Page 189 of Glutton for Punishment

As I leave the drawing room, I can still feel Amaya’s eyes on my back. The sensation makes my skin crawl, though I can’t understand why.

Once I’m back in my room, behind closed doors, I try to grasp onto the feeling that’s been bothering me since I saw her.

Hatred.

It feels misplaced, like it doesn’t belong to me. I sit on the edge of the bed, forcing myself to stay still, to focus, to dig into it instead of letting it drift away like everything else has been.

Where is it coming from?

I close my eyes and search for the thought properly this time. I press my hand against my chest and try to examine the ugly feeling.

At first, there’s nothing but static, a dull fog pressing against my thoughts. Then something breaks through it—a girl’s face.

Short black hair with wide, terrified eyes. A knife pressed against her throat. Blood dripping down her neck.

My stomach lurches hard, a physical reaction that I can’t be sure belongs to me. I reach for the image, desperate to hold it in place, to understand it, but it fades away. Burning at the edges.

No—wait.

I push again, harder this time, forcing myself through the haze. My head aches with the effort.

Another image cuts in, replacing it.

A man this time.

Familiar in a way that makes my breathing pick up before I can even understand why. Dark eyes moving over me with heat. Tattoos spilling across his broad chest in chaotic patterns.

Heat blooms low in my body, sudden and disorienting. His tongue pressing against his lip as if he’s considering something, amused by it.

My breath hitches, a sharp little sound in the quiet room. A consuming warmth spreads through my chest, pushing back the fog in my head. My fingers curl into the fabric of the bedding, holding on to this feeling.

I cling to it.

To him.

And then, clear as a struck bell, the name echoes up from some deep, untouched place: Maddox.

The moment I think his name, everything snaps. My eyes fly open and the memories crash into me like a tidal wave.

Vex and Amaya. Gluttony. I’m in Gluttony!

The blow to the back of my head. Daphne.

My hands start to shake. I press them flat against my knees to stop it, and the shaking only moves up my arms instead. I can’t get a full breath. Vex did this to me. His craving mark power.

Panic explodes through my body. The craving mark lurks beneath it like a parasite.

I need to get out of here. Jolting up, my foot catches on the edge of the rug, and I stumble. I land hard on my hands and knees.

A hot spike of annoyance pricks at my temples. Then, just as quickly, it dissolves into a heavy, cottony static that muffles everything. The edges of the room soften, as if someone has smeared oil across my brain.

I shake my head, trying to blink away the blur.

What was I doing?

I sit back on my heels, staring blankly at the floor. There was something important. My brow furrows as I reach for it.

A blurry face flashes through my mind. Maybe a man? But the image dissolves before I can grasp it.