Page 145 of Degradation

She sits there, her arms wrapped around herself, and I can’t tell if she’s shell-shocked from me killing Soren, or she’s shell-shocked from the fact she didn’t fight me. That she gave in entirely. That she embraced what she is, that she finally let the mask slip.

“Let’s get you dressed.” I say, grabbing one of my t-shirts and a pair of shorts. They absolutely drown her but right now I have no other options.

“Did you mean that?” She says quietly.

“Mean what?” I reply.

She hesitates, pulling a face. “That you would kill for me.”

“I already have.” I state.

She shudders, dropping her face, like she doesn’t know how to take that fact. “You called me queen.” She says. “And yet…” She trails off, turning her head as if she were looking over my shoulder.

I frown, glancing in the same direction and see Jackson stood, glaring at us both. It’s curious that she heard his approach before me. Apparently, her hearing really is that good then.

“What do you want, Jackson?” I ask.

“Why the fuck are we doing all this?” He says loud enough for a few of the others in the hall to stop and listen.

“Doing what exactly?” I reply.

He looks at Paitlyn then back at me. “We should just leave her here, hand her over, and be done with the whole thing.”

“What…” I begin.

“She’s a part of it. Her mother’s Esau.” He snarls cutting across me.

While behind me, Paitlyn gasps. “What did he say?”

I wave my hand to silence her, then remember she won’t see the action, will she?

A few of the others push into the room. Jackson is ahead of them but there’s a good five on one here. Even Malik is stood, on the peripheries, watching this intently.

“How do you know that?” I murmur back to him. That’s a very dangerous thing to know. A very dangerous thing to say out loud too. My hand flexes, my fingers are more than aware that my gun right now is beside Paitlyn and a little too far out of reach. But my dagger, that’s close enough.

“Like you don’t.” He sneers. “Like you didn’t put it all together back in the Palace…”

“The fuck is he talking about?” Malik growls, striding closer to us. “This bitch is Esau?”

“She’s not. Her mother is.” Jackson repeats.

“I thought the Esau were dead, I thought those bastards were long gone.” Mace says.

“Nah, mate,” Jackson replies. “They’ve been here all along, lurking, pulling tricks, playing us all for fools.”

His hand moves, he tries to be subtle about it, but I see what’s there, beneath his fingers, and I hear the tiny click too.

“So, shewasinvolved.” Cooper cuts in. “It has to be them that killed Gunther.”

Maybe it was. Maybe it was the fairies in his head that did it. Right now, I don’t give a fuck who was behind it. The fucker was mad. I’m glad he’s dead. I’m just pissed that we all got caught up in the aftermath.

“Put it down, Jackson.” I order, keeping my eyes on him.

“Not till you listen to us. You’ve got your head so full of her cunt now, you’re as crazy as Gunther was.”

“The fuck did you say?” I snarl, taking a step forward, losing what little patience I have left.

He lifts his arm, pointing it not at me, but at her, at Paitlyn. “This bitch is long past her expiry date, I’d say…”