Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 127933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
He appeared like he always did, quick and silent like some kind of ghost. “Yes, Domina?”
Domina?
“We’re heading out for a bit,” she announced, her tone carrying a note of eagerness.
He gave us both an amused look and then turned to me, his tone gentler than before. “You don’t have to go, Mistress. If you’d rather stay you may.”
He’d said something similar just moments ago, but I still wasn’t used to the idea that I had any sort of autonomy here. “No, I want to,” I said after a beat, smoothing my clothes.
“In that case, try not to get into too much trouble.”
Esther laughed. “I make no promises!” She grabbed my arm, tugging me toward the door, and before I knew it, we were climbing into the same sleek car that had brought her to the estate. The driver tipped his hat to me in greeting, and soon, we were off, the estate fading into the distance.
The drive was quiet at first, the soft hum of the car filling the silence. I stared out of the window, watching the Isle’s landscape pass by. It was beautiful, hauntingly so.
I turned to Esther. “Did you hear what happened to Nicolette?”
She nodded, her face softening. “I’m the one who reported her.”
My stomach dropped. I wasn’t sure how to react. I studied her, waiting for some kind of explanation.
Esther sighed, her cheerful demeanor slipping for just a moment. “I didn’t want to, but she was leading you astray, Lolita. She was trying to put ideas in your head and sow discourse between you and my brother, that could hurt you. I had to report her, not because I wanted her punished but because I wanted to protect you.”
I didn’t know how to feel about that. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Nicolette’s words had never seemed dangerous to me. At most, she warned me….oh. That was it. Nicolette told me about Clarice and Melanie.
There had to be more to it than that though. Alexander wasn’t exactly hiding their identities or what he’d done to Melaine.
Esther’s words hinted at something deeper. Of course, she knew more than I did—she was Alexander’s sister. For all her brightness, she was deeply ingrained in the shadows of this place, in the rules and the faith I was still being educated in. On the one hand, I understood her reasoning, but on the other, it felt wrong. No. It was wrong. Yet, in some perverse way, I could see her logic.
Part of me still wanted to challenge her, to argue that Nicolette hadn’t deserved what had happened to her, but I knew that this was the way things worked here. Esther had only done what she thought was necessary. The rules of the Isle, as brutal as they were, had a certain order to them, and breaking them, as Nicolette had, seemed to lead only to suffering.
Esther gave me a small smile, her hand squeezing mine when I took too long to respond. “I didn’t want that for you.”
I swallowed and took a breath, glancing at the driver. “Do you know how she is at least?”
She brightened immediately. “Well, it hasn’t been that long, but my father tells me she should make a full atonement.”
“Your…father?”
“Yes.” She nodded happily. “He isn’t Diabolus anymore, but he still works closely with Alexander and his Magistri in running the Isle.” She tilted her head and studied me, looking even more like her brother. “I heard you finally met him.”
I nodded this time more cautiously. “Yes, a while ago now. He… found me after the service when everything happened to Nicolette. He didn’t tell me his name, though.”
Her expression softened, but there was something in her eyes I couldn’t quite place. That confirmed for me that she knew more than she was letting on. But that was the way of everyone here, wasn’t it? Layers of secrets wrapped in smiles.
“You’ll get to know him better soon,” she said, her voice carrying that same mix of reassurance, “And don’t worry,” she added with a smile that was meant to comfort me, “he’s not as scary as he looks.”
“I wasn’t scared,” I lied, forcing the words out before I could think better of it. The truth was, I was still shaken from the encounter. The eerie resemblance between her father and Alexander lingered in my mind.
Esther gave me a knowing look, one that said she saw right through me, but to my relief, she didn’t press the issue. She didn’t need to.
In the quiet that followed, I could feel the weight of the questions she wasn’t asking, the unspoken things that lingered between us. There were many I wanted to voice, but I couldn’t bring myself to mistake her kindness for loyalty or someone in whom I could openly confide. If it came down to it, she’d choose Alexander over me in an instant. The realization wasn’t new, but it was a subtle reminder of where I stood and how precarious my position really was. Unless I fully accepted my life for what it was now, there were things we’d never be able to discuss. There will always be a boundary between us.