Twisted - Esme Devlin Page 0,87

people.”

The silence that hangs in the air between us is long and tense.

Finally, the girl on the other side clears her throat. “I need to get out of here,” she says. “Please, you need to help me. We can go together.”

“I can’t. We can’t. You need to plead with Baron. Beg him to let you stay. There is nowhere to run to. There’s nothing out there for women except more of this. It’s rape or death.”

“Maybe, but there are better variations of it. There’s a place on the mainland—the Kingdom. It’s worse than this place, but you only have to work for five years before the King sends you to Utopia. The real Utopia. We just need to get out of here. You can help.”

I lie here, hearing the beat of my heart inside my ears.

Could it be true?

Maybe.

But who’s to say this King doesn’t do exactly the same as Baron?

Who’s to say Utopia isn’t just a myth to get people to do exactly what powerful men want—just like the “curse” that stopped most sane girls from leaving the carnival.

“How would we even get there? You said it’s on the mainland. You have a boat? You can swim? And even if by some miracle we made it off the island, how would we eat? Protect ourselves? It sounds beyond impossible.”

The woman is silent for a long time. “We have to try.”

I shake my head, forgetting that she can’t even see me. “Trying is pointless. Ask to speak to Baron. Beg him. Make a deal with him.” The next words stick in my throat, jealousy simmering inside me, but I refuse to recognize it and say them anyway. “He likes clever things. Try to amuse him.”

With that, I put the floorboard back and shift the dresser back into its position.

Sleep takes a long time to come.

26

Baron

I’m beginning to realize that the only person I actually like having in my office is Sapphire. She just sits there, reading or looking at the fire or humming a little tune to herself.

No stress. No aggravation. No unreasonable demands.

It calms my mind.

Not like Celeste with her insufferable pecking. Or Andrei with his constant problems.

“He wants payment,” Andrei says.

He’s sitting across the table from me. Celeste is at the far end, sipping on tea and watching us bicker like this is a day out for her.

“I know,” I state calmly.

Andrei leans back in his chair, clearly exasperated. “So how do you intend to do that?”

“Do what?”

Celeste lets out a snort, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Andrei. “Pay him!”

Now I’m the one becoming exasperated. “I don’t.”

He shakes his head.

“I’m not concerned with Maxim,” I tell him. “The man is an imbecile. What’s he going to do? Fire a few human cannons at me? Spit fire? Damn my soul to hell for eternity with that ridiculous devil persona?”

Andrei just sighs. He doesn’t laugh at my jokes when he’s in these types of moods.

Always so serious.

Celeste clears her throat. “Well, payment or not, we need to do something about him. He wants the electricity you promised or Sapphire. Since you shot the first option in a fit of rage and are now somewhat infatuated with the second, we need a third.”

“What about the girl?” Andrei suggests.

“Sapphire? Don’t be so ridiculous. Absolutely not.”

He shakes his head. “No. The one who overdosed. I've had her holed up in a room recovering ever since.”

I shake my head. “No. No, that won’t do. There was something special about Sapphire. He won’t take any old replacement.”

“What was special about her?” Celeste asks.

I shrug lazily. “Fucked if I know. He said he would tell me when I paid him. Besides, it’s not fair to use that girl. She’s served her time already.”

“True,” Andrei replies thoughtfully. “I should arrange her transport.”

“Yes,” I agree. “Yes, you should. In fact, you should go and do that right now.”

Anything to stop him pestering me about that idiot Maxim.

Andrei slides his chair back from the table and walks to the door.

“I wonder what was so special about her,” Celeste says, almost to herself.

I’ve often wondered the same. Yes, she has different colored eyes. And she is that strange mix of smart and stupid—naive and innocent yet still corrupted—that I find alluring. But I don’t think Maxim was talking about that.

The pair of us sit in silence for a long while, Celeste sipping on her tea while I stare into the fire.

It’s almost peaceful.

Until Andrei returns.

“The girl says she needs to speak to you,” he says, his head poking around the