Page 135 of Blood and Thorns

The stone crumbled, disintegrating beneath his grip. He slipped through my fingers, his scream echoing as I scrambled back, only to hear a sickening thud.

Shaking, I dared to look over the side, finding Gabriel face down on the paving several stories below, blood pooling by his head.

“Je n'aurais pas dû envoyer un homme faire le travail d'une femme,”Margot mused, flicking what remained of her cigarette over the side. She didn’t seem concerned she’d just killed someone, or that there were people already circling the body. “You should never trust men. They can be foolish.” Margot turned, her eyes piercing as she swept closer. “What about you, are you foolish?”

I moved away from the edge, the balcony uneasy beneath my feet.

“Maybe not,” she chuckled, her heels tapping quietly as she followed my every step. “I still don’t get it, Sebastian’s obsession. But then again, I don’t try to pretend to understand the minds of men.”

“Margot…”

“Ah, so he’s spoken about me.” Her smirk was cruel, twisting her beautiful face. “Now that wasn’t something I expected. It has taken me years to realise he was alive, but then again even as a child he was clever, hiding in the shadows and watching. Has he ever told you about it?”

I shook my head, wary as Margot cocked her head to the side, watching me. She was like a viper cloaked in graceful silk. Just dangerous enough to make my instincts warn me to run.

“Shame. It’s a good tale,” she continued, her accent only adding to her overall elegance. “About a scorned woman taking revenge on the man who promised her the world, only to treat her like his whore. It was all supposed to be mine, you know. It’s what I was promised. Mael loved me–”

“But not enough to leave his wife.”Oh God, Ara, shut up!

Her eyes were razor sharp when they collided with mine, her lips pursed as she slapped me with an open palm. My head snapped to the side, the skin stinging against Gabriel’s bruise.

“Careful, or I may forget I need you alive.”

I swallowed my response.

“Did you know he’s never had a weakness?” Margot’s voice softened, her nails scoring gentle lines along my jaw. “Until you.”

“I’m not his weakness. I’m just a toy.”

“You have no idea, do you? He’s never been sentimental or even possessive with anything. Yet he tortured a man to death just for touching you.” Margot laughed, but the sound was too calm. “Even as a child if someone else touched his things, he’d simply destroy it, then throw it away. But not you, it seems. Which can only be a good thing,non? Because he rarely showed his face in public, and when he did, the places were heavily armed. It was too much of a risk, but luckily my patience was rewarded because you literally fell into my lap. A pretty little weakness I could exploit.”

My body locked in place, her touch crawling beneath my skin like insects. “Why do you want to hurt him so much?” I dared to ask.

The calculation in Margot’s eyes was as cold as the chunk of ice in my stomach. I was trying to remain calm, my lungs tight with how controlled I made each breath.

“Because he’s a Devereaux,” she replied, as if it was obvious. “Because he’s his father’s son, which means he cannot be trusted. His empire was built on the ashes of his name, a name that was supposed to be mine.”

“You’re delusional,” I snapped, my temper rising even as I tried to suppress it. “He was fourteen.”

“Every monster was once a child. Sebastian was simply born one; he was made because that’s what Mael needed in a son.” Her voice rose to a scream with every word. “An heir to everything thatIwas promised! Mael showed me the life I deserved, and then he tore it all away for a woman thatmeant nothing, and a child that I could’ve given him. Years I’ve built on his fortune, and now I’m more powerful than Mael could’ve ever dreamed.”

Margot’s nails dug into my skin as she gripped my jaw.

“Do you know Sebastian sobbed as my men used his mother? I made them all watch too, his brothers and father because the bitch deserved it. She was the one who poisonedmon amouragainst me. The only time Sebastian didn’t cry was when I had him whipped, or when I carved those pretty slices down his face.”

“They were just children.”

“If they’d survived, they would’ve been entitled to everything, and I couldn’t let that happen. Not after I’ve worked so hard for it,” Margot sneered, releasing her grip. “I was stupid not to check he was still breathing when I set that fire, and once I realised, it was too late. But don’t worry, it’s a mistake I won’t make again.”

“Madame, un invité est arrivé.”

We both turned to the guard who spoke, his brows drawn together.

“The party’s over. Who is this guest?” Margot spat.

The guard darted his eyes to me. “The thief.”

Chapter 61