Chapter 131

Beside me, Elva yawned. “I’m tired, Mommy.”

I immediately crouched down beside her. I touched my hand to her forehead, but I didn’t feel a fever. Still, my nerves were frayed and I couldn’t help but worry. “Do you feel hot?”

“No. Just sleepy.” She rubbed at one eye.

I hated to leave early. We really needed this victory to stay in the competition. The stakes were so much higher now that I knew the underground organization had their sights on me and Elva. The minute we stepped foot off the palace grounds, we’d likely be snatched up.

But I couldn’t chance Elva’s health. She’d been doing so well since she started receiving regular treatments. I wouldn’t dare risk taking her heath any steps in the wrong direction.

“Honey, do you want to go –”

“There you are, Piper.”

A shiver rattled my bones. I knew that voice. I dreaded that voice.

I looked up and Terry was beside us, standing too close, peering down with the eyes of a viper.

“A pleasant picture, seeing you on your knees,” Terry said. He smirked, but the joy of it did not extend beyond his lips.

“A vile thing to say in front of a child.” I pushed myself up to my feet, then ushered Elva behind me.

“I meant it innocently, I assure you.”

I hadn’t needed Julian’s mental self-defense lessons to know that was a lie.

“But is that anyway to greet me?” Terry continued. His gaze narrowed slightly, like a predator eyeing his prey. “After all, we are such good friends now that you feel comfortable visiting unannounced. I only wished I knew you were coming. I would have prepared one of the cells for you.”

He was needling me, trying to get a reaction. I had to stay calm, as Julian had helped me train. I couldn’t let him get to me. Only if I was calm, could I poke back.

“You had your hands full, as I recall,” I said, attempting a sneer.

Something sparked in his eye, a flicker of fire. “Yes. I did.”

I tasted bile.

This wasn’t going to work. I didn’t want to go toe to toe with Terry. I didn’t want to even be in the same room as him. But I especially didn’t want to talk about my sister somewhere Elva could overhear.

“You shouldn’t expect a return visit,” I said, struggling to maintain my composure. I was proud when my voice didn’t waver. “That path has been permanently sealed.”

It was a bluff. The secret tunnel might have been sealed but I already knew Terry had brought Piper back into the house through some other means. Unfortunately, I couldn’t call him out on it and press for more information. Not with Elva in earshot.

Just then, Elva peered around my shirt to look up at Terry.

Terry flashed her a crooked grin.

Elva gasped and returned to hiding behind me.

“Why don’t you just go?” I said. “I’m sure many other women would be interested in speaking with you tonight.”

His smile turns cruel.

I wanted to run from him. To take Elva, and fly to an entirely different continent if I had to. Whatever it took to get away from him and keep him away.

Terry leered openly at my barely-exposed cleavage. He licked his lips.

“Oh, Piper. Don’t you know? I’m a benefactor tonight. And as a benefactor, it is my obligation to speak with each and every candidate, including you. Such a lovely little practice, isn’t it? A bit of money, and I get what I want?”

I swallowed the rising lump in my throat. “You donate the money to charity,” I said. “You don’t get anything.”

“I get time with you,” he said.

“That time is up.”

Suddenly, Nicholas was beside me, a look of unabashed anger on his face. Terry met it with an easy, self-satisfied smirk.

“Why, nephew. How good of you to join us.”

“The feeling is not mutual,” Nicholas snapped.

“Nick-lass?” With her free hand, Elva reached for Nicholas. He caught her hand in his and held it.

“I think it’s time you moved on, Terry,” Nicholas said, softer, with Elva was listening.

“A knight to the rescue. How charming.” Terry huffed a laugh. “Sometimes I think a suit of armor would serve you better than a crown.”

Nicholas handled Terry’s prodding better than I had done. He didn’t even bat an eye, just continued to glare unwaveringly.

Terry picked at his nails. “Unfortunately for you, Piper is also under obligations to speak with me. I am to hear her pitch, after all. If I do not hear it, why, that would be in disregard of the rules. We wouldn’t want that, would we? I’m sure Piper wouldn’t want to be disqualified from the entire competition.”

“You wouldn’t,” I gasped, though I had tried hard not to.

His piercing gaze found mine, and I felt as if he’d stabbed me. “I only ask for one dance, Piper. One chance to talk to you. Do this, and there’s no reason to cause a fuss. No rules are broken, and who knows? Perhaps I will even donate to your charity. It’s only money.”

Only money. Like my life wouldn’t fundamentally change with just a few thousand dollars in the bank.

I frowned down at myself. The dress I had earlier loved now seemed too tight. His hands would be practically right on my hips, with such thin fabric. I should have asked Charlotte to make it a turtleneck, to totally hide my cleavage.

“Mommy?” Elva asked.

I looked at Nicholas.

“You don’t have to,” Nicholas said. “I don’t care what the rules say.”

My heart warmed for him, and I desperately clung to that little glowing flame. It would see me through whatever happened next.

“Please watch Elva.”

“You don’t have to ask,” he said. At once, he returned his glare to Terry. “If you threaten or try to hurt her in any way –”

“Such unusual zest from my typically level-headed nephew. I’m pleased to see a woman has finally brought it out in you, though saddened that the woman is one you will never possess.”

Nicholas’s mouth snapped closed. A muscle ticked in his jaw.

“Besides,” Terry smiled wider. He knew he had gotten under Nicholas’s skin. “What could I possibly do In the middle of a crowded room?”

Nicholas turned to me. “Piper…”

“I’ll be okay,” I whispered to him. I swiveled to face Elva. “I’ll be right back, honey. You stay with Prince Nicholas.”

“But, Mommy…” She clung to my skirt. “Don’t go with the bad man. He’s scary.”

My bleeding heart ached like an open wound. Slowly, I pried her tiny fingers away from the fabric of my dress, one by one. Each broke my heart more than the last. She even held on with her pinky.

I gave her hand to Nicholas, who then lifted Elva up into his arms to hold her closer. She seemed to try to burrow into him.

“Clock’s ticking, Piper,” Terry said. He held out his hand for me to take.

Not all that long ago, I had seen that hand wrapped around my sister. I didn’t understand how she could want to be with someone so vile.

I shook the thoughts away. They were pointless. My sister was a stranger.

I inhaled one more deep breath of freedom. Then I placed my hand in Terry’s.

His fingers snatched closed around mine like a trap.

“You’ve made the correct choice.”