Page 5

5

Thea

T he first thing I noticed was the cold. Had I passed out on my bed after the ball? From the way the boned bodice of my dress dug into my boobs, I hadn’t changed into my PJs.

I shivered. If this was my bed, and considering how hard and unforgiving it felt against my cheek and hip, I doubted it was, I must have left my window open.

My head throbbed, each inhale and exhale sending ripples of pain through my temples. When I attempted to move, my stomach lurched in protest.

Fog swirled inside my head as I lay still in a feeble attempt to avoid vomiting. The more my chaotic thoughts cleared, the sicker I felt.

The minute I opened my eyes, I knew exactly where I was. In one of my father’s cells. The place where I’d spent many unhappy days as a child.

The dungeon.

I closed my eyes again, and as soon as memories from before Torrance kidnapped me began to replay on a loop, I wished I hadn’t.

The look of betrayal on Cassian’s face as Dar played the audio clip. Landon’s horror and hurt. Kyril’s blank expression.

They hated me.

Hell, I’d hate me too if I were them.

But none of that mattered. My current predicament took precedence over their hurt feelings. I’d circle back to that when I was no longer locked up in the dungeon. This place was the pits. Literally.

Our family home had once been a military stronghold back in the 1700s, and although the main palazzo had been upgraded and extended numerous times over the years, the dungeons still retained their original cast-iron bars, heavy oak doors, and all-pervading atmosphere of despair.

Throwing me into the dungeon had always been my father’s preferred punishment. He knew I feared what I couldn’t see. Locking me in a dark cell with nothing but a bottle of water and a bucket was far more effective than anything else he could inflict.

I’d learned to withstand physical pain early on, thanks to Torrance’s vicious lessons, but psychological pain was a different animal. It was much harder to block out the monsters in my head.

Nothing kept those writhing, deranged creatures at bay when my father left me in here for days at a time. Thoughts of Verity were the only thing that saved me back then. I knew if I succumbed to mental collapse, she’d suffer at my father’s hands.

The only light in here came from a lone bulb by the stairwell. Whoever brought me down here while I was unconscious must have forgotten to switch it off on their way back upstairs.

Thank fuck. The faint yellow glow barely made a dent in the thick, oily shadows of the dungeon, but it helped keep the monsters at bay. In my head, the monsters circled me, red eyes crawling over my body, but if I focused on the light, I could ignore their clicking claws and slithering tails.

They weren’t real. The only monsters in this place were my father and his side-kick.

I dragged my body up from the floor and moved toward the metal bars. Some cells down here were nothing more than holes in the ground, with a thick door covering the entrance.

This cell was an upgrade compared to my usual accommodation. For one thing, it was quite spacious, and for another, it had bars rather than a door. Once again, I thanked my lucky stars for bars, not a door, so I could see the light.

If my father left me down here for a few days, which was possible given someone had left two bottles of water, then I’d need all the luck I could get.

There was no way of escaping this cell, but at least I stood a better chance of retaining my sanity.

Time had no meaning in the dungeon. It had been hours, days, maybe longer. For all I knew, Dad planned to abandon me down here. Leave me to die alone. It would definitely be on-brand for him.

I’d lost count of how often he’d locked me in the dungeon for some perceived mistake. The older I got, the less often it happened. Probably because being locked away was less of a threat when I knew he could do worse to me. Far worse.

On all but one occasion, it had been me and my nightmares sharing a cell. The memory of a disembodied voice talking to me as I huddled against the wall drew me back to a time when I still dreamed a prince would one day rescue me from the corrupt king who ruled over my small kingdom with malice and pain.

The sound of squeaking woke me from a deep, drugged sleep. When I peeled my eyes open, something scuttled across the floor. Because it was dark, I had no idea what else shared this cell with me, but it couldn’t have been human.

A horrible scream burst free as I sat rocking on the floor, hugging myself like it might help to keep the monsters away.

It didn’t.

The monsters always came.

I felt a tickle on my ankle. A light brush of fur. I kicked out hard, and the creature squeaked with outrage. The rational side of my brain told me there was nothing in these cells that could hurt me. Not really. But my child’s brain didn’t operate on logic.

Just as the dark terrified me, rodents also triggered a visceral, completely irrational fear.

My eyes slammed shut, and I rocked silently, wishing I’d worn pants instead of a dress today. Pants would have protected my legs from the creatures. And also the cold.

The sound of my labored breathing filled the small room until I heard a faint cough.

“Stay calm,” a low male voice advised. “The rats are your friends.” A low chuckle filtered through the bars, and then silence.

The knowledge I wasn’t alone down here broke through my panic. Who was the man and why had Dad locked him up?

This was the first time I’d heard another soul. Usually, it was me and my imagination for company until Dad relented and sent Torrance to fetch me.

“Who are you?” I asked. For ages, the man didn’t reply, and I began to wonder if maybe my imagination had conjured him. Then I heard a wet, rattly cough.

“Nobody, princess.”

Hmm. I was no princess. Even if I liked to pretend sometimes when Mrs. Gia read stupid stories to Verity at bedtime.

A princess always ended up with a handsome prince, who rescued her from the tower and took her away to some magical place where they lived happily ever after. It was dumb. I might still be a kid, but even I knew that wasn’t how the real world worked.

There were no handsome princes in my world.

Only monsters.

“I’m not a princess,” I muttered, but the man didn’t reply.

What happened to that man? When Torrance threw me in a cell a few weeks later, I’d yelled and cried, but nobody spoke. Somehow, the silence had been even more terrifying. In my head, I’d pictured a rotting corpse, slowing being eaten away by the few rats that lingered down here.

By rights, there shouldn’t have been any creatures alive in this fetid place. There was nothing for them to eat other than each other. The fact there were rats meant there was a food source, and I didn’t like to think about that too hard.

There were no rats today. Or tonight. It was hard to say what it was with no windows. For all I knew, I’d been here for days. My mouth felt like carpet. Old, rank carpet covered in dust.

Gross.

I cracked open a seal on a bottle and sipped some water. It helped. My head still pounded, probably from whatever sedative Torrance had given me, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

All that remained was to wait for him or my father to come and fetch me. If what Torrance had said was true, that Dad planned to marry me off to Konstantin Marku, head of the Romanian mafia, he wouldn’t want me down here too long.

Marku would expect a bride in good physical health, with no visible injuries, and definitely not half-dead from malnutrition.

I tried not to think about Verity. Mrs. Gia had told me she was fine, but I wasn’t convinced that was the truth. Dad would have no use for Mrs. Gia soon. Once he sent us to Marku, he’d probably kill her.

Did she know this? I hoped not. Not knowing was infinitely better than being aware of the noose around your neck.

Had the guys worked out I was gone? They probably assumed I’d left of my own volition. It would have been impossible to know who was where after the stampede of students from the hall. Add in the sex tape and I doubted any of them gave a fuck about what happened to me.

It was better if they forgot about me. They weren’t my princes. The only person who could save me and Verity was me.

Since I had nothing better to do while stuck down here in the dark, I sat and thought about how I was going to rescue myself and my sister.