Wattys Shortlist 2022 -
When she isn't looking, they call her the Princess of the Ghouls, but they haven't seen the assassination order on her secret identity: viper.
Stuck in Lake Darling, ruled by her father's gang, Vi has one objective... run awa...
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The lock beeps as the door thunks behind Reid and my skin prickles from the silence that reverberates around us. We look at the light switch, but neither of us opts for it. Maybe because the electricity barely works in the city, or perhaps because we don' want to be reminded that it does here. Uncomfortable to be confined so close to him, I walk ahead and survey the new room.
"Thai said all the girls think that if they get pregnant the government gon' let them raise the kid in Newcastle," Reid remarks. He seems unconcerned with the lavish room or the prickly tension that consumes the gap between us.
It's small; in the corner, there's a window with wire caging us in, and beside it is a sleek dress cabinet with angular silver handles, but the thing that stands out is the bed. Huge, plush, covered in pillows and designed for us. I scowl, scratching my cheek as I approach the mattress before touching a towel gingerly, glancing at the door that I assume leads to a bathroom.
"Carden said we're gon' be advertised to adopting couples who bid on the kid," I mutter, but he looks at me quickly and I realise he didn't know that... which leads me to believe no one in the hall did either. But, of course, that would explain why everyone seems to think we're on some little holiday with good food and free sex.
Why would Carden tell me, but not the others?
"Bid on the kid? Or mother?" He wrinkles his nose, but he averts his gaze from me like he don' like imagining what fate I could eventually face. It makes my stomach twist because I can't pick if he's reluctant to acknowledge the role he could play in it.
I narrow my eyes, "Assuming based on what I know of Newcastle, they'll be bidding on the parents with the best genetic makeup. Pick the eye colour and hair to look like a fairy or some shīt."
He scratches his arm, his features darkening, "And after that kid, you go into Newcastle?"
I grit my jaw, "Here's betting they're just gon' breed us till they can't no more then put us in their city to pay this credit debt off for the rest of our lives." I snark.
He surprises me by cracking a grin that looks more like a dog snarling, "I'll get shot before I let that happen."
I just bounce my brows, "You let me know if you find a gap in the walls, yeah?"
"Figures you're my ticket out. Anyway. You gon' shower?" He mutters, silencing my onslaught of questions with his dismissive tone.
He trudges past me as he fishes through his pocket and places his phone on the charging dock beside the bed. Without saying anything, he lays claim to the bedside table closest to the wardrobe, but I watch him, trying to make heads or toes of what he meant. Was it an obscure reference to his doubt about my knowledge of the abduction? Some reference to his suspicion that my father is gon' pull strings to save his princess? Asshole. But I play my cards, keeping quiet as I walk to the opposite counter and drop my phone. The screen blinks and makes a charging noise, returning to sleep.
