Page 94 of Bianca and the Monsters

I amp up my glare. “Pretty clever—I’ll give you that. All you have to do is what you’ve been doing,nothing, and your current problem will be resolved.” My zeal for this performance tanks. “Bastien and I won’t survive the next round, but you already know that. You just watched Pennie give his life to save us. Nico’s fighting his enemies, battling with a passion for survival you couldn’t possibly understand.”

I reach and feel him again, hearing his warrior drums beating inside our song. Bastien clearly hears it too. Pennie and Nico are now part of our song. We don’t just have melodies that reflect how we feel about them; they have their own songs inside us.

“Nico got stabbed in the heart and yet it’s still beating, where that icy chunk in your chest would be better used to keep beverages cold in a cooler. At least then, it would serve a purpose.”

I reclaim Bastien’s hand, wanting him close in case this goes wrong. “So just go ahead, command yourbraveself-hating knight cult to kill Archie. I’d rather he go first, not be forced to watch helplessly as Bastien and I die. See, unlike you, Archie actually loves his family.”

My grip on my emotions fractures and I move my free hand through the liquid, pleading for Pennie’s resolve. His sexy blues answer me and I raise my chin again. “With all of us gone, you won’t be troubled by the Clumberton family ever again. Happy day for you.”

I scoff. “I’m pretty sure the monsters of this city will take good care of my dad, but he’ll probably go back through the portal, arrange his affairs and mine, and drive his golf cart into the ocean. There you go,easy-peasy, all that’s left of my family wiped from any realm. Well done.”

The queen trembles, not fighting Archie’s hold—she actually seems to be using him to remain standing. “I don’t want that… I don’t wantanyof that.”

“Thendosomething! Tell your shiny antler brigade to stand down. Save Nico, which will save Bastien and me. Then we’ll figure out how to get Pennie back. Whether you deserve it or not, you are the only one with the power to save my family.”

“Ican’t,” the queen sobs, all her pride crashing down.

“Can’t orwon’t?”

Before she can answer, I hear my dad shouting my name and also what sounds like a hundred or more monsters stomping down the stairs toward us.

My dad rushes in, his blue eyes wide, his situational awareness seizing information left and right, mostly involving Remy and his boys. Dad’s gaze locks on me. “B, this doesn’t look too good.” His voice is casual, but his squint I recognize… it’s the one I last saw on the day he metChad. Violence is about to be on the menu.

“Disarm anyone with antlers, if you’d be so kind,” he says pleasantly and his mob of monsters goes to work.

Because of the queen’s complete lack of commands, Remy and his knights elect not to resist my dad’s army and are shoved against the wall, their weapons in a pile.

“Okay, what’s next?” Dad asks me, bouncing on his heels like a boxer heading for the ring.

I study his healthy face, his excitement proof he’s riding the wave of a serious adrenalin rush. While he’s completely focused on me, I glance at the queen who’s behind him, still held by Archie. There’s something off about her expression, something more frail than her neck or her hold on power.

Her mouth moves and she says the last thing I expect. “James?”

Dad’s uprising-inspired fervor fades instantly; he’s pale as death just a second later. He’s so still I wonder if she put a hex on him or something. Then he moves, but only his hand over his heart as though he’s worried about another heart attack.

“Dad, are you okay?” I ask, watching him take shallow breaths with his eyes closed.

“James…Weston?” The queen’s voice quivers and almost doesn’t make it through his name.

“Bianca,” Dad says pointedly, as though I’m his lifeline, his only way through whatever this moment means to him or to us.

I gesture toward my dad, who still stares at me and seems allergic to turning around. “That’s my dad. His name is Jameson Daniel Weston, but around these parts, he’s known asSir Jimmy. What’s it to you?”

Archie’s arm moves around the queen’s middle, holding her to keep her from collapsing. She’s sobbing now… completely unraveling right here in this crappy basement.

I give my dad a shrug because that’s all I’ve got.

Dad is uncertain in a way I’ve never seen him. He’s always known exactly what to do, but now he’s looking to me, silently begging me to give him guidance. What the heck do I know about what’s happening? I’m just a soggy, prune lady who wants to save her family.

When the idea sparks, it’s suddenly a bonfire. The look in his eyes matches mine. He’s just a good man who wants to save his family, who would give everything he has to make his loved ones safe and happy.

My heart clenches like an entirely different kind of blade pierced it, and I know what to say. “It’s your choice, Dad, just like it was mine. You can face your hurdles and claim the life you want, or you can join the witness protection program andnotascend the throne in your own life.”

I pause, shuddering through my first glimpse of what all of this might mean. “Whatever you decide, I support you onehundredpercent. I love you. I trust you. I finally get it… what you were showing me all my life, the way a woman should be treated. Sorry it took me so long to figure that out—I blame the constant sugar high.”

He scoffs at that but quickly sobers. “Tell me whatyouneed.”

“Nico’s doing everything he can to keep the violence around him from hurting me, but we don’t have long—Bastien and me. Pennie’s given all he can and he can’t help much anymore, but he’s notgonegone, so we’re holding it together. Archie’s patiently waiting to decide whether to snap the queen’s neck, and…”

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