Page 58 of Midnight Queen

Even though we haven’t discussed it further, my belief and trust in Silas that he would never kill her without a valid reason hasn’t wavered.

And listening to what he’s admitting now, I know I was right.

If Gideon turned Margret and she came back the same way Cecily did, Silas would have felt like he had no other choice than to take care of Margret.

Gideon surges forward and his fists slam against the glass wall. “Don’t talk about her that way. You’re wrong!”

“You’re delusional—” Silas begins to argue, but I interject by placing myself between his tall frame and the glass.

“I know he was wrong,” I lie so I can regain Gideon’s attention. We’re getting off track from what’s actually important. “He was wrong because Margret is fine now, isn’t she?” Indulging in his fantasy worked some back at the warehouse, and I can almost bet it will work here too.

The crazed vampire’s head nods. “Yes, but he took her from me again.” The rage melts from his face and the desperation returns.

“And I told you I can get her back for you, but I need you to tell me who else you are working with. Who is behind the new attacks, Gideon?”

He backs away from the glass and ponders my questions for a second. A thousand different thoughts flash in his eyes but I can't understand a single one of them. Finally, his mouth pulls into a frown. “Going against Silas was always going to be challenging. I thought it would be smart to have a partner.” For a split second, he makes me believe we’re going to get an answer from him. “But Margret didn’t trust anyone, so it had to be just us.”

And just like that, my hope for an answer deflates.

“So, no one helped you? What about the person I heard you talking to at the warehouse?” I ask. I never did see who came to the door before the gunfire started. “Who was that?”

“He was in charge of security.” Gideon sighs. “I’m almost positive he’s dead now too.”

With a quick glance in Silas’s direction, he confirms this with a nod.

Gideon looks at me expectantly. “I told you the truth. Can I have her back now?”

You know he’s truly lost his mind because his only concern is about Margret. Not once has he asked to be released from the glass prison he’s being held in.

I can’t help but sigh in defeat. If Gideon doesn’t have a silent partner out there, that means there’s another entity out there who wants to cause harm to Silas. But I think that’s the true nature of this world. When you’re at the top, everyone wants to tear you down. The game will never end, the players just keep changing.

“Yes, I’ll go get her for you now.” Silas sends me a look of confusion, still not sure how I’m going to pull this off. “Where are the light switches?”

“Excuse me?”

“Just trust me on this.” I’m not really in the mood to have him question me. I didn’t question him about how he was keeping Gideon, but now I’m kicking myself that I haven’t. “We need to turn off some of the lights to create shadows.”

Silas moves to the control panel on the wall and flips a couple switches. On one side of the room, half of the lights turn off. Gideon moves close to the dark corner that now sits across the space. He stares into the shadows and waits with a hopeful look on his face

I know the second he can see her. His lips curl into a relieved smile and the tension melts from his body.

“Margret,” he calls to her happily.

I can feel Silas’s gaze on me. Without turning his way, I explain, “He can only see her in dark places.” The dark corner of the room he was keeping me in may have appeared empty to me, but in his eyes, Margret was standing there, keeping him company.

“Gideon.” Hearing me say his name, he reluctantly looks back at me. “If I find out you’re lying to me, I will take her away from you again.”

Silas may think that the way to break him is by treating him like a caged animal, but I just proved I know better.

Gideon’s face drops, looking distraught at the notion. “We don’t kill children.”

For another minute, I watch as he happily talks to an apparition of Margret.

“This can’t continue,” I inform Silas in a low whisper before I stalk out of the room, leaving behind the man who was once my monster but is now nothing at all.

Hating someone is easy, but having compassion is hard.

And I seldom chose the easy path.

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