Page 106 of Their Blood Queen

My mouth bobs open in disbelief. “Why explain everything, why regain my trust, if you were just going to let her do this?” I ask. I need a reason for this sort of betrayal.

His jaw flexes. “She saw my hand, Scarlett. I’ll fix this. Just don’t fight her, please.”

I’ve never heard Edward beg, but he seems to be begging me now to cooperate.

I could never accept this!

“Get on with it,” Duchess Rinhold snaps at one of the men.

Hot, angry tears stream down my face when the last of my dignity is ripped away, and a single finger pushes inside of me.

“I’ve never been with a man,” I weakly protest.

That might be true.

But…

I’ve been with a monster.

Figment-Cain’s tongue had been real enough that I’m not sure what the result of this so-called examination will be.

“She is spoiled,” the male working his finger around confirms, then pulls it out and wipes it on the tattered remnants of my dress. He dares to cast me a pitied look before his dark eyes drop.

I should be shocked by the verdict.

But I’m not.

My dream… it was real.

Duchess Rinhold whirls on her son, and her hand flies out so fast that I don’t even see it strike his face. His always perfect hair flings over his forehead, and blood bursts in a pop of red over his chin. “Spoiled,” she repeats to him like an accusation. “Do you know what this means?”

The male who had been probing me has the decency to hand me a blanket, and I wrap it around myself as I glare daggers at him. Adrenaline is pumping too hard for me to fight. It’s over. My humiliation is sealed.

Edward palms his jaw, then drags his thumb over his bloodied lip. He dares to glance at me with those stormy blue eyes that I used to think were so deep and soulful.

Edward Rinhold has no soul.

“What if I was the one who spoiled her, Mother?” he asks, not looking away from me. “I couldn’t wait. I took what I wanted. She’s mine anyway.”

I go still. I know he’s lying, but no sign of a mask appears on his face.

There’s no crack. No hint of his deception bleeding the truth underneath a disguise like I would normally see with anyone else.

I can’t see his truth.

Edward… has the perfect mask.

I don’t know how, but Earl Rinhold has prepared for everything. He must have known about my ability to see people for who they really are, just like he knew the name of my village.

It’s Cain’s blood, I realize as my fingers twist around the blanket.

Cain’s blood is his mask.

My tongue goes dry as I wonder what that might mean and all of the implications.

Especially given the nature of my dreams.

Duchess Rinhold clicks her tongue as she fusses with her gloves, one of them now stained with her son’s blood. “Then you are a fool, Edward. You couldn’t wait until the courtship ended? Now you might have cost us everything. If word of this gets out, Cain himself could void the contract. You could die.”

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