“Right, okay,” I say as I get to my feet. “How much time do I have?” I look around frantically for a clock but find none.
“Now, miss,” she replies, and when I snap my gaze to her, she gives me a slight look of apology.
I’m shocked I have no time to get ready, but even more shocked that I slept until lunchtime.
I jump and rush across the room to unzip my suitcase. Even though I’ve been here almost two weeks, I haven’t dared move my stuff to the dresser or wardrobe. It feels weird and wrong. I don’t belong here, and I don’t think I’ll be staying once this mess is over.
She clears her throat. My hands clench around a shirt as I turn my attention to her once again.
“Might be best if you wore something from the wardrobe,” she says in a helpful whisper. She sends me a small smile as she reaches in to grab the door handle. “I’ll be right out here once you’re done.”
Then the door closes with the tiniestsnick.
I dress in a hurry. I’m finger-combing my hair as I pull the door back open.
“I’m ready,” I say as cheerfully as I can. She sends me a disapproving look, which I ignore, walking past her as if I don’t even see it.
She lets out a huff as she skirts around me to take the lead. Nothing else is said as she leads me to the main landing and down two flights of stairs. I haven’t been here long, but I’ve been asked to stay out of sight. Let’s just say, I’ve had fun exploring the many different ways to get to the wing where my room resides, along with all the other unoccupied guest rooms. I follow her into the small dining room, which I sense is used for more casual dining. I roll my eyes so hard.
“Ah, Astra,” Mr. Aubert says, looking up from the tablet on the table beside him. I feel so ridiculous calling him that in my head, but it fits better than Dad. I don’t know the man in front of me. I don’t want to know him, not as a person and sure as heck not as a father to me. I don’t think he has a fatherly bone in his body. The only reason I’m here is because he has a use for me. I’m supposed to be his secret weapon. A child no one knows about, who most certainly only shares part of the genes his three sons have. Yeah, my mom was a side toy. Which makes me the “unfortunate side effect” of that affair. Try just losing your mom at eight and having your father, who you’re just meeting for the first time, tell you this as he ushers you off to a secluded location where you’ll stay for however long.
I’m sure it’s not hard to see why I don’t like this man and why I don’t trust him. But I can’t defy him. He’s got somethingI want and he knows it. I have to play his game. Do his bidding. Though I’ve already messed up the first thing he’s tasked me with.
I grab the glass of water in front of me and nervously down half of it.
He pays me no mind, his attention back on the tablet. His finger swipes across the screen with such a harsh jerk that it makes me think he’s trying to flick a bug away. He continues the motion, and I wonder if he’s even paying attention to what’s on the screen.
“I see Mr. Falco made it back to his home.” There’s an edge to his statement, and I find myself with a dry mouth even as I swallow hard. “Alive and still breathing.”
I don’t point out that the two likely go hand in hand, especially if his point is thatMr. Falcoleft the party and made it back to his home, and the whole way, he was still alive.
This is the first time I’ve heard the man’s name. My father hadn’t given me many details. I’d only known who he was because my father had shown me a security picture of him walking into the ballroom for the masquerade not long before I actually found him at the party. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask what Mr. Falco’s first name is, but I bite the question back. It won’t do me any favors now. If he doesn’t know what happened between Mr. Falco and myself in my room last night, I don’t want to give anything away.
“I’d lost track of him for a while, and when I saw him again, he was coming down the back stairs.” His eyes cut up, slicing through me like lasers. I gulp but try to cover it up by taking a sip of water. “I thought maybe you’d lured him away to do as you’d agreed to, but then I had a conversation with him and he didn’t seem the least bit… well, you understand what I’m getting at. And then he just walked right out. I had him followed, and you want to know what’s funny?”
The pause stretches out entirely too long. I’m close to rolling my eyes when I just spit out, “What?”
“He’s alive and kickin’ this morning, Astra. You didn’t do what you promised to do.”
There is somethingreallyoff about Greely Aubert—my father. At first, I thought he just had this high-and-mighty, better-than-everyone-else attitude. His way or else. But it’s more than that. I see it clearly now, and I fear it might be too late to untangle myself from this web. How do I get out of here? I’m stuck now. I have no money and I’m in a city I may have once known but don’t remember a thing about. Before my father came to get me, I’d been living with a small coven outside the city for so long I’d started to feel like there wasn’t an outside world. And by small, I mean the coven consisted of the aunts and me.
“Imagine, to my surprise, how I felt when I went back and watched the security footage of last night to find out where he’d disappeared to.”
Well, crap. This is about to get extremely awkward. What am I supposed to tell him?
“The security footage?” I ask dumbly. I really hope there aren’t camerasinsidethe room. How gross would that be?
“Yes. And I saw Mr. Falco following you, of all people, into the private, off-limits parts of my house.” His eyes turn dark. A shiver of fear runs down my spine. “I saw him go into your room after you went in there. Then I saw him emerge after quite some time. Certainly, longer than you would have needed to slip him the contents of the vial. And I find it funny how the man seemed fine when he walked out of your room. I think he might have even been smiling.”
I find his words bitter and odd. I try not to grab onto hope at the last part, especially since I can’t imagine Mr. Falco did anything at all other than walk away from my room as if theencounter with me hadn’t meant much. That’s the very feeling I got from him last night. If I’m being honest, it’s the way I want it, too. One night to live free. To not be myself and maybe change one thing about who I am.
“What did you do, Astra?” He scowls. “Did you tell him what my plan was? Did you give away all of my secrets? Tell me!” His fist hits the table, causing the dishes and silverware to clink together. I can’t even hide how hard I flinch.
“No,” I say quickly. That is a truth I can give him. “I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Did you even try to give him what was in the vial I gave to you to use?”
“No,” I say, averting my eyes. “I still have it. I can try again. I… I—”
