I finish loosening the knots but keep my movement lethargic as I separate my hands.
Selena is closer now than when I last looked up. I try to glare, get her attention somewhere, but she’s refusing to look at me. As if I’m beneath her.
It’s an act. If she pretends I mean nothing, Margery loses her bargaining chip. A good tactic if Margery has every intention of keeping me alive so I can become her bed slave or something equally disgusting.
So, I stop trying to get her attention and focus on Emmanuelle. He stares around the room, glaring at the guards. Hell, he looks downright mutinous, as if their presence has foiled all his carefully laid plans. I suppose they have, but Margery is the ringleader. If anyone deserves his ire, it’s her.
Selena is closer now, so close I can smell her perfume. I slowly breathe her in, allowing the scent of her to chase a little more of the fog away.
No, if Selena is near enough, Margery will downright kill her. The only reason she’s not lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood is because Margery likes the show, the attention, and the intrigue to go along with it. Like villains on TV, she wants to monologue about her rise to power and all that.
It’s enough to make me want to kill her all over again.
Everything in me is screaming out to Selena. I wish she’d run. Get out of her and leave me. Margery isn’t going to kill me anytime soon. She can regroup, call her brother, do so many things that aren’t standing here arguing with a crazy person.
Selena stands her ground though. “I want you out of my seat and out of my city. In exchange, I won’t kill you.”
Of course, Margery laughs. “You don’t have the power to kill me. I’m not sure if you noticed the several rifles trained on you right now? Besides, wouldn’t you rather bargain for your little pet here?”
Selena shrugs, seemingly unconcerned, but I can see the clench of her fists. She’s pissed as hell and ready for a fight. “He means nothing to me. As you said, he’s beautiful. A pet and nothing more.”
The words cut deep even as I tell myself she doesn’t mean it. She’s only telling Margery what she wants to hear, what she expects to hear.
I moan again for effect, drawing Margery’s attention. She leans down and pats my cheek. “Oh, no. I think I gave you too much. You won’t be able to perform your duties for me later.”
A wave of nausea gut punches me hard, and this time I don’t have to fake a noise.
“Don’t worry,” she tells me, not meeting my eyes but looking at me like an object. “We’ll make sure you’re good to go when the time is right.”
Sickness roils in my gut, and I look around to see who’s a witness, who’s a party to this bitch’s actions. The councilmembers around the room monitor the situation from their perspective thrones, yet they stay quiet. They do nothing.
From their pallor and the way they all watch the door like it can save them, more than a few of them are disturbed by Margery’s display of me for her own amusement. Maybe I’ll kill them quickly instead of making them suffer.
Maybe.
Selena sighs loudly, as if she’s bored, but I can still hear the fine thread of fury underneath. “I told you to leave, and I’ll give you five more minutes to make it happen.”
Another cock of a gun reaches me, but I’m not fast enough. Margery is up with the barrel pressed into Selena’s forehead before I can pry my languid limbs off the marble.
“Or,” Margery says conversationally, “we can try this another way. You say goodbye to your pet, walk out of here, leave my city, and I’ll allow you to live.”
I shove my hair out of my face to keep a better eye on them. The guards around the room have moved closer, closing ranks inside the ring of chairs instead of outside. Emmanuelle and his men hover near the door, waiting to see what happens. Hopefully, looking for an opening.
Well, I’m not waiting for that shit. It takes me what feels like a full minute to get upright. I keep my hands behind my back as if I’m still tied, and stumble toward the two women.
I lean into Margery, my head on her shoulder. She smiles at Selena. “See, he wants me, not you. So, take the deal.”
I lift my head and pin her with a look. One I hope she can read through the mask I’m wearing. “It’s easy, Selena. You simply kiss my cheek, tell me you had fun, and walk away.”
She drags her eyes to mine, and the room seems to shrink around us. “What?” she says, her voice trembling for the first time since she walked in.