What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(17)

That damage was already done, the fatal dose of poison given to her before he spoke to me. He’d been so confident I would do as I was told and be who he wanted, he’d never stopped to consider that I would reject him.

“It would be such a waste of what could be a luxurious life. Think of what you would be able to give your family with me as your husband. They would be cared for beyond your wildest imaginings.”

“They would,” I agreed, nodding my head. Once upon a time, that had been everything I’d wanted, the promise I’d never thought to actually obtain. I was just so tired, so exhausted from the games I’d played to keep us alive for years. Brann would be more capable of providing for himself and my mother without me to consider.

They’d be okay.

“Take the night to think about it, and know that if you tell anyone what I’ve done, it will not be only you to suffer the consequences in the morning. I’m sure you’ll change your mind by the ceremony tomorrow afternoon. It is easy to be brave when you think I’ll back down, but I promise you, Estrella, if you don’t come to me in the morning, you will die for your insolence.”

“I would sooner die than allow you to shove that flaccid flesh between your legs inside me,” I snapped, baring my teeth at him and allowing all the hatred I felt to show for once. So long, I’d been forced to play submissive to the man who dictated my life.

But he couldn’t dictate what no longer existed.

The back of his hand cracked against my cheekbone, his signet ring cutting my cheek open on the spot that he’d already bruised earlier in the day. Darkness hovered at the edges of my vision as I sprawled to the floor.

“Get out of my fucking sight,” he said, leaving me to pick myself up and move toward the library doors. “You will pay for that tomorrow night, Estrella. We both know you’ll change your mind.”

I put my hands on the doors, ignoring the throbbing in my cheek as I shoved them open. Servants moved through the halls, panic on their faces as they paced. One shoved past me to enter the library, informing Lord Byron of his wife’s passing.

Death called my name next.

I would step willingly into his embrace.





5





My last night in my bed was spent staring at the ceiling. Even the bone-weary exhaustion that had claimed each and every one of my muscles couldn’t force me to sleep.

Rest eluded me, knowing that I’d be in the Void between lives in a matter of hours, and I had a brother and a mother sleeping down the hall with no idea how precious little time we had left together. The sun rose outside, the village sleeping a little bit later than usual with the harvest behind us. The festivities usually ran late into the night, with villagers surrounding the bonfires that they lit only one time during the year.

Celebration was frivolous and unnecessary, but it distracted people from the horrors of what they’d done. From the burning corpse on the pyre as a soul waited for reincarnation.

My bedroom door swung open and Brann stepped into the room as I slowly eased myself to a sitting position. “You’ve been out again,” he said, his voice full of accusation as he approached my bed.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been the moment when I denied sneaking out, because Brann hadn’t known about my meeting with Lord Byron. Without knowing exactly what would come of the conversation with the lord, I hadn’t wanted to worry my brother needlessly.

Now I was grateful I hadn’t said anything, wanting one last day with him and my mother that wasn’t tainted by what was coming. It was better if they didn’t know for as long as I could keep it from them, better if we didn’t spend our morning grieving the loss that hadn’t happened yet, the way we’d done with my father.

My lumpy mattress creaked as he sat down on the edge of it, his brow furrowing as his gaze fell to the fresh cut on my cheek that hadn’t been there the day before. “What’s this?” he asked, his nostrils flaring as he raised the backs of his knuckles to touch it gently.

“It’s nothing,” I said, shrugging off the touch with a smile that pulled at the tight skin.

“This is not nothing, Estrella. Did someone hit you? Were you caught out?” he asked, his logic automatically leading him to the punishment the Mist Guard would deliver to those who were found too close to the Veil in the night.

I might not have been delivered to the gallows immediately, but the end result of my wandering would be all the same. I shifted on the bed as it groaned again, imagining for just a moment how soft and plush the bed that waited for me in the manor must be.

As tempting as that thought may be, the prospect of who would occupy it with me was enough to pebble my flesh with goosebumps. All I’d ever wanted was to be free, and in the end, the pretty cage he offered was still just another prison.

“It doesn’t matter. I promise; everything will be just fine,” I said, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and standing with a dramatic stretch. The wood planks bowed beneath my weight, threatening to snap with the rot infecting our ramshackle home.

I could give them better, if I only spread my legs.

I winced. “Estrella,” Brann scolded, reaching across the distance between us to grasp my forearm gently. “What’s happened?” His inquisitive stare was too attentive for my liking, leaving me with little doubt that he wouldn’t be able to let the issue rest until I gave him something.