by Celia Aaron
“Red, get to it. Give us a grand sendoff for this riveting trial.”
I turned to where my father sat in a huddle. The child rocked with her hand over her eyes. Red was bent over, and he bobbed up and down, working on something. He rose, yanked Brianne’s mother to her feet, and pushed her over the side of the battlement. But she didn’t hit the ground. The rope around her neck stopped her halfway down.
My mind seized.
She clawed at her neck and kicked. It was no use. Red had tied her tight. Her face was a ruined crimson mask, everything obliterated but her eyes. She stared down at her daughter as she gave a few more futile kicks.
The crowd sat in silence—her strangled noises the only sound other than the thud of her feet against the stone wall.
When she quieted, her dead eyes still stared at Brianne. Or was it me? I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t exist there anymore. The spectators roared with approval, and I screamed until my chest burned and the attendants dragged me away.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
STELLA
“I TOLD YOU CHRISTMAS was the worst.” Renee pressed cold compresses to my face. “It was. For me. But you, I think—no, I hope—this was the worst of it.”
I could barely see her. One of my eyes was swollen shut, and the other gave me only a sliver of vision. Everything ached, especially my arm. I couldn’t lift it. Reaching across my body with my left hand, I ran my fingers down the rough material of a cast.
Sin drugged me the second I got into the car after the trial. I should have been livid. Instead, I was thankful for the brief reprieve from reality. Had my dreams been happy? I didn’t know. All I knew was that I was awake now, thrown back into the hell of Acquisitions and trials.
“Sin?” My voice was a rasp, sandpaper scraping rough wood.
“He’s gone to town. Work.”
I tried to shake my head clear, but shooting pains rushed up my neck at the movement. “How long?”
Renee moved the compress so it was against the eye that wouldn’t open. “Two days. The doctor came and set your arm and your fingers.”
Right. Brianne’s eyes, the swing of the baton, and the sharp crack of bone that I could still hear. She was always there now—crying in the woods or screaming at me that it was my fault. Was it?
“Brianne has her mother’s eyes.” My words slurred and fuzzed, my tongue too thick and my lips too swollen.
“Shh, don’t talk about that now. You’re here safe. The worst is over.”
I wanted to believe her. I didn’t. Cal’s proposition floated through my mind like a bloated body on a bayou.
A knock at the door sounded. I tried to look, but my neck muscles wouldn’t cooperate. Instead, they ached and burned.
“It’s me.” Teddy’s voice was like a burst of sunlight through the vapors of hell.
“No.” I couldn’t let him see me like this.
“Not now, Teddy.” Renee rose to go to the door. “Stella isn’t dressed.”
“Get dressed. I want to see you. I came all the way home for the weekend just to check on you. The trial was a few days ago, wasn’t it?” His voice fell.
“Don’t come in.” Renee grabbed the door handle right as it turned.
Teddy peeked through.
“No!” My vision blurred even more, my eyes swimming with tears. He couldn’t see me broken and bruised.
He shoved the door open, knocking Renee back, and came rushing into my room. “Oh my god. What did they do to you?”
He dropped onto the bed next to me, his kind eyes surveying my face, neck, and arms. Tears flowed down my cheeks even as I tried to stop them, to stop the anguish from infecting him.
“Please go.” I couldn’t see any more, my eyes useless.
“God, Stella.” His voice broke as he put a gentle hand to my cheek. “They did this. Why?”
“It doesn’t matter why. It’s done.” Renee spoke from my side. “You need to go, Teddy. She needs to rest so she can recover.”
“No shit!” The ire in his voice reminded me of Sin. He took my hand, his palm warm and soft. “You won’t tell me, will you?”
I stayed mute, unwilling to give him any scrap of information he could use to blame himself.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll get them for you. I don’t know how, but they’ll pay for this. Sin will pay for letting this happen to you.”
“No.” I squeezed his hand. “Not his fault.”
“Bullshit. He dragged you here. I saw how he treated you. I know he’s making you do these things. He didn’t have to pick you.” His grip on my good hand tightened until it ached. “He probably volunteered. He wants to be Sovereign so bad that he doesn’t care who gets hurt.”
“It’s not true. Not his fault.” I pushed to get the words out, the pain in my throat growing worse.
“Don’t defend him. He doesn’t regret a thing. I passed him on the way here. He was in the convertible with Sophia Oakman, both of them smiling. Makes me sick.”
“Teddy, that’s enough.” Renee’s voice rang out strong, but I heard the tremble. “She’s had enough. Please, go.”
He let my hand go and patted it. “I’ll be back soon to check on you.” He rose from the bed, his steps retreating to the door. “I’m sorry about this.”
I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t say it was okay or explain it. The door clicked shut, and Renee took her seat on the bed beside me.
“Is it true? He’s with Sophia?”
She sighed and smoothed the blanket over my legs. “Yes.”
Her reticence told me she knew more. Renee always knew more.
I wouldn’t stay in the dark on this, not when what little was left of me started to quake and shatter. “Tell me.”
“I think you should rest—”
“Tell me!” I tasted copper, and my throat scorched.
“I-I overheard them talking. They’re on their way to the airport.” She brushed a hair out my face and put the compress on my cheek. “They’ll be gone for two months. She’s attending to some Oakman family business in Paris for two weeks, and they intend to spend the rest of the time in Cannes.”
A laugh tried to loft from my lungs. It couldn’t make it. Instead, it turned into a strangled sound that seemed more like a sob. He’d put me through a house of horrors, and then left for a vacation with the daughter of its architect.
“I’m sure he’s only doing what’s best.”
“What’s best? Right.” I was glad I couldn’t see her face, because I may have tried to claw her eyes.
“You have to understand. They have their own customs, their own ways. I have no doubt Sophia is making a power play. That’s the way of it. Think of what it could mean for the family if they—”
“Get out.” I couldn’t hear it from her, too. Strategy, lies, and deceit were Sin’s specialties, not Renee’s.
“I’m not finished with your—”
“Go!”
“Please.” She let her hand fall. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Only to explain. I just want to help.”
There was no help for me, for anyone caught up in this damned competition. But there was information, and Renee had it. I would twist whatever screw I had to if it meant she’d open up to me.
“Tell me…” I swallowed, my throat clicking and burning with the effort. “…what the final trial is. Or get out.”
She remained silent and still for what seemed like minutes. Finally, she spoke. “It’s different every year. It’s always different.”
“Leave.” My voice receded to a whisper.
She stood, but hesitated next to the bed. I could sense her wringing her hands. “There’s a theme. It’s always the same. Love.”
“Love?” The word had no place amongst these people. It was meaningless.
“Yes.”
“What happened your year?”
“My year.” She cleared her throat. “My year, I was forced to choose between hurting two things I loved. That’s all I’ll say. I can’t relive it, not even f
or you.”
“Renee, please.”
“No. It won’t help you. It will only hurt me. I’ve already given you what you need to know. What do you love? It’s what they will take from you.” Her skirt whispered as she walked around my bed and to the door. It shut softly behind her.
They’d already taken so much. What was left? What did I love?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
STELLA
MY RECOVERY HAPPENED SLOWLY. First, my bruises healed, and then my fingers. My cracked rib and my arm would take more time, though I was no longer stuck in a cast. The aches faded the further I got from the trial, but not the nightmares.
Teddy visited every weekend, bringing me treats from Baton Rouge. He didn’t mention Sin again, but his ire bubbled under the surface. I couldn’t explain it to him, no matter how much I wanted to. The truth would destroy him the same way it had the rest of his family.
Dmitri was gone, having caught a flight out on the same day as the trial, but I fell into our old routine. A relaxed version of it—light exercise and easy swims to help my body heal.
I often walked around the property, the sun growing hotter with each passing day as spring turned to summer. Every time I passed the levy or the house hidden in the woods, I felt a pull on my heart. But Sin was gone.
He hadn’t called, and he hadn’t even spoken to Teddy. He was on the beach with Sophia. Did she warm his bed at night? It would be foolish of me to think otherwise. The pain the realization caused just layered on the rest, like sand falling in an hourglass. I was buried beneath it, time weighing down on me as each second ticked closer to the final trial.
After one of my walks, I climbed the stairs to find Lucius waiting for me on the front porch, a glass of Scotch in hand.
“What?” I wiped the sweat off my brow with the back of my forearm.
“I have some news.” He stared ahead at the row of oaks. “Sit down.”
A stab of worry cut through me. “Teddy?”
“No, he’s fine.” He patted the seat next to him on the swing.
After considering for a few seconds, I sat, my feet dangling above the floor as he rocked us gently.
“Sin called.” He took a long draw from his glass.
I tried not to spend my days wondering what Sin was doing or imaging him with Sophia. I still wanted to believe that his courting of her was done out of the desire to win. It hurt, even if it was a charade. Every day that passed without a call or even a letter made my hopeful fire burn lower.
“What is it?” I kept my tone even.
“He and Sophia are coming back in three days.”
I pressed the tip of my toe to the floor, stopping the sway. “Cutting their trip short?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure. He said they’ll be returning and to have the house ready for guests.” He didn’t look at me, his gaze still on the oaks.
Foreboding swirled in my stomach. “So?”
“So, he’ll be bringing her back here with him. He wants to have a get-together with the Oakmans and a few other families. Something to impress everyone.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
The distant rumble of thunder foretold a storm brewing. Afternoons in the early summer always progressed too quickly, the volatile air mimicking the tumult inside me. Clear and sunny turned into dark and stormy in a matter of moments. Lucius swirled his drink around in his glass instead of answering me.
“Lucius?”
“Nothing. That’s it.” He downed the rest of his drink, his brown hair lifting in the warm breeze. “I just wanted you to know she’ll be here with Sin. Together. And he wants a welcome party and for you to look like a million bucks.” The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “Shouldn’t be hard.”
He turned to look at me, finally giving me a glimpse of his sky blue eyes. “How are you?”
I studied him, his square jaw and full lips. “Why?”
He set his glass on the small side table and slung his arm across the back of the swing. “Can’t I ask how you’re doing without some ulterior motive?”
“No.” I moved to get up.
“Wait. I’m not going to do anything. I just want to talk.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Talk?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Of course.” He smiled.
Though I knew he wasn’t capable of such an innocent motive, I didn’t care. Some sort of contact that didn’t involve Renee’s subterfuge or Teddy’s pity was more than welcome. I eased back down and let him push us back and forth. The cicadas sang in the trees along the edge of the grass that was freshly mowed in a diamond pattern. Despite his desire to talk, we sat silently for a while, the rhythmic creak of the swing the only sound between us.
Relaxing back into the cushion, I pulled my feet up under me and let him do the work. The movement was soothing, and despite our past, his presence was, too. I lay my head back on his arm and closed my eyes. We rocked as the sun fell behind the treetops and the rumbles of thunder grew louder. Rain scented the wind as flashes of distant lightning lit the sky.
“I feel like we should be drinking mint juleps or something.”
I snorted. “What even is that?”
The swing stopped as the wind picked up, whistling along the high eaves. “Are you kidding?”
“About what?”
“Are you sitting here telling me you’ve never had a mint julep?” His eyes rounded, as if it was the most preposterous thing he’d ever heard.
“No. I’m not from here.” I shrugged. “I don’t drink mint juleps and play the banjo on the front porch.”
He rose and stretched, his muscled body fitting perfectly in his button-down and dress slacks. “Get up. Time to drink.”
“We haven’t even eaten dinner yet.”
“So what?” He held his hand out for me.
Would drinking be so terrible? Maybe it would take my mind off the news of Sin and Sophia. I took his hand and rose. The rain began to fall as I followed him into the house.
“The key to a mint julep, as you may have guessed, is good mint.”
“So what’s a julep?”
“You’ll see.”
We walked down the hallway and entered the kitchen. Pots and pans hung above a wide, wooden island, and a gas range, two large refrigerators, and a freezer lined the walls. It was tidy, Laura always keeping it in top shape, and some sort of beef stew simmered on the stove top.
“Mint, mint, mint.” Lucius mumbled and opened the nearest stainless steel fridge. “Must be in here somewhere.” He dug through one drawer and then another.
“Can I help?” Laura walked through the door from the dining room.
“Thank god.” Lucius tossed some celery back into a drawer and turned to her. “Mint?”
“Oh.” Laura smiled, her rosy cheeks giving her a youthful glow I feared I would never have again. “Here.” She walked to the farmhouse sink and reached up to the window sill lined with small pots. “How much do you need?”
“This is going to be an all-nighter.” He began to roll up his sleeves, his movements methodical and sharp. “So, give me all you got.”
“No all-nighter.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “One drink.”
“Right.” He smirked. “Just one.”
Laura tore off the tops of the mint, the earthy smell permeating the air. He took the bunch from her and rummaged around in a drawer. “Glasses and ice.” He pulled out a small mortar and pestle as Laura fetched me two highball glasses with ice. “Go ahead and take an ice bucket to the library for me, would you?”
“Yes sir.” Laura turned to a cabinet and plucked out a silver pail.
“Stella, come with me.” He pushed through to the dining room and opened the sideboard. “Where’s the good bourbon?” After leaning over and inspecting each bottle, he shook his head and grinned. “I know where it is. I’ll meet you in the library. Put on some music.”
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br /> Usually, I would have snapped back at orders from him, but the fact that he seemed intent on actually making something for me had me complying and strolling, glasses in hand, to the library. Laura had already placed the ice on the table beside the sofa, and I set the glasses next to it.
The library had a small music console, the speakers hidden in the bookshelves. I flipped through several internet stations before settling on something I figured Lucius would like. Classic rock.
He walked in with a large bottle under one arm, and the mortar, pestle, and mint in his hands. I sank onto the sofa and watched him with interest.
“I didn’t know you were a Boston fan.” He smirked and got to work on the mint. “Some people think that crushing the mint ruins the drink. They’re idiots.” He dropped pieces of mint into the small bowl, his long fingers tearing the leaves. Then he grabbed the pestle and began to twist it. “You want the mint to infuse the bourbon, not just serve as a garnish.” The mint crunched under his attack until it was wilted and the library smelled like an herb garden.
Lightning struck close by, the windows rattling from the ensuing boom. He gave the pestle a few more turns before he scooped the crushed mint into the glasses. Then he poured the bourbon over the tops and swirled them.
“Garnish is for pussies. Let’s drink.” He handed me a glass and held his out.
I clinked with him and took a sip. The mint was strong, the bourbon stronger. “Whew.” I took another drink and let the heat race into my stomach and expand from there.
He plopped down next to me. “This is the good shit. No joke.” He took a large swig and settled into the couch, his warmth radiating along my side as the wind howled outside. “Sin’s going to kill me when he gets home and goes looking for his hidden bourbon stash.”
“It’s good. Minty. Definitely strong.” I took another sip. “And I think you enjoy pissing him off.”
“Indeed I do. I had to do a little lock picking to get ahold of this bourbon, so enjoy it.” His tone turned dark even as he smiled at the taste of his drink. “I intend to make sure the bottle is done for by the time Sin gets back.”