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He stretched what was left of his lips into a smile. I held my gaze very still. “I gave Blake an opportunity. He was a fool to discard you. Yet now I can claim what I admit I’ve always seen as mine.” He moved closer. Much closer. A hand reached out. He gripped my chin.

I lifted it eagerly with a sigh, as if the touch was everything I’d always wanted—and more.

“You’re exquisite. Perfect,” he murmured. “I’ve watched you since birth. Always on the sidelines. Always admiring. Waiting, watching. It was a mistake to give away something as perfect as you are. I should have claimed you myself, right from the start.”

It took everything I had not to shudder. “It was. How grateful I am to be free of him now.” Inside of me, another girl was weeping with rage and fear. Still trying hard to convince herself that this all could be undone, that Blake’s rejection might not be forever, that Father wouldn’t sign a contract selling his daughter in the hopes of regaining his son.

She was a stupid, silly girl. I told her to shut the fuck up.

Viktor’s fingers were trailing lower. Down my throat, skirting the tip of my collarbone. Then his hands were gone.

I breathed. In and out. In and out.

His hands were on his belt. Loosening his robe. My smile froze.

“I’m going to take my time with you, Regan. When one gets to be as old as I am, pleasures tend to fade.” He laughed softly, and for a moment I let myself wonder just how old he truly was. “But having to wait for you all these years? I expect the pleasure will be … Well, perhaps nearly as exquisite as you are.”

As he slid the robe off his shoulders I made myself look—but not directly. I let my gaze land just to the right, past him to the door behind.

He was inches away now. I could smell him: blood and the medicine he’d been prescribed. And something else. I stole a glance. A thick, shiny ointment was smeared across his skin, coating every part that I could see.

My stomach turned. Soon it would be all over me, too.

“Take off your gown.”

My fingers obeyed before my mind could react.

He watched me, saying nothing. I sensed the time for compliments was over. When the fastenings were undone, I stood up, even though it meant coming closer to him, and let the dress fall to the floor. Blessedly, he didn’t touch me then.

“Good girl. Now lie back on the bed.”

I did as I was told. The mattress was too soft beneath me. I closed my eyes and tried not to breathe through my nose as he joined me. I could do this. I had to. If I bolted now, Viktor would have Persis shipped home in pieces. As it was, my little brother was far from here. Sent as a ward—such a noble word for prisoner—to live with the family of one of Viktor’s most loyal followers until our family’s honor was restored. I didn’t even know where Persis was. Which family held him. No one had told me anything. But if I ran, if I failed, if I said the wrong thing? He’d pay the price. My father would pay the price. My entire house would pay.

Pay. I thought about the word. I was being paid—for all of this. Wasn’t I? In power. In prestige. All would fear me. And fear was close to envy, was it not?

So I let him touch me. Because every caress bought Persis another sunrise.

And while he did what he wanted, I went somewhere else.

I was standing on the balcony—the one just above the entrance to Bloodwing—looking down upon the students as they gathered for the first day of school. Watching them gape, watching them stare, as the realization dawned that I had ascended far above them all.

I would look down at all their faces, my own expression cool and remote. A queen in her tower.

And then I would finally see Blake.

I’d smile. And I’d watch as the disdain I’d grown so used to seeing there finally melted away, changing into something else. Fear.

If he couldn’t bring himself to love me, then he would fear me. Oh yes, I’d make him fear for himself and everyone he held dear.

The time passed. When it was over, I reclothed myself—fingers numb but steady.

Viktor rose, grunting like a pig as he reached for his robe and pulled it around him.

I glanced over despite myself. The luxurious velvet fell unevenly across his ruined frame, like a curtain trying to mask a nightmare. I looked away. I’d already looked enough for a lifetime. But then, this was my life now. I had to get used to it. There was no room for the weak in the Black Keep.

He moved to the door and wrenched it open. “Davies,” he barked to the guard standing in the hall. The one who’d probably been listening to us this entire time. “It’s time. Fetch my nephew. Drag him here if you must. Tell him Headmaster Kim wishes to see him and sends his regards.”

There was a murmuring answer, then the sound of retreating footsteps. Viktor turned back to me. His eyes lingered over my hands as they worked to fasten the dress. For a horrible moment, I wondered if he was going to tell me to lie back down.