Page 40 of Enchantra (Wicked Games #2)

39

ANYONE ELSE

When the next choosing ceremony came, Rowin was still acting strangely. They hadn’t had a proper conversation, and yet he wouldn’t let her out of his sight.

They’d spent most of their time in silence, trying to avoid his siblings, lingering in the library where she was finally able to show him the book she’d found on Crimson Rot. He’d seemed shocked that she’d bothered to track something down on the subject but didn’t bother to say much else on the matter. Unfortunately, she hadn’t learned anything about the virus that Rowin hadn’t already told her, and it frustrated her to no end.

There was an inexplicable nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she was missing something.

Eventually the two of them left the library to eat dinner with Ellin, who spent the entire meal divulging all the gossip on the infamous Serpentine family Genevieve had heard so much about at her birthday celebration. She wondered if this was how Ophelia felt whenever Genevieve used to return home with stories of rowdy parties or gatherings with her friends.

After dinner, Genevieve chronicled the events of the past week in her diary, filling in with meticulous detail all the information she’d been neglecting. She tried to set down her feelings for Rowin, but she still couldn’t define them, especially now that she was paranoid he’d made some sort of insidious deal with Knox. The Devil had offered her plenty of opportunity for bargains, after all, and everyone else had made it abundantly clear Knox’s first interest was in creating a good show for those paying to watch.

“And then there were five,” Knox noted when he finally appeared in the ballroom with the rest of them, dragging Genevieve back to the present.

Without preamble, the Devil launched the Hunting Blade into the air, and they all watched as it went right to Ellin.

“Oh, Covington Silver”—Ellin flicked a piece of her platinum hair out of her face—“you’d better run after last night.”

Covin grinned. “Bring it on, baby sister.”

“Game?” Knox asked.

“Birds and stones,” Ellin declared.

Knox nodded. “Begin.”

Grave and Covin ambled off as usual, but Genevieve was surprised to see Rowin do the same without waiting for her. Grave seemed to notice as well.

She ran after Rowin, watching as he slipped into the powder room and closed the door before she could catch up. As she knocked on the door, she heard a resounding crash from within.

What the Hell?

The door swung open.

“Were you really not going to wait for me?” she huffed at Rowin. “Or explain what the hell birds and stones means…What did you do ?”

The mirror over the vanity had been completely shattered. Its surface no longer reflective but a dormant black color. Shards of glass littered the countertop as well as drops of black blood. She glanced down at Rowin’s fist. The skin of his knuckles was split open, but already healing.

Rowin pulled her into the powder room, shutting them inside. When Genevieve glanced pointedly at the mirror, Rowin shoved a hand through his hair.

“Ellin’s game is a play on two birds, one stone,” he explained, monotone, as if that was the most pressing topic. “If you had let me finish the tour a few days ago, you’d know that. If you see any other players at any point during the round, you have to stay with them for the remainder of the time. Makes it easier for the Hunter to get everyone rounded up. Though it’s usually a game best played earlier on.”

“Rowin, what happened ?” she demanded. “In Knoxium, what the fuck happened? Because you certainly weren’t acting like this before.”

His expression gave nothing away. “How was I acting then, trouble?”

“Like… like…”

“Be specific ,” he taunted.

“Do not act as if you do not care for—” she began.

In a flash he had her backed up into a wall.

“And that’s exactly the problem,” he said, tone gruff. “I do care for you, Genevieve.”

It was an incomplete thought, but he didn’t seem able to make himself say anything else. Her mind went back to the thought of his meeting with Knox. The Devil must have offered him something. But did Rowin take it?

“You’re a coward,” she finally told him. “Whatever it is you aren’t telling me…you’re a coward .”

His eyes flashed with anger.

Before he could give her another cryptic response or vague excuse as to why he was yet again refusing to open up to her, she spat, “Get out.”

He lifted a brow. “You want me to leave?”

“Yes,” she told him. “Find your own spot to hide.”

He nodded, and without another word he slipped from the room. She stood there for a long moment, staring at the torn wallpaper from where he had detached the mirror. Eventually she left, her feet leading her back into the foyer and to the front door. And before she even realized what she was doing, she found herself back in the heart of the labyrinth, lying in the snow, looking forward to the numbness she’d soon feel again.

She thought she might actually have done it this time.

Contracted hypothermia.

She’d accidentally fallen asleep in the snow, dreaming about a forest full of mirrors, every one of their reflections showing a golden-eyed fox holding a dead rabbit in its maw. At least Farrow wasn’t haunting her any longer. In fact, she hadn’t dreamed of him since…

Since she’d woken up with Rowin wrapped around her.

The revelation jolted her, but she couldn’t focus on that right now. She needed to focus on the fact that she couldn’t feel her body. She flipped herself over, her limbs so stiff she cried out as she tried to stand. She hadn’t meant to stay out here so long this time, but she knew it wasn’t a place the siblings often looked, and she had needed to clear her head.

They don’t look out here because none of them are foolish enough to hide in the snow and freeze to death , she chided herself.

She crawled over the threshold, relishing the warmth of the house as she made her way to Rowin’s bedroom. She needed blankets.

Unfortunately, as she passed the first door in the hall, the ring on her finger began to warm. The heat against her cold skin was excruciating, and she yanked at the silver band, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, until it flew off and sailed back across the foyer. It hit the far wall, bouncing to the ground with a clatter before rolling a few more feet and landing on its side. She dashed for it as fast as she could in her current state.

The moment she plucked it off the floor, however, she found that it was burning. And then she heard a sigh.

Genevieve lurched to a stand, eyes snapping down to the dining room’s archway to find Ellin walking out, alerted by the noise of the ring. The Hunting Blade glinted in the candlelight as Ellin strutted closer.

“I was really hoping it wouldn’t come down to this,” Ellin said, sincere regret in her words. “I’ve actually enjoyed your company.”

Genevieve backed away a step as she curled her hand around the burning ring. It had heated up next to that first room. Which meant someone else who wished her ill was in there, and Ellin’s choice of game would mean they’d have to stay near her.

Ellin followed her movements.

“Did you know there were ostriches in Hell?” Genevieve blurted out.

Ellin lifted a brow. “Are those really what you want your last words to be?”

“What about ‘I apologize that the world is about to be a lot duller’ instead?” Genevieve suggested as she took another step back.

Ellin matched it. “Better…”

Genevieve took another step. “While we’re on the topic, I’d like my tombstone to read, ‘Here lies Genevieve Silver. Unless you’re a grave robber. Then here lies someone much less fabulous.’”

Ellin sighed again. “Alright, we’re just going to have to get this over with, I think.”

Genevieve took that as her cue to turn and run. She dove toward the hallway, making it to the door where she’d sensed one of Ellin’s siblings and twisting the knob to—of course—find it locked. She kicked at the door as hard as she could, but her bones still felt like they were made of glass, and she hardly had any energy left.

No more going outside.

Ellin reached her now, blithely slashing the Hunting Blade down toward her chest. Genevieve tried to duck and tripped backward, falling hard onto her tailbone. Ellin was on top of her in seconds, straddling her waist and angling the point of the blade toward Genevieve’s heart.

Ellin gritted her teeth as her charcoal gaze filled with tears. “I really am sorry.”

Genevieve swallowed her pride and did the only thing she could think of.

“ Rowin! ” she screamed as she reached out and fought against Ellin’s hold while the knife continued to lower. “ Rowin! ”

Ellin was strong. It was not surprising—her body was corded with lean muscles. And Genevieve knew she was not going to be able to hold on much longer. Then it was too late, her strength was waning quickly, and the blade was at the top of her bodice now, pricking her skin and drawing a drop of blood.

Genevieve squeezed her eyes shut.

Dying numb is better than the fire, at least.

The weight on her chest suddenly disappeared, and Genevieve blinked open her eyes to find Rowin holding a thrashing Ellin back from her. He had one arm curled around his sister’s throat and the other gripping the crown of her head.

“Forgive me, Ellin,” he grunted, and he snapped the girl’s neck.

Genevieve cringed at the crunch of Ellin’s bones breaking, and the sight of her body falling limply to the ground.

“Let’s go,” he ordered Genevieve.

Genevieve swallowed and stood, stepping over Ellin’s form as they ran to find another place to hide.

Once again, Genevieve found herself sitting, annoyed, on the dingy couch of the secret room in the library. Rowin had not spoken a word to her after the incident with Ellin, but the way he was pacing around the room certainly said enough. Umbra watched him move from the corner of the room, back and forth, back and forth.

Genevieve was determined not to break their silence first.

She lasted an hour.

“Would you just fucking say something,” she snapped at him, standing from the couch to block his path.

That did it. He strode toward her with such purpose she found herself tripping over her feet to back away.

“Anyone else,” he told her. “ Anyone fucking else in the world could have opened that fucking letter and it had to be you.”

At first she thought the words were said with fury, but when she looked up into his eyes, she saw they were filled with pain.

“Just tell me , Rowin,” she pleaded. “Don’t make me call you a coward again?—”

“Knox offered me a deal.”

She felt the blood drain from her face now. She knew it. She knew it.

“Wells warned me that Knox was looking for a way to eliminate you from the Hunt. And that I should consider whatever his offer was carefully. Knox asked me to turn on you in exchange for…”

“For what?” she demanded.

“For my freedom,” he told her, blinking open his eyes to lock his golden gaze onto hers. “He can’t kill you himself while you’re within the Hunt. It has to be one of us.”

She held her breath.

“I turned him down, Genevieve,” he murmured. “I would never…I could never…”

Tears pricked in Genevieve’s eyes. Because even though those were the words she’d wanted to hear him say, it also hit her now exactly what he’d given up.

“You barely even know me, Rowin,” she forced herself to say. “He offered you eternal freedom and?—”

He shook his head. “Nothing is eternal. Except for the fact that you’ve ruined me. All I’ve ever wanted was freedom from this wretched game, and I didn’t even hesitate for a second to give it up.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? You promised you were?—”

“Because I was trying to protect you. Can’t you see that? I’m convinced you were made by the King of Devils himself to torture me for my sins.”

“You’re such a self-centered bastard.” She scoffed at his presumption and poked a finger into his chest. “I deserve to be the center of my own story. I was not made for you .”

“Truth, truth, lie,” he told her.

Her heart skipped a beat.

You’re such a self-centered bastard. Truth. I deserve to be the center of my own story. Truth. I was not made for you. Lie.

“I was not made for you,” she repeated, though it was much less convincing this time.

“Then maybe I was made for you ,” he implored, as if he were angry about that fact. “How else have you managed to get so deep under my skin in such a short amount of time? Why is it that every time I try to imagine what it would be like to sever our vows, I feel like the Hunting Blade is piercing my heart? Fifteen years I’ve lived for everyone else around me. I’ve withered away in this damned place. Until you showed up and you made me laugh. You gave me hope.”

Genevieve wanted to tell him it was a ridiculous notion that he was made for her. But then she remembered that he had been waiting here, in the same exact spot, for her to show up at his door. She remembered the way his body felt inside hers, the ecstasy he could bring her to that no one else ever had. Their shared scars. Their understanding of each other. Their vows.

My soul is your soul. My blood is your blood. Eternally.

“Shadows can only be seen in the presence of light,” he told her, the words agonized. “I worry when you leave, there will be no one left to see me.”

She wasn’t sure which of them moved first.