Page 10 of The Bronze Garza

Caged again.

Zoey’s eyelids flutter, and I think she’s blinking sleep from her eyes before I belatedly realize it’s from shock.

“You two?” she asks in disbelief.

Kate flips over to face the wall, mumbling, “I’m not sharing a bed with either of them, Zoey, so you better get over here.”

I pinch the hem of my dress and curtsy. “Your royal highnesses.”

Simone rolls her eyes at me.

Zoey flips back the covers and climbs out of the bed on the right. “Okay, you two can take this bed. I’ll fill you in later about the rest, if that’s okay. We had a busy night and I just really need to get some sleep.”

“Of course, that’s fine,” Simone replies. “No problem.”

I curtsy again. “Spasiba.”

“Quit being a bitch, Cola,” Zoey snaps as she crosses over to Kate’s bed. “You’re always such a sarcastic cunt.”

While Simone glowers at me as if I’m the reason for her troubles, I amble to the bed and carelessly drop my bag to the floor. Then I kick my shoes off and climb under the covers.

“Turn off the lights!” Kate whines.

I arch a brow at Simone.

Do the queen’s bidding, girl.Since you want to climb up their asses so badly.

With an inaudible mumble under her breath, Simone flicks off the lights.

ChapterFour

“Something that will numb me.”

Lyra

A voice I haven’t heard ina long time pulls me from the depths of slumber.

Damon Salvatore.

I knock the covers off from over my head and flip onto my back. Mounted on the wall across the room is a flat-screen TV I hadn’t noticed last night, andThe Vampire Diariesis on.

There are several televisions back at the penthouse, but no international channels, so all the girls watch on them are news and Russian soap operas.

And me, I read.

All day long.

At the penthouse, there’s a room upstairs adjacent to Igor’s office that’s like an asylum. White all around with no furniture and all the windows boarded up. We call it “the dark room”, ironically, because it’s where Igor sends us when we misbehave. Locked in, isolated, no food.

With me being me—unyielding and lippy, constantly chafing against Igor and his men—I spend at least two weeks out of every month in that room. Starved and sequestered.

There are a lot of books in the house, however, because the lady doctor who examines us bi-monthly brings us a stack of books in English each time she comes. When I’m in The Dark Room for punishment, Igor does allow me a book inside. So reading is all I ever do. It’s quite possibly the only thing that’s kept me sane.

Now seeing a familiar TV show, hearing these voices…it feels like waking up from a deep, deep sleep.

God, I want to weep. I never imagine Damon Salvatore’s annoying waggling eyebrows would bring me such peace.

Such a simple thing, yet so monumental at the same time.