Twisted - Esme Devlin Page 0,104
hand over the baby to become a circus pup.
And just like my Scout, if he’s strong and smart, he’ll be a guard, and if he’s strong and stupid, it’ll be off to the fields with him.
But he’ll surely be strong and smart. How could he be stupid with a father like Baron?
I nod at Ruby, biting my lip. “Okay. Tell Maxim.”
That’s the only real choice I have now.
35
Baron
There is a show on tonight, however, it’s not a particularly enjoyable one.
I think perhaps my favorite thing about these shows was watching Sapphire’s reaction to them.
The way she would flinch when someone took a chib in the eyeball. The way she would recoil when an ear or a toe was bitten off. The way she would cling to me toward the end, as if I weren’t the very same person putting her through all this.
The way she would wriggle around on my lap when my fingers would take themselves for a wander. Sometimes, I’d flick and pinch her tiny little nipples just to make her squirm, imagining her cheeks turning pink underneath all that paint.
I miss her.
I truly do.
I barely think about anything else. I no longer have the urge to care.
Andrei hates it. He’s always hated when I’m distracted, and this goes beyond mere distraction. This is being present in a room and being a thousand miles away, all at the same time.
“There is someone here to see you,” Andrei says.
I flick him away with my hand.
I’ll see nobody. In my mind, Sapphire is here, sitting on my lap, her beautiful mismatched eyes widening in horror at the gruesome scene before us. My heartbeat dancing as my mind makes a note of all the things I’m going to do to her.
What game should we play tonight, my sweet little girl?
Maybe she will run, and I will pretend she has a chance of not being caught for a while.
I decided to build something for her. It is a room that’s not a room. More of a maze, but not really a maze. In a maze, there has to be more than one choice, doesn’t there?
Left or right? Which way?
No.
What I’m building is more like a rabbit run. Full of mirrors and glass and doors that aren’t even doors. Illusions. There is only one way, and that is the way I create for her.
“Baron?”
“Leave me,” I tell him, not even bothering to turn around.
“You will want to see this person,” he says, more firmly than I had expected.
Sapphire?
My Sapphire has returned to me?
I turn my head, frowning as I take in the little rake of a boy standing a step behind Andrei. This boy doesn’t have the haircut given to most males to keep the fleas at bay, which is shaved to the bone completely. No, someone has allowed this boy to keep his hair longer on the top, which means wherever he came from, he is cared for.
He has big brown eyes full of mischief, which remind me of my own at that age.
I like him.
The boy steps forward and clears his throat. “Denim sent me.”
“Denim?”
He nods. “Denim is Maxim’s second. Denim told me to come and Conrim sneaked me out with one of the dirt bikes.”
Intriguing. I narrow my eyes at him, though he won’t see, and sit up in my chair. “What the fuck is with the im names?”
The boy makes a face that conveys that he thinks I was born yesterday. It’s really quite amusing. “Im is the last two letters of Maxim’s name. Means you’re in his inner circle. It’s a great fat honor to get an im name.”
Jesus suffering Christ. The man’s vanity knows no limits. “Adorable. Now tell me, precisely, why you are here.”
“It’s Sapphire.”
My Sapphire. Just the thought of her name on someone else’s tongue angers me, but I shall try to keep that at bay for now. “Oh? How is she?”
“Ach.” The boy shakes his head. “She’s not good. I can’t even get a smile out of her—and I always get a smile off the girls.”
“So she’s upset,” I say with a shrug. “She left me. She chose her bed, and it wasn’t mine. Tell Denim I don’t care.”
I don’t tell him that is only partly the reason I will not go and fetch her. Saying it aloud would just make me sound petty, even if that is indeed what I am.
“They’re going to do to her what you… what you do to women here.” He glances down at the cage in the middle