay,” I whisper, though the words feel hollow even as I say them. “We’ll figure this out together.”
Cora trembles against me, but she doesn’t pull away this time. I stroke her hair, those gorgeous long tresses that are tangled and wild from her breakdown.
“I need to ask you a question,” I say gently, waiting until she looks up at me with those red-rimmed green eyes. “If they gave you the choice... if they asked if you wanted them to have you for the year... what would you say?”
Cora’s face crumples, and for a moment, I think she’s going to start sobbing again. Instead, she covers her face with her hands, her voice muffled but clear.
“Yes,” she whispers. “God help me, yes. But it’s not me they want.”
The admission hangs in the air, a confession in a church—sacred and terrible at once.
“I don’t understand it,” she continues, her hands still covering her face. “They told me exactly why they were doing this. Revenge against my father. Using me as aweapon to destroy him politically. And still... I wanted to be theirs for a full year...”
She drops her hands, meeting her beautiful face marred in shame and brutal honesty.
“The idea of it ending, of not having the three of them worship me the way they did...” Her voice breaks. “It felt like the end of the world. Like I’d rather die than go back to my empty apartment and my political fundraisers, to have to pretend to be the perfect mayor’s daughter.”
She laughs, but it’s a broken sound.
“How fucked up is that, Mira? They’re using me for revenge, and I want them to keep doing it. I want Dominic’s hands on me, and Liam’s mouth, and Ryder’s...” She shudders. “I want all of it. For an entire year. Even knowing it’s not me they want.”
The honesty in her voice makes my chest ache. I see myself reflected in her confession—the way I melted for Xavier despite knowing exactly what kind of monster he is.
“Maybe that doesn’t make you fucked up,” I say quietly. “Maybe it makes you human.”
Cora’s words echo in my mind, and I feel something shift inside me—a recognition that makes my stomach clench with both fear and longing.
“I know exactly what you mean,” I whisper, the admission tearing out of me before I can stop it.
Cora’s eyes widen, searching my face. “Mira?”
“Xavier.” His name falls from my lips like a prayer and a curse intertwined. “Even knowing what he is, whathe’s done... I can’t stop thinking about him. About his hands, his mouth, the way he looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.”
My voice drops to barely a whisper. “The way he said my name when he was inside me.”
Cora reaches for my hand, squeezing it tightly. “But he manipulated you. He trapped you in that maze, forced you?—”
“Did he?” The question tastes bitter on my tongue. “Because when I think back to every moment... yes, he cornered me. Yes, he used the maze, the chains, and every psychological trick in his arsenal. But when it mattered, when he was touching me...”
I close my eyes, remembering the heat in Xavier’s gaze and the reverent way his fingers traced my skin.
“He never truly injured me. I wanted him. God help me, Cora, I wanted every second of it. Even now, knowing I should run as far and fast as I can, all I can think about is seeing him again tomorrow. Being with him for an entire year.”
Our confessions hang between us like a shared secret, dark and shameful, and a truth that no amount of scrubbing could ever make clean again.
“What if that’s the point?” I continue, my rational mind trying to make sense of the chaos in my heart. “What if the Hunt isn’t really about physical domination at all?”
Cora tilts her head, waiting for me to continue.
“Think about it. They could have taken us. The Blackwoods have enough power to make six women disappearwithout a trace. They didn’t, though, did they? They created this elaborate ritual. The maze, the pursuit, the psychological games...”
My pulse quickens as the pieces begin to fall into place.
