There.
That’s my way in.
Well, this would sure fuck a lot of things up, wouldn’t it? And if what I have planned works… I can save Anya, too. I don’t know how this causes the metaphorical hole that Cypress wanted in all of this, but even Melona senses some of that potential. It’s possible that with just the rightnudge, a series of actions will cascade that are nearly unstoppable, and with a weakened Misery, there’shope.
I’ve been racking my brain for how it all connects; is it because the daughter named Moriganna can demand her mother to come? I don’t even know why the sirens are being kept here—or how Tempest has a daughter that’s asiren—but are they being used for something in particular? He mentioned their blood… Does that mean freeing them might create a massive dent in whatever is being planned? Like flooding the crops of a farmer about to reap what he sowed?
If I can create an opening to grievously wound the rest, and if peoplearecoming for me…
One step at a time.
I squint, wishing I had a telescope to look closer. Right next to the main balcony is a much smaller one, and that’sdirectlyadjacent to a tower that seems to gorightinto the ground… I don’t know why the piano room stood out so much in my mind, but there were other doors directly after it,rightbefore descending.
If I can somehow gain access to that piano room, maybe I can access that smaller balcony and break into whatever room it connects to. I couldpossiblyget near the stairwell and access the sirens without anyone noticing, especially if I can somehow be in that piano room with the door shut.
Anya’s story of being alone with Amy’s killer forhoursbefore anyone noticed has stuck to my mind like sand to wet skin.If I can get into that piano room, alone with Jesper…
I need to visit it to plan anything further, though. I know better than to make plans on something I don’t have eyes on, and given I’ve already seen that space, and can observe it from here, this is my best bet with the limited timeframe I’m allotted.
Pacing the room as I wait, I finally stop to sit at the edge of my bed, where Anya had been. I can’t burn any more energy. I have a purpose now, and people are relying on me. Melona is. Tempest’s daughter, too. Anya, as well.
When more footsteps precede someone entering the room, I’m immediately on my feet and stare up at the unforgiving eyes of Jesper when the door opens. “You want to go to a room with a piano?” he asks, although it’s more like a statement from someone who is annoyed.
“Since Misery cannot read me, I know you’re just going off my word.” I stand straighter, hoping to convey sincerity. “You were right about my bravado.” When his eyes glint with something that conveys intrigue, I hone in on it. “But I mean it when I say Iamnumb to this world, whether for better or for worse. And no. I don’t know how to process the life I’m in right now. But Idoknow that I’m willing to work with you if it means more freedom for me and, more importantly, to protect those I care about. I don’t want anyone else threatened on my behalf anymore.”
I’ll play him like hewisheshe could play me.
He takes a few steps closer, no longer wearing any vests; his black, silk tunic makes it seem like he came up here rather quickly.Eager. “Blackwell tells me that he didn’t trust you.”
“Of course he shouldn’t have. I had just been abducted, and taken to a place I was certain would kill me.”
“There’s no difference here.”
I nearly snort at his admission that he knows what they’re doing with me isn’t an act ofservice. “Well, I beg to differ,” I say, trying my best to transition my thought process. “There wasn’t a god involved before. I—” I allow a pause, trying to sound broken. “I don’t think I’m escaping this time, and I amnotletting someone get hurt, abused, ormurderedon my watch ever again. If that means working with you, then… I can at leasttry.”
I can see his eyes gyrate like he’s contemplating everything. “You cannot be okay with us taking you.”
“Then what was your plan?”What do I say?“Please. I just need out of here, for amoment…I’ll talk more, I promise. I need out of this damn space.”
My desperation seems to tempt him into believing me more.
“And go where?” he asks, still examining me as if I may reveal how this is a trap, even in the smallest way.
“Let me go into the piano room, once a day. That’s all I ask. I understand I can’t leave the castle. But that room would be nice.”
I don’t plan to endure being here long enough for that to matter, but a feeling of victory steals my heart when he seems to believe me. “The piano room?”
“My mother played,” I lie, and hope somewhere she understands I am using her to survive. “And I’d like to be relatively alone. At least, no more than one person in there with me.”
He stiffens. “Why the limitation?”
I look at his sharp features, to the eyes that remind me slightly of someone who might be taken advantage of in Skull’s Row; he’s smart, but not cunning. “I know I can’t be bymyself. I just… I don’t want an audience, either.”
I swear something in his gaze suggests he’s intrigued.‘I’m interested in the Cinder that Morvock needs…’ He’s so arroganthewants to be the one to make me bend.
So I’ll dangle that in his face.
Jesper closes in the space between us, this whole encounter disgusting me. And I nearly show it. But at the last moment, I maintain my indifference as he reaches out to touch my hair, almost as if it’shisto touch.
