Total pages in book: 164
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
“They’d be bald and clean-shaven,” I continued. “I was trapped in a Catholic boarding school across the ocean, then I spent the summer watching my mother night and day—terrified her cries that she wouldn’t live without my sister, was more than the grief.
“You four didn’t have those issues. You were here in Regalia, strolling around campus with them, going to their parties, and fending off their thrown panties. You could’ve done something—anything—to pay them back long before I enrolled here. Don’t act like we’re in this together. When it comes down to it, you won’t risk yourselves for my sister. You won’t take it all the way.”
Turning away, I made for the tree line.
“You’re right,” Rafael called, stopping me in my tracks. “Partly. We didn’t hunt down the shits over the summer because we couldn’t. We had to wait until they all came back to campus where security is shockingly lax. Can’t say the same about the guards, gates, and mansions they live in.
“When they did return to campus, you were here too, so I held off what we had planned since the one with the right to make them bleed is you, Luna.” His voice, his footsteps, came closer. “But I can promise you, whether you were here or not, those guys wouldn’t have gotten away with it. Would I have shaved their beards? No.”
“Exactly, you—!”
“Because that’s too good for them,” he hissed, silencing me. “Winter Bowden was the only decent person in this gas station toilet of a school. She risked herself to save us, and she barely knew us. All they did to her and she didn’t fight back, curse them, or give back the hell they deserved. She just kept hoping they’d find a shred of humanity in their rotted souls and leave her in peace.”
I trembled, fists balling.
“What do you do to people like that? What do they deserve? I know this much, it’s not a quick shave on a bench—drifting off fast and painless with no idea why or who brought them to justice. What I would do”—his arm encircled me, pressing me to his chilled chest—“is drag it out to the point of overkill. I’d make every waking second a nightmare, then slink into their sleep so it’d bring no relief. I’d put them through the pain Winter went through—helpless and alone, praying for it to stop and it never does.”
His chill seeped into my skin, spreading ice through my veins.
“I’d strip away everything they loved out of their life. Destroy their reputations, drain their riches, and rid them of the easy lives and privilege that got them this far. Then when they can’t take any more, I’d strike.”
I jumped as he gripped me, fingers digging into my stomach.
“By then,” Rafael said, tone lightening. “I wouldn’t need to shave anybody, Sinclair. They’ll put the blade to their throat themselves. That’s what they did to Winter.” A light kiss pressed to my temple. “Why shouldn’t they go the same way?”
The guys surrounded us, their eyes holding a grim ferality I sensed was in Rafael’s eyes.
“You would do all of that?” I rasped. “You’d hound and torture the Royals until they begged for you to end it?”
“Yes,” Wilder, Rafael, and Lucien said.
“Then, prove it.” I stepped out of Rafael’s arms. “You say we’re in this together and you’ll go that far for a girl who barely knew you, then let me see a bit of your plan in action. If Owen Thasher doesn’t have a limp to match Levi’s by next Friday, I don’t want to hear anything else from any of you. Stay the fuck out of my way.”
Rafael bowed as they melted into the shadows. “As you wish, Cloud Girl. You don’t make a move until we’ve delivered your present. Make sure you don’t skip out on breakfast.” His shiny smile disappeared into the trees. “First meal of the day is most important.”
THE RIVER PULLED AT my feet, an invisible force around my ankles, yanking me from reach of shore.
My hands slapped the water—desperately clawing for purchase, my lungs abandoning the fight long before them. Suddenly, water swallowed me, rushing into my nose and mouth.
Mossy beds tinged a dark, growing color—spreading through the riverbed and clouding the clear blue water.
Red.
The river was bleeding red.
I kicked, thrashed, and swam—seeking air as my lungs withered away.
The surface broke. I burst up coughing and sputtering. Vision clearing, I fell upon the source of the river’s new color, gazing into Winter’s blue, bloated face.
I shot up in bed, throat raw and strangled midscream.
Sweat soaked my clothes and sheets, gluing them to my skin. Groaning, I fell against my headboard. A dull ache formed in my skull, set to grow throughout another sleepless night and pound my head throughout the day.
You’d think I’d be used to this by now. Nightmares were my one constant these days. My mother was slipping away. My stepfather was marrying me off to a guy who can’t stand me. I was in a horrible new school with people who made it clear they planned to make me wish I was an actual dreg. Everything was shifting, except the nightmares. They followed me into my sleep almost every night, as if reminding me I didn’t deserve rest while Winter lay unavenged.