I nearly snort a laugh, but the last time I made a mocking sound at her, I received five lashes.
“Regardless, I can’t change that.”
She steps back, and we enter the back foyer that divides into two wings, one toward the kitchen and servants’ areas and the other toward the family section of the palazzo. Instead of going toward any of that, we veer a sharp right and head to the back before taking the dark, narrow flight of stairs to Jaqueline’s and my quarters, which abut the wine cellar and two storage rooms.
And yes, it’s in the basement. Complete with no windows, spiders, and other critters.
I chuck my bags onto the floor, noting the worry in her eyes. She should be worried. Signora Batorini will be pissed. I wish Antonia had gone, but it was impossible. The only two who wouldn’t have been discovered by their facial recognition were either Jaqueline or me, and Jaqueline is a teenager.
“It’s real. It was all over them. Bellamy Wright loves King Sebastian and his children. There was no act. The gossip was useless. Same tragic bullshit story about Samil and useless trash about the new queen. It was catty and based on jealousy instead of facts. We’ll have to find another way. The queen won’t betray her king.”
“Are you sure?” a voice comes from behind me, and my insides chill over. Antonia is a fucking monster. Make no mistake about it. I am too, if we’re being honest, because I learned from the masters. But Signoria Batorini, my stepmother, is a special brand of evil, and it makes me miss her son even more.
I turn and place my eyes at chest level with her Chanel blouse before I curtsy. “Yes. I’m certain. On a positive note, I was able to bypass their security and get in without any issue, so now we know it’s possible. All in all, I’d say this was a successful mission.”
Her expensive heels click lightly against the travertine as she makes her way over to me. Ice-cold, bone-thin fingers lift my chin until I meet her dark brown eyes. Then her other handflies and smacks my face with brutal precision. I don’t wince. I hardly exhale a breath. But fuck, does it sting. She’s wearing her eternity bands loaded with large diamonds and made sure that was the hand she struck me with.
The diamonds and metal tear a straight path up my cheek and cut me open. A warm trickle of blood runs down my face to my chin before it drips onto my shirt and the floor.
“Successful?” she sneers. “How dare you use that word to cover your failure. That information is useless to me.” She seethes, her eyes narrowing into slits as her red lips that match the soles of her shoes continue to lash out at me. Another slap, this one harder than the first, and my vision pops with stars. “We sent you to the royal wedding, and all you return with is that their affections are real?” She’s incredulous, her voice rising an octave, but it’s feigned. It’s all part of her warfare. “I should have had Antonia kill you like the useless trash you are when your father died.”
But you didn’t, bitch.
“If it weren’t for my son and how he adored you, I would have.”
If it weren’t for your son and how I adored him, I likely would have done it myself when I learned the truth all those years ago.
“Must I remind you that you don’t exist?” she continues, her tone shrill. “That you have no last name. No birth certificate. No national identification number. As far as the world is concerned, you are nothing. I could throw you off the cliff straight into the sea, and no one would care.”
Another slap that makes my vision grow fuzzy. I try not to flinch, and for the most part, I succeed.
I’ve stood at that cliff edge many times, contemplating the very thing she just said. Samil saved me. Loved me. Doted on me. Made me believe that I wasn’t nothing. He taught me so many things. He spent time with me. To him, I was someone. I mattered.
My life wasn’t exactly singing with the birds and chirping out songs all day long, but it was bearable. It was okay. I lived in the shadows and followed their instructions to the letter. If I didn’t, I was tortured. So I adapted. I studied and learned how they wanted me to. I did their bidding and followed their orders, even when I often felt sick from them.
Then Samil died.
I could point out how she’s used me and the fact that I don’t exist to make an untold fortune from murder, corruption, and blackmail. The amount of fucked-up shit that goes down in the world of the stupidly rich is obscene and would turn any normal person’s blood cold. But since she and the rest of her world are already cold-blooded, to them it’s simply another day at the office.
“Do you have anything of use for me?” she asks, poison on her breath as she bears down on me. I steel my spine, ready for her reaction when I tell her that I have nothing. Now is definitely not the time to mention that I lost one of her earrings. Why they insisted I wear real diamonds in my ears is beyond me.
“She lost your earrings,” Antonia jumps in, and what the fuck?
“You what?” Signoria cries. It’s technically one earning, but I don’t correct her.
“I’m sorry. It must have fallen out when I was?—”
Another slap. This one knocks me to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Jaqueline hiding in the shadows. Dammit. I hate it when she sees this sort of stuff. She’s stricken, her teeth caught in her lip and her hands pressed into her chest. I toss her a wan smile before I’m hauled to my feet by the back of my shirt.
“Ten lashings,” Signoria instructs. “Be thankful it’s not more. You certainly deserve it.”
My shirt is ripped off my back, and I’m shoved into one ofthe support poles. My chest slams into the cold metal, knocking the wind from me. My hands grip the cylinder, my eyes closing, and I work to regain and steady my breathing even as my heart hammers.
I knew this was coming, but it never gets easier. Especially when she hits the scars I already have.
Antonia moves, and I close my eyes, bracing for the first strike.
Air whistles around the cane, which is really a long bamboo stick with striations on it.Slap. My back bows, and I whimper, biting into my lip to suppress it. They love the sound of my agony, and it’s why I try so hard to fight my reaction.