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“Then truth bomb the fuck out of me, but these little hints of your life makes my imagination run wild. The bitch is hormonal, so everything my brain is throwing at me may be worse than what happened,” Isaac groans.

“I fully doubt that,” she blurts out. “My step-sister has this air of being fully in control, but my existence pisses her off, so everything sets her off. I can’t be away from her for long periods of time, so I get front and center floor seats to her crazy. Cinder can have entire meetings where she’s the smartest person in the room, collected, and dominates the decisions so they’re in her favor. Then the next minute she’s pulling me from the room because she doesn’t think I’m breathing properly for my station to punish me. She’s unhinged.”

“So there’s no rhyme or reason?” Andrya asks, brow furrowing.

“There’s a reason,” Silla snorts. “The time in question, Cinder lost her shit because someone kept trying to pull me into the conversation. She was upset by this, so she shared her displeasure with me.”

“Can I ask what she did?” Ayden asks hesitantly as we all glare at him. Silla just shrugs, thinking.

“She told me that if I was going to insist on being the center of attention, then she’d make sure to give that to me. So she forced me to stand naked in the guards’ dining hall,” Silla says, her eyes fuzzy and unfocused as she remembers. “It’s one of her tamer punishments, though humiliating.”

“Did they touch?” Isaac growls, and her eyes move to him.

“There wasn’t anyone to keep them from it,” she says absently, her voice showing how detached and checked out she is from the memory.

Strangling his response, Isaac’s fist tightens as he keeps his face blanked from a reaction. We’ve grown better at this when we have to be, though we try to be real with each other. Silla doesn’t need to see Isaac’s reaction though, not when she’s holding on so tenuously to her own sanity. Fuck, I had to give my girl an emergency tea today to ensure she isnt pregnant by her rapists… I hate this all for her.

Taking a breath, I decide to broach the subject we’ve been discussing.

“Silla, how would you feel about talking to the Underground to work with them to dethrone your step-sister?” I ask.

“Noa, the guy who pretended to be a soldier, mentioned it, but I’m not willing to exchange one tyrant for another,” she says, shaking her head. “I want to see what I can find out about the Underground, the state of the people in the realm, and then set up a meeting. I need my computer for that too.”

“You really want to do that right now?” I ask, wrinkling my nose. She’s tired, but I can see her thoughts are running through her mind in rapid fire, so there’s not a chance in hell that she’ll be sleeping any time soon.

“Yes,” she says, nodding so hard she winces as she hurts her neck.

Kissing her forehead, I chuckle. “I love you so much,” I tell her, ignoring the way she stills. We’ve all gotten more comfortable talking to each other, showing our feelings, though Isaac and Grayson have been a bit stiff around each other the last few months. I’m done hiding. Life is too damn short, even for a psychotic narcissist like me. “I’ll give you anything within my power to give you. Do you want to get set up at the kitchen table or the couch?”

Biting her lip, she shrugs. “The couch works. The cream you applied really helped my pain levels, so I think I can lay comfortably,” she says.

“It’s colder here than the kitchen, let me grab some blankets,” Andrya mutters, getting up.

“I’ll grab your computer bag,” Isaac says, moving to do that.

“Hungry?” Ayden asks, hopeful.

Silla’s stomach growls, making her giggle. Fuck, I’ve missed that sound.

“Do you want pizza, some other takeout, or we can whip something up?” he continues, going with what her stomach wants.

“Gods, I shouldn’t, but I really want pizza now,” she groans. “I can’t tell you the last time I had some.”

“It’s been a long time for us too,” I grin. The kitchens would attempt to make pizza for the staff, but it’s really just not the same. “Let’s pop our pizza cherry together?”

“How do you manage to make that sound delicious and dirty at the same time?” Silla asks in wonder, looking up at me. Her sea-green eyes sparkle, and it’s nice to see the real Silla Tremaine come through.

“It’s a talent,” I snark, brushing her lips with mine. “Ayden and I will get dinner sorted, why don’t you get to work?”

“Sir, yes Sir,” she grins. “I’m partial to pineapple on my pizza.”

Picking her up as I stand, I gently return her to the couch. Usually I’d drop her to hear her squeal and watch her tits bounce, but we’re a ways off from all of that. I don’t want to move too fast. This all has to be on her terms.

“Such a pretty little brat,” I tease her as she gets comfortable on the couch. Her raven hair is a curly, unruly mass down her back, her smile wide. I can’t help but take a mental snapshot of Silla looking just like this.

Walking into the kitchen, I take a deep breath as I see Ayden.

“You’re really good with her,” he says softly, toying with his phone.