The Palace (Chateau Book 4) Read online

  But at least it was me and not him.

  I could live with that.

  I could die with that.

  I shifted my gaze away from his voice and looked at the night sky. There were sounds of distant fighting, the gunshots becoming fewer and further in between. I knew we’d won the battle without having to see it myself. The stars shone down on me, ready to claim my soul and deliver it where it belonged.

  It was stupid to hope I would end up anywhere besides hell, but I hoped I would see my mother again. “No, I’m not going to be alright.” I looked at my brother again, watching him do his best to remain as calm as possible, to bottle his true emotions as well as he could. “But thanks for lying.”

  Magnus pulled his shirt over his head then grabbed the hilt of the knife. Without preamble, he yanked it out.

  I immediately gasped in pain, feeling everything now that the adrenaline was gone.

  “I need a few guys. Now!” He wrapped the shirt around my wound and applied pressure. “Fender, you can get through this. I need you to stay with me, alright?” Uncontrollable tears formed in his eyes, the distress inching into his features when he realized how deep the knife went. He breathed harder and harder, forced to watch me die, the blood dripping past his palms because there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  I wished I were already dead so he wouldn’t have to go through this. “Magnus.”

  He ignored me and took the bandages from the medic to apply to my stomach, shouting out orders. “Call our pilot. Tell him to bring the chopper now. Fender needs to get to the hospital.”

  Men stepped away to follow his orders.

  There was no reason I should still be alive right now. The knife had been ten inches. It stabbed me all the way through, sliced through the organs in the way, the internal bleeding worse than the external wound.

  But I knew why I was still there.

  She kept me there—so I could say goodbye.

  My voice came again, weaker. “Magnus.”

  Magnus wouldn’t look at me. He couldn’t. He knew this was it, but he couldn’t face it.

  I didn’t have much time. I was growing weaker by the second. I placed my hand on his, soaking his hand with my blood. “I deserve this.”

  He shook his head, still not looking at me, sniffing back the tears that emerged. “Stop it.”

  “You know I deserve this. The girls are free, and I’ll be dead. That’s how it should be.”

  His bottom lip trembled as the tears streaked down his cheeks. “You aren’t going to die! Stop it!”

  I squeezed his hand. “Brother.”

  He breathed harder and harder, the pain too difficult to face. “Please don’t…”

  “Look at me.”

  He wouldn’t.

  “Magnus.”

  Finally, he did. Eyes identical to mine pierced into my soul. His emotions rose, his eyes wet and reflecting the light of the torches around us. His hand remained pressed to my wound as he continued to try to save me, even though it was pointless.

  He knew it.

  I knew it.

  I gripped his hand, prepared to say my last words. “You were the man I could never be but always wanted to be. You said I was the one you looked up to, but it was always the other way around. You’re a good brother…and I love you.” I’d never said those words to him in our lifetime, except when we were little boys, but I said them now.

  He breathed through his tears, his features mushed together in anguish. “I love you, brother.”

  I squeezed his hand again. “Tell Melanie…nothing would’ve made me happier than to see her in that white dress and make her my wife. Tell her to forgive me…but I did what I had to do. And I would do it again…even if I knew what would happen.” My heart broke for Melanie, that I had to leave her behind, but I was grateful I had been there to keep my brother alive. It was always my job to protect him—and I didn’t fail.

  He nodded.

  My eyes blinked a few times, the image of my brother’s face and the stars fading further and further.

  Then it went dark.

  Twenty-Seven

  Ten-Inch Blade

  Melanie

  Raven and I sat beside each other on the couch.

  The windows showed the darkness outside.

  We both waited for sunrise, both looked at the clock over and over, wishing time would pass in the blink of an eye.

  Neither one of us spoke, too upset to talk about anything.

  I’d thought my time at the camp was torture. I’d thought being apart from Raven was torture.

  No. It was this.

  If he didn’t come back…I wouldn’t know what to do.

  “There’s something I need to tell you…” It was the first time she’d spoken since the men had left.

  My head turned her away, seeing her pale-as-snow skin, seeing the stress discolor her eyes.

  “When I was at the camp, Alix had it in for me. He was determined to get me, no matter the cost.”

  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear this. “Raven…”

  “Magnus always protected me, but they pinned him down so there was nothing he could do. Alix yanked me from the cabin, stripped me naked, and dragged me across the ground by the hair…”

  “Oh god.” I cupped my mouth, my eyes closing to shut out the imagery she painted for me.

  Raven continued with a calm voice, as if she felt no emotion whatsoever. “It didn’t happen—because Fender stopped it.”

  My eyes opened, and my hands slowly fell from my mouth.

  “He’d just arrived at the camp. That was why Fender was out there to see it.” She inhaled a deep breath then looked at me. “He told Magnus that he did it for him, but Magnus doesn’t believe him. He thinks he did it for you.”

  I knew he’d done it for me.

  “Just wanted you to know that…because he obviously didn’t tell you.”

  I shook my head. “No, he didn’t.”

  She looked forward again.

  “Does this mean…I have your blessing?”

  She stared at the clock, her face devoid of emotion. Seconds trickled by until they turned into a full minute. “You can have anyone you want, Melanie. There are better men than him.”

  I swallowed my disappointment with a dry throat. “He’s freeing the girls now.”

  “Doesn’t excuse the fact that he enslaved them in the first place—”

  “Raven.” I inhaled a deep breath, feeling the pain in every corner of my body. “I’m going to marry him whether I have your blessing or not.”

  She turned to look at me, equally disappointed.

  “I know him in a way you never will. I believe he’s a good man…who just lost his way. You’ve seen glimpses of his goodness yourself.”

  “If Magnus hadn’t stopped him, he was going to hang three girls at once.”

  I shook my head. “He wouldn’t have gone through with it. I believe that with all my heart.”

  She looked forward again, her eyes down. “Perhaps he won’t come back…and that will fix the situation.”

  I inhaled a sharp breath as my eyes drilled into her cheek, flames rising from wet firewood. “How dare you say that to me.” Tears welled in my eyes because it hurt so damn much.

  She wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes remained down. There was no apology. No justification for the horrible thing she said.

  Her presence had given me comfort, but now, it just made me sick to my stomach. It was the first time I truly wanted nothing to do with her. I rose from the couch and moved into the other room—because I’d rather suffer in silence than sit beside her a moment longer.

  Hours later, the quiet sound of the elevator reached my ears. The gears shifted, and the distant hum of machinery was unmistakable. “Fender…” I left the room and entered the main sitting area where I’d left Raven.

  She must have heard it too because she was on her feet and heading to the same hallway.

  We stopped in front of the elevator, waitin
g for it to open and reveal our men.

  The door slid open, revealing a tall brunette.

  The disappointment was heavy to swallow, because I could picture Fender standing there, a slight smile on his face. He would walk up to me and say, “Let’s go home, chérie.” It all happened in the blink of an eye, my imagination running wild.

  This stranger was a slap in the face.

  Raven knew her. “Miranda? What are you doing here?”

  “Who is she?” I asked.

  Raven ignored me and stepped forward.

  Miranda entered the apartment in professional attire, heels clacking against the hardwood floor. “Magnus requested I take you two to the hospital.”

  “The…the hospital?” My hand immediately went to my throat, the tears starting from deep inside my body, the anxiety infecting my body like a deadly disease. If Magnus had made the call, that meant he wasn’t the one in the hospital. “Fender…”

  Raven turned to me, as if she’d drawn the same conclusion.

  Miranda kept her calm composure. “Ready to go?”

  “Is he okay?” I choked on a sob and cupped my mouth to make it stop. “Please tell me he’s okay…”

  She scratched the side of her neck and looked down. “Magnus didn’t give me any information. He just told me to bring you two to him.”

  “Is Magnus okay?” Raven asked.

  Miranda nodded.

  I stepped back, the heat flushing my body and making me dizzy. I backed up into a wall and stopped, my hand back over my mouth, my eyes on the floor, hyperventilating on the spot.

  Raven placed her hand on my shoulder. “Melanie, we don’t know anything—”

  “Fender wouldn’t need the hospital unless it was really bad…” He was bulletproof. He was the strongest man I’d ever met. Whatever happened was serious.

  “Melanie—”

  “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?” I threw her arm off my body. “Congratulations.”

  She cowered at my viciousness, her eyes turning guarded and hurt at the same time. Her hand was in the air, and it slowly lowered back to her side as she watched me come apart, watched me experience agony and rage at the same time.

  “I take it back, okay?”

  “You won’t forgive Fender for anything, so don’t expect me to forgive you for wishing such a terrible thing. That man is my whole world…” Sobs racked me, made me move to the other wall. “He loves me for who I am—unlike you. He makes me happy. He makes me feel good about myself.”

  Raven watched me, her eyes softening. “I’m sorry, okay?”

  “I don’t give a shit if you’re sorry.” I threw down my arms. “If he dies…” I shook my head. “I’ll never forgive you. I’ll never forgive you for wishing that misery on me. I’ll never forgive you for wishing me to be alone for the rest of my life.”

  Raven stared at me for a long time, her eyes falling to the ground. “I didn’t realize you felt this way—”

  “Because you didn’t listen. You always assume I’m too stupid to know what I want. Well, he doesn’t think I’m stupid. He doesn’t think I’m dull. He doesn’t think I’m as weak and pathetic as you describe me.”

  “Melanie, I don’t think you’re stupid—”

  “Yes, you do. Don’t lie.”

  She winced.

  “And that’s fine. Because he thinks the world of me—and that’s all I need.”

  Miranda took us to the hospital.

  We went to the ER and found Magnus in the waiting room.

  The second Raven saw him, she sprinted to him.

  He got to his feet and caught her at the perfect moment, his arms locking around her, his lips kissing her as she kissed him. His hand cupped the back of her head, and he closed his eyes as he held her.

  I looked around.

  Fender wasn’t there.

  I started to cry because my worst fear was coming true.

  “Oh god…”

  Watching them love each other only reminded me of what I had—and what I might lose. You never really appreciated something until it was gone. Fender was by my side nearly all the time, and I’d give anything to go back in time and experience one of those quiet moments, the two of us in comfortable silence in his office, watching TV on the couch, lying in bed together.

  I couldn’t lose that.

  Magnus and Raven broke apart. Magnus looked at me, pain in his eyes, and then stepped toward me.

  No.

  I couldn’t handle this.

  I was already crying, looking at him expectantly, hoping for the best news possible.

  He stopped in front of me, all his features tight.

  “Is he going to be okay?” I could barely get the words out through my labored breathing. “What happened? Did he kill the motherfucker who did this to him?” I listed off questions in my hysteria, but they didn’t matter. There was only one question that needed an answer.

  The same pained expression continued.

  No.

  “Melanie, I’m sorry… He’s probably not going to make it.”

  It was an out-of-body experience. I could actually see myself from a different point of view, see the horror on my face, see the mess of tears that had washed off my makeup hours ago. The panic confused all the internal systems of my body. I was hot. Cold. Deaf. Weak. Full of adrenaline.

  Paralyzed.

  Once I grappled with the news, the sobs hit.

  Hysteria.

  Mania.

  Misery. Fucking misery.

  Raven came to me, and I didn’t push her away.

  I didn’t care about anything right now.

  All I could do was drown.

  Sometimes, I paced in the waiting room. Sometimes, I took a walk through the hospital. Sometimes, I sat alone in a chair. It was a constant cycle, a constant rhythm of discomfort that I couldn’t fix, no matter what I did.

  Every hour that I wished would pass was an hour that he fought for his life.

  A fight he would lose.

  I stood at the window in a hallway, my head pressed to the glass, needing something cool against my forehead. My headache pounded in my temples because of all the crying, and I bought some painkillers from the gift shop. The cashier couldn’t take her eyes off me because I was an emotional mess, but she didn’t ask any questions. Now I stood there and looked at the sunshine outside the window, the buildings of Paris as the backdrop.

  “Melanie?” Raven’s gentle voice came from beside me.

  With my hand pressed to the glass, I looked at her, feeling nothing for her right now. My ring was on my hand, and whether he lived or died, I couldn’t imagine ever taking it off.

  Her eyes showed her pain, how much my despair affected her. “I said that out of anger. I would never wish for this…wish for you to go through this.”

  I looked out the window again.

  She stood there with me for a while.

  “I just want to be by myself, Raven.” My voice was lifeless, like it rose from a corpse.

  “I understand. I just wanted you to know—” She cleared her throat.

  I turned back to her.

  “Magnus told me that the reason Fender is here is because…he saved Magnus’s life.”

  My eyes watered for the millionth time.

  “If Fender hadn’t gotten there, Magnus wouldn’t be here right now.”

  Tears dripped down my cheeks. “I asked him to stay for me. He wouldn’t. He said he had to protect his brother…”

  Raven’s eyes watered too.

  “He loves his brother so much…”

  “I know he does,” she whispered. “It’s the way I love you.”

  I sniffled.

  “Maybe Fender and I are more alike than I realized…”

  Magnus found me in the hallway. “Melanie?”

  I turned to him quickly, hoping for news, good news.

  “I just talked to the doctor—”

  “Oh god…” I dug my fingers into my hair on either side of my skull a
nd prepared for another mental breakdown.

  “Melanie, he’s stable.”

  “What…?” My hands lowered then moved to my mouth.

  He gave a slight smile. “He pulled through.”

  My palms covered my face entirely, and a new round of sobs hit me. “Oh my god…” I cried for a bit before I dropped my hands.

  Magnus held out a tissue.

  I took it, touched by the gesture, and cleaned myself up.

  “The doctor said we can see him.” His eyes softened as he looked at me. “But I thought you should go first…” Every look he’d given me before had been a bit cold, like he didn’t care for my existence. But now, he looked at me differently, the way he looked at Fender sometimes.

  “Thank you.” I darted around him and headed to reception.

  “Melanie?”

  I turned back around.

  “It’ll be nice to have a sister again.”

  I stepped into the private room with large windows along one side.

  His big mass was in the bed, wires everywhere, wearing a blue gown rather than being shirtless like usual.

  I slowly crept to the bed, unsure if he was awake, unsure if he was coherent at all. When I stood over him, I saw that his eyes were closed. The monitor beside him beeped. His blood pressure cuff squeezed his arm.

  My hand went to his wrist, feeling that strong pulse.

  My eyes closed, and the tears dripped.

  “Chérie.” His voice was raspy and gruff, his throat dry from the breathing tube that had been placed there during surgery.

  My eyes remained closed, and I broke into sobs, afraid I would never hear that deep voice again.

  His voice became stronger, but also turned gentler. “Chérie.”

  It was too much. I couldn’t do it.

  “Chérie. Look at me.”

  When my eyes opened, the tears that had been held back by my lids came spilling down. I locked my gaze with his, seeing dark eyes that were tired and a bit bloodshot, but still intense as always.

  His hand gave me a tug. “Come here.”

  I got into bed beside him, cuddling with him just like I did at home, but keeping my arm over his chest rather than his stomach.