Page 98 of Beast and Remedy (The Last of the Heirs #2)
She breaks into a fit of elation again, and I cannot see Papa’s face, but he rises as she thrashes. “And I will be a reason you’ll be a dead king and have a dead daughter, too.”
Tove gasps, covering her mouth as Marian turns on her with a vicious promise. “And then I’ll be the reason that babe in your womb is dead, Snow Queen . And I’ll be the reason we’ll be able to take over your lands, too.”
Jerrick stiffens, and he blocks his wife from Marian’s scrutiny. He crosses his arms, and the cold, calculating aura I remember from so long ago takes shape. A haunting—deadly—darkness surrounds him as black takes over his glacial blue irises.
Goose bumps prickle up my spine at the sharp change, and Marian meets him in challenge.
Jerrick bristles, and his wife’s hand slinks through the bars.
“Jer.”
Tove’s voice is soft but steady, grounding her husband in some inexplicable way as my sister sneers.
“You’ll be too helpless, too pitiful to stop us and the army we’ll bring.”
“You won’t be alive to raise an army,” Beau says, stepping forward.
Her head moves at an unreal angle toward Beau, giggling with cunning delight. “Then, it’s a good thing I’m not alone.”
“What are you talking about?” Jerrick asks.
Marian presses her lips together, contemplating before whirling on me. “I’ll tell you if you heal me—”
“No!” Papa interjects, startling me.
Marian straightens, assessing him. “You aren’t going to execute your own daughter now, are you? Oh, but wait, we aren’t in Belmur for you to decide my punishment.”
She turns to Beau, accusation laced in her voice. “Would you really kill another member of the Sylvaine family? Do you want that on your conscious more than the death of my mother? You know I do want the details of how you did it so I could do the same for Vi—”
“We may be in Torgem, but I relinquished my judgment and cast the option to your father since your confession,” Beau cuts her off.
Light itself comes back into her mannerisms as she sways. “Wonderful! I’ll get to live and be healed and go home!” She glances at our father. “Right, Papa?”
Instead of responding, he asks Beau, “How long?”
I study them, Beau’s expression filling with regret. “If I stop the healing sessions and stop administering the fake cure…” He takes a long breath, then exhales. “Not much longer.”
“P-P-Papa?” Marian stutters, before she thrashes, rage escaping. “You can’t believe him! Don’t listen to him! He’s lying. Don’t believe him. Don’t believe anyone but me.”
My father’s anger, resentment, and remorse strain his features as he lowers his voice. “There will be no trial and no execution.”
Marian relaxes with relief. “I love you, Papa.”
“But you will live with the consequences of your actions.”
She gawks, blinking rapidly. “I didn’t do anything—”
“From this moment until your last, you will live with the infection you started and relied on so many others to fix. You will not be given any more healing sessions, any more tonics, and nothing even close to the cure. You will be alone, forced to experience the doom you brought not only to your kingdom but to your family,” he vows, shocking me.
He hunches forward, eyeing her before continuing, “You will feel your emotions run rampant, feel the control you had of your thoughts run wild, and feel the awareness of your situation settle deeper into your decaying mind. And you will realize even your slow and painful death will be only a fraction of what you deserve for trying to change the fates of the Makers and ruin your own family.”
Without another word or hesitation, my father strides for the exit.
His judgment fills the area as Jerrick looks at Beau before nodding and leaving.
My mind swirls with different ways to approach the rest of this moment, but I can’t bear to speak to her. I lower my head and have Leo help me leave.
Marian laughs again as the guard eases the cell door closed. “You have no idea what is coming. You aren’t cut out for it!”
She isn’t herself. She hasn’t been for a while, and she’ll never be the sister I loved ever again.
Our padded footsteps echo in the dungeon, and she hollers, “Be careful in the shadows!”
I stop.
The group halts, everyone peering back and staring at me.
Jerrick arches a brow. “What does that mean?”
Anxiety laces around my heart. The same phrase repeated from three different people.
“Vi?” Papa asks me.
The sudden tenderness in his voice drags me down. My heart thuds loud in my ears, my mind racing with the warning I cannot seem to discover the right answer to.
“I-I-I don’t know,” I admit, no longer wishing to dwell on the words. “But we need to get the cure dispersed immediately.”
“Let’s meet in the drawing room,” Beau suggests, and turns to my father, Jerrick, and Tove. “Would you be willing to stay? Queen Verena and King Vinzent needed to leave, but if we can iron out more details about the cure, they—”
“Let’s go,” Papa grumbles.
Jerrick and Tove share an exchange before they agree. “We’ll stay.”
Beau gestures for them to leave first, followed by Marcel. Leo and I stride forward and are stopped by my father.
“I’d like to take my daughter from here.”
Leo eyes me warily, reluctantly allowing my father to fill his place as he follows Marcel, leaving me alone with Papa and Beau.
Palpable tension stretches between us, and Papa lowers his voice, a tenderness seeping through. “Thank you for letting me decide her fate.”
“It’s what close friends do,” Beau replies, and my eyes widen at his insinuation.
A small lift of Beau’s lip is the only acknowledgment I receive as my father grunts and drags me along, leaving Beau to walk to the meeting alone.