“You said, ‘the fat bitch would need an extra pill’ to Miles.” I remind her. “Now that sounds an awful lot like you and Miles were in cahoots together to me.”
I drag the sharp blade of my dagger across her collarbone, little pebbles of blood forming in the thin cut. She whimpers some more, and maybe it finally sinks into her that I’m not fucking around because she spills her guts before I can press my knife back into her chest.
“He told me everything about the contract.” The words rush out of her mouth. “The debt, the payout, the fake marriage. Miles and I were high when I suggested it. I didn’t think we’d go through with it until he got the drugs and hired the two guys. I knew how much money he’d get and I couldn’t say no. It was too easy.”
“Where did he find the guys?” I demand, trying to fill in the gaps of my knowledge while I’m still in control.
“They were a part of the team hired for the event, security or something.”
“Names. Now.”
“I don’t know.” she shakes her head. “I don’t know. They worked for the company. Names didn’t matter, I just had to make sure they got their cash at the end of the night.”
“How much?” My teeth grind together. Everything in me is shoutingattack, thrust, lunge. It doesn’t matter how much she paid them. It doesn’t.
But I need to know.
“What-”
“How much money did you pay those fucks to assault me?” I shout.
“Del-” Orthia steps closer behind me, but Audrey interrupts her.
“Hundred g-grand each,” she whispers. “Nothing compared to what we were gonna make from your trust.”
“And this is nothing compared to what you did to me,” I hiss.
Her eyes go wide when she finally realises she isn’t getting out of this. I’m not sure why she thought I’d let her live to begin with, but I call it the idiocy of the rich.
I shift, and the dagger sinks between her ribs, right into her lungs. Like I practised.
Love’s powers rush through my arms like a great wave finally crashing into a rocky shore. My skin ripples, and the writhing and desperation of their tentacles cause goosebumps to erupt across my body. Pink light surges bright, like it did in Jelly Man. Her body illuminates subtly as Love drains her essence. Audrey’s weak gasp is inaudible compared to the sound of mine.
As though my entire life is being sucked out of my chest, Love’s power expels me. Heat leaves my body, and all the adrenaline that made my arms tingle and feel light is gone. I can barely hold my weight up as weakness threatens me.
It’s over as soon as I slump forward, sinking the blade deeper, upwards towards her heart. The motion is second nature now after the hours of practice. It’s not perfect; there is some kind of resistance, but it works. In a flash of pink light, it’s done. When Love’s power returns to me, it’s like a slow crawl across my skin. Every invisible sucker on every phantom tentacle caresses my body until I am shaking with so much addictive power.
I could take on the world. I could keep doing this forever and ever until there isn’t another soul left on this planet. Every hair on my body vibrates and sways in the wind of this dank alley. There is nothing, no one, who could stop me. This power is all-consuming.
My vision blurs as Love takes partial control of me. Something about my hands shifts, and when they grab Audrey’s limp body, it’s like she weighs nothing. Everything about this feels perfect, feels right. It is as if a part of me was missing before, and I am finally a whole being. Love and I control my form together as one unit. The dagger slips from her torso and the clatter of it smacking the blood-soaked pavement is the last thing I hear connected to this reality.
“You have pleased us, sweet one. A pillar has fallen, but there are three more yet to crumble before your promise is fulfilled.”
Chapter twenty
Delphini
0 Days
Warmthcoatsmyskinlike the Greek sun in August. Every muscle in my body is lax. Not an ounce of worry or stress filters through me.
The crackling of firewood eases me out of my sleep like it did the first time I woke up in Orthia’s room. My eyes adjust quickly to the low light and I recognise all the old worldly charm of Orthia’s bedroom. The dark wood panelling, the screen, the four-poster bed that looks like it weighs more than the ship itself. Orthia is exactly where she was the first time as well. Her bare foot shakes as she waits for me.
It’s like we are getting a do-over. A chance to have our moment.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” I murmur. “Makes me look bad.”
“For Love’s sake,” she sighs, running a hand over her scalp. “I thought you’d fucked it for a moment.”
