Page 107
Story: Barons of Decay
“You're going to be sore after,” she says, handing me a tiny glass vial of white crystals. Salt. “Bathe in this if you bleed too much. It helps.”
One of the women who gave me my bath leans in, more daring, and adds, “If he lets you ride him, rock forward on your knees. Don’t just lie there like a corpse.”
My mouth goes dry. “What…what if I don’t know how?”
They all pause.
“You’ll figure it out fast,” the woman at my feet says. “Or he’ll teach you.”
“Or punish you,” Regina mutters from behind me. She runs a brush through the ponytail, making the hair shiny and curl at the end, then sprays a light oil over the top.
“He already has,” I admit, catching her dark eyes with mine. “He put me in the cage.”
She pauses. “The one under the bed?”
“Yes.” My heart hammers, not out of fear, but possible camaraderie. “Did he lock you in there too?”
“Not the King. It was one of my Barons,” she says. “He got jealous once that I was flirting with someone else. Thought it would teach me a lesson.”
“Did it?”
“Yes and no. I was committed to my Barons so that was pointless, but I realized that he was projecting his betrayal and disloyalty on me. He was the one cheating–”
“With another woman?” I blurt.
“God, no. With anotherking. He was working for Ashby behind the Baron King’s back. Caused a lot of trouble and ultimately cost him his life.” She shakes her head. “I saw the signs, I just couldn’t place them. He was paranoid, accusatory. He’d flip everything back on me or the other Barons, act like we were the ones at fault.”
“I killed Armand,” I admit. It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud. “He caught me in the Hunt and despite the King’s strict directions he tried to rape me.”
Her lips twist, impressed. “Seems like you have better instincts than I do.”
I shrug. “Maybe. He wasn’t trying to hide it…”
‘You never should have run and once you did, you never should have stopped.’
His words slam back into me, the threats he made right before I slit his throat. It was like he knew me. Or knewofme.
“The King rewards loyalty,” Regina says, drawing me out of that dark place. “You did him a favor.”
She lifts up a piece of black netting–a veil, held together with a shiny black bow.
“Isn’t that a little childish?” I ask, thinking of how offended the Barons were at my schoolgirl outfit.
“He’ll like it,” she assures me, pinning the oversized black satin into place at the back of my head. It’s huge, sticking out from both sides of my head. “It makes you look young.”
“I am young,” I note.
She meets my eyes in the mirror. “Exactly.”
Daddy, she had called him the night of the Hunt. She’s his true Daughter of Darkness. I’m his burden.
I want to ask her how to make him like me, to accept me, but I remember the advice given to me in the glass jar and decide not to. I already know. Regardless, she’s already moved on, and I’m directed into another room where I see it: the dress.
It’s spread across the table like a shroud. Black satin, boned corset, lace sleeves so tight they feel like a second skin. Carefully, I touch the soft satin, fingering the tag sewn into the back.
Jaded Society
“Did Adeline pick this out?” I’d half expected the dress to be a glaring white, maybe with tiny roses around the edge.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144