Page 44 of Deadmen's Queen
“That wasn’t his fault,” I protested. “You set him up. You set us all up. And they were horrified when they found out-”
“When they found out what exactly?” she asked, her tone like ice.
“That someone had set us up,” I said. “Don’t worry mother, I didn’t tell them it was you, and they wouldn’t dream it could be.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” she asked.
“That they would never suspect the truth about you,'' I said, turning to face her, my heart racing. “That you’ve never cared about me. You've always seen me as a tool to get what you want.”
She rose from the bath edge, towering over me with a murderous look in her eyes. “How dare you,” she hissed. “After everything I've done for you..."”
“Everything you've done? You mean like setting me up? Using me as bait? That's not what a mother does,” I spat back at her.
For a moment she stared at me, fury contorting her still pretty face into something ugly and cold fear crept through me, but this time I refused to back down.
“You will do as you are told, Paige.”
“I can't betray them, Mum. I won’t.”
“You can, and you will,” she decreed. “You owe it to me, Paige. After everything I've done for you, sacrificed for you.”
“No,” I said. “I have a choice, and I won't do it.”
She laughed. Then she reached down, and grabbing my hair, she slammed my head down onto the ceramic toilet bowl, once and then twice.
I cried out, reaching up to grab her hands, but she managed to do it one more time before she let me go. I fell back against the tiled wall, my head ringing and I felt blood trickle through my hair and down my neck.
My mother leaned down, her face inches from mine, mouth twisted in an ugly sneer.
“You will do as I tell you, Paige. If you will not, you are worthless to me, and I will treat you as such. You will not return to Blackvellyn. You will be kept here, and if you thought life was hard before, you have no idea of what it will become. You have no idea what I’ve sheltered you from. What your father and his friends…” she stopped, as though afraid of saying much more, and got up to leave, pausing at the door. “You might think your new boyfriends are powerful, but I know people too, Paige. You will plant both cameras, Paige. Or I won’t just ruin these boys. I’ll have them killed.”
Chapter Sixteen
UNKNOWN
It's dark and quiet at the university now all the students have gone home. I find myself walking alone a lot at night, thinking about you. It’s going to be a dark Christmas and so lonely with you gone. Even though I haven’t managed to see you too much recently, the small moments I get just in the same room as you, they keep me going. Now I don’t even have those.
I’ve found myself someone to keep me company for the holidays, but don’t worry Paige. She’s just temporary. She doesn’t have your silky blonde hair. Her eyes are blue, but they’re a different shade to yours, and the fear in them just isn’t the same when I haven’t had the time to really work my way into her mind, her nightmares. Am I in yours yet, Paige?
I made her wear a blonde wig last night. Sprayed her with that perfume you like to wear. I even washed her hair and the wig with your shampoo, but it still didn’t get close to the real you. I managed to fuck her once I’d dressed her in your clothes, but she went quiet on me, and I don’t like that, Paige. I like it when they scream. I got angry, and now her blood is on your clothes, messing them up. I’ll need some more. I need to think of a way to get more, to get closer to you again.
After all… you’re really the only one for me, Paige. You’re the one I really want.
Chapter Seventeen
TRISTAN
Me - Evening sunshine. Your carriage awaits.
I sent the text, before pushing the door open and making my way up the icy path to Paige’s house. It looked nice from the outside, a Victorian terrace but sizeable and in the nicer part of town. Paige’s parents might have been cast out of our social circle, but they clearly weren’t doing too badly. The garden, though bare and brown because of the season, was immaculate, and a new Mercedes sat on the driveway. It was hard to reconcile the outside appearance with the life Paige had led on the inside of this house. Bast had filled Nate and I in on what Paige had already told him, and his own suspicions, and I was already feeling a mix of emotions as I walked up the steps and rang the doorbell.
The door swung open, and there was Paige’s mother. She was the spitting image of her daughter, save for the disfiguring scar that ran down one side of her face. She was attractive, and perfectly put together, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and something in them chilled me right through.
“You must be Tristan,” she cooed, stepping aside. “Please, come in.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Matthews,” I said, my voice steady despite the turmoil churning inside me.
She turned her head, calling up the staircase. “Paige, darling, someone's here for you!”