Cora. “Waffles?”
She ignored him. She was staring at someone in the crowd.
At Ringmaster.
Simon shrugged and, removing his arm from her shoulder, strolled toward the buffet as though nothing was the matter. “Waffles it is!” Whistling blissfully, he passed between the rows of tables. “Good morning, everyone. Lovely day, isn’t it?”
Turk slowly stood from his table, moving to stand in the aisle across from Cora.
No one said a word. The tent was silent. Save for the Puppeteer, cheerfully plating two heaping mounds of breakfast food onto plates on a tray, pretending he didn’t know what was going on behind his back.
Cora finally broke her stare from Turk to look over the seated rows of the Family. All were gaping at her in stunned silence. She was expressionless as she took in the sight before her. She turned back to Ringmaster. “Did you tell them?”
Silence.
She sighed, her shoulders slumping. “You didn’t. Why am I not surprised that you lied to me?”
Ringmaster went for his whip, only to find it missing and not hanging at his hip. Why would he be armed at breakfast? Why would he suspect that a new apex predator had awoken inside Harrow Faire?
Rudy certainly was not going to be the one to have warned him.
Turk’s fingers fidgeted at his side. “No. I did not. Cora…let’s take this elsewhere. Somewhere private.”
“No.” Cora laughed. “Do you really think I’m going to talk to you in private? Do you think I’m an idiot?” She took a step toward him. There was no fear in her face. No terror. “After what you did to me? To us?” She gestured at the blood that covered her. “And you didn’t even tell them why. What excuse did you give them? What half-assed attempt to protect your honor did you use?”
Turk didn’t answer. His jaw twitched.
Rudy stood and spoke up. “That you were plotting against him. That Simon was controlling you.”
“Why the hell is this my fault? Why is everything always my fault?” Simon exclaimed from over by the buffet. He sighed and stared up at the tented ceiling. “Every time!” He walked to a table in the back and sat down, picking up a fork, and angrily stabbed at his plate of food, grumbling under his breath about being entirely misunderstood.
Cora shook her head and wiped her hand across her forehead. She looked down at her bloodstained fingers then wiped them off on one of the few clean pieces of fabric on her coat. It didn’t do any good. “Am I trying to stop you, Turk? Sure. That’s true. But you didn’t tell them why. So I will.”
“Cora—think on what you’re doing.” Turk took another step forward.
“Oh, trust me. I have.” She glared at him, unafraid. “I had a lot of time to think in that pit where you threw me. Where you left me, impaled on that damn statue.”
“I will stop you.” Turk clenched his fists and took another step toward her.
“No.” Cora smirked. It wasn’t a friendly expression. It was angry. It was dangerous. The air around her darkened. The very space around her seemed to shift and change, like something was itching to break free. “You won’t.”
Rudy’s hair stood on end on the back of his neck, and he growled low in his chest without intending to. He did not know what she had become, but what was very clear to him was that she could kill them all. Easily.
As thick as he was, even Ringmaster noticed the change in the air. He hesitated. “What have you done, Cora?”
“What I had to do to survive. What I had to do to end the torture! I didn’t want any of this. I don’t want to do any of this. But I will if I have to. And you left me no other choice.” She took in a breath and let it out. “I guess it’s my job to tell them, huh?”
“Tell us what, Cora?” Bertha was the first one brave enough to break into the exchange. Of course she was. Very little scared the Bearded Lady for long.
Cora smiled sadly at her friend. “That he wants to kill Harrow Faire. And all of you with it.”
And that was when the shouting began.
Cora needed a nap. She needed a goddamn shower. She really wanted some fucking food. She listened to the crowd around her explode into rabble as everyone tried to scream over each other.
She held up her hand. The power in her snaked out. It was invisible, but it could still be