Page 41 of Unforgiving Queen

My hands were stained with the blood of her father. Maybe I’d been tainted all my life—Papà’s blood flowing through my veins, waiting for the darkness to awaken. Waiting to set it free.

Phoenix released my hand and cupped my face. An uneasy, forbidden feeling slithered down my spine as I realized this would be another secret I’d have to keep from my sister.

Finally, she released my face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”No.

“He beat the shit out of you,” Athena pointed out the obvious, her fingers trembling as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.

A shudder rippled down my spine.

“It's not as bad as it looks,” I rasped, my voice sounding strange to my ears. Hollow. Lifeless. Then as if a dam broke, all my pent-up emotions from the past few months—ever since Amon broke me—burst forth. I was swept up in a tidal wave of heartache and pain. They washed over me, drowning me, and I let them.

I was pulled under into my pain, sadness, and betrayal as I buried my face into my sister’s shoulder and a wail tore from my throat. My eyes burned. My muscles ached from the force of the wretched, soul-racking sobs. My sister kept me moored, stroking my hair. Our friends huddled around us, murmuring soothing sounds.

And all the while a dead body lay not four feet from us.

The girl who met Amon Leone in a castle by the sea was long gone by the time my tears dried.

15

REINA

“First things first.” Raven seemed to be the only calm, cool, and collected one. She pointed a finger at me. “You need a shower. Then we need to brainstorm ideas about what to do with this body.”

“Why aren’t you freaking out?” Athena muttered.

“Have you killed before?” Isla mumbled, half joking and half serious.

Raven shook her head. “Remember how I told you that I saw a mobster kill and dispose of a body before?” All of us stared at her, our jaws on the kitchen floor. She waved her hand, probably anticipating our questions. “It’s a long story and we don’t have time for it right now. Let’s all change into something black.”

“Why black?” Isla whispered.

“It’s easier to blend into the night,” Raven answered. “I think so, anyhow.”

“You’re scaring me right now,” Athena grumbled.

“Shouldn’t we be scared of the dead body in the middle of our kitchen?” Phoenix cut through their nonsense. “Before the police find themselves at our door.”

“I’m legit freaked out,” Isla chimed in. “And why is Reina just staring at him?”

I finally tore my eyes from the dead body and met their faces. “You know I’m still here, right?”

My sister hooked her hands around my waist and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s get you into the bathroom.”

“We’re coming too,” Athena squealed. “I can’t stomach a dead body.”

“Meh, I don’t mind it now that I’m older,” Raven announced, and all of us shot her a dumbfounded look. “Okay, okay. I’m freaked out, I just don’t know how to deal with it.”

We all nodded in agreement. It was new territory for all of us.

I took a step out of the kitchen when an idea struck me.

“What if—” I cleared my throat as the gruesome images made bile rise in my throat. “Maybe we should dismember him,” I suggested softly. Four sets of eyes watched me, unblinking. “It’ll be easier to move him.”

Heavy silence fell over the room. A kitchen that looked like a battlefield. A blood-smeared floor. A dead body.

And it was my suggestion that shocked them the most.