Page 54 of Degradation

She puffs her chest, opening her mouth to retort only I get there first.

“He’s a Blake.” I tell her. “He’s Magnus’s brother.”

Her face reacts, I can see the contempt on it as she looks at him. “A Blake?” She repeats. “You think you have the right to speak to me like that? Do you even know who I am, boy?”

He doesn’t look like a boy. He doesn’t even look like a man. He looks more monstrous than ever as he comes further into this space, my space.

“You’re not so far above me you can’t be torn down from your ivory tower.” He sneers. “And the day that happens, I’ll be sure to see you in Oblivion. Bet your cunt bleeds just the same as any slave there does.”

It’s the most I’ve heard him speak. The most I’ve heard any guard speak. They don’t talk to me. They practically ignore me.

I stare up at him and he turns his gave from her to me. “Malkta.” He says so quietly, as if I’m meant to know what the hell that means.

My mother’s eyes widen, she grabs my arm, pulling me further from him. “Why the fuck did he just call you that?” She asks.

I blanche, shaking my head. “I don’t know what it means, is it an insult?”

She purses her lips as if she knows far more than she wants to divulge. “It doesn’t matter.” She says dismissively. “Hedoesn’t matter.”

I watch him as he stalks back out, as he takes his position once more by the door. What the fuck is his problem? What the fuck does he want?

“Paitlyn.” My mother says in a hushed voice. “This is part of the plan. You may not realise it, you may not like it, but it will all work out. It will all make sense. You just have to play along until everything is in place.”

“What do you mean ‘everything is in place?” I whisper back. It sounds like she’s planning a coup.

“Do you trust me?” She asks.

I don’t know if I do. Not anymore. Not after this.

She cups my cheek, seeing the reticence in my face. “Paitlyn, you’re my child. I will do everything I can to protect you. Everything I can to ensure you have the future you deserve, the life you deserve.”

Like she has so far. Like she’s done anything close to that.

“I want out.” I repeat. “I want to get away from him, from them…” She places a finger over my lips, her eyes darting to that monster guarding my door, that monster that feels right now is the only thing preventing me from getting my freedom.

“Trust me, Paitlyn. Trust me.”

Devin

“Trust me, Paitlyn, trust me.”

I hear the words and it’s all I can do not to sneer. Does the girl really believe that woman gives a fuck about her? Sure, she may have birthed her but what sort of mother hands their child over to a man like Gunther?

I roll my eyes, adjusting my feet, making myself more comfortable as I block the doorway.

“…you have to seduce him. You have to make him want you.”

“But he hurts me.”

I try not to listen. I try to zone out, even though the Chapter Lord gave me specific instructions to ensure the two of them weren’t conspiring.

I don’t know what the mother means by ‘a plan’, but I sure as hell will not be reporting that back. Not because I’m siding with them, not because I want to help them, but the man is already paranoid and comments like that will only make him worse.

He’s had the whole Palace searched three times this week alone. I don’t know what he thinks there could be, but it’s clear he thinks there is something. I know he’s paranoid. I know the man is verging on the edge of insanity and if he succumbs to it, then God only knows what that means for the rest of us.

The mother is rattling on, giving suggestions, ways her daughter can appease Gunther and spare herself a beating. It’s bullshit. All of it is. Either the mother knows it, or she doesn’t care enough about her child’s life to admit it.

I glance at her again. At the girl.