Page 26 of Wolfsbane Hall
“Celestine…” Dean pulled her name out like he was trying to savor a delicious chocolate while at the same time reprimanding her.
“Your sweetness is a problem, love.” James stroked his fingers along her waist, and she batted them away.
For the first time in possibly all her life, she didn’t want to appease people. Fury was stoked in her stomach. At that moment, she hated every one of them and their manipulative ways, but she still wasn’t brave enough to speak it aloud. There was too much at risk.
Her life philosophy was:suck it up and move on.It had worked, thus far.
So instead, she excavated herself from James’s lap—as painful as it was, because she did want the oblivion of a good fuck right about now.
He tried to grasp her wrists as she went, but she quickly pulled out of his grip and ran out of the room.
9
Saturday, November 11, 1939
Hallway
Celestine rested her head against the wall and pinched her eyes tight. The hallway smelled of elderberry and freshly cooked pie. It was soothing and homey, but the antithesis of her current emotions. Although the sharp edges of the gilded decor scraped against her cheeks, it helped to set the proper tone.
She hadn’t made it very far. The men’s voices still reached her from within the room.
“It seems she’s figured out we’re all rotten and not to be trusted.” Dean’s voice was husky with amusement.
“You don’t have to sound so happy about it,” Everett said.
Celestine listened for scraps of information. She knew they’d never make this game easy, and they wouldn’t give her anything for free, but it was still worth a shot. Although Celestine still didn’t want to play this game at all. What was the point? Death was waiting for her, no matter what.
James’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Someone should go after her.”
“I don’t think she’ll want it to be you.” The timbre of Everett’s voice was deep and smooth, with a knowing quality.
“Why?”
Dean let out a wolfish chuckle. “You’re a scientist, but you can’t figure this out? Being complicit in any way will make her hate you. Especially when you fuck her at any chance you get. You’re the one she trusts the most.”
“Oh…”
“I’ll go,” Everett offered but was quickly shut down by his brother.
“No. You are incapable of being serious or sober. I’ll go.”
“She hates you.”
“Precisely why he’s perfect for the job.” James chortled in his professorial way, which drove Celestine mad.
The creak of wooden chair legs was enough warning to get Celestine moving. The last thing she needed was forhim—Dean—to catch her listening. She tiptoed away and tried not to make a sound, her heels softly sliding against the redwood floor. Not like her sneaking mattered. If any of them were the Specter…or the Phantom, they’d already know. The walls were their eyes.
No secrets existed in Wolfsbane Hall…at least not from the Specter.
It stood to reason that the Phantom was no different.
Well,fuck.
Celestine glanced around at her surroundings. She’d gone north, deeper into the labyrinthine house, and she didn’t know what to do. She’d gotten away, but it didn’t change anything about her situation.
Poison stroked through her veins, and her limbs were already weakening. Celestine had a sickly body on a good day, but this was something different. It was like she could feel the sinister magic coursing through her blood.
Her heart was frustratingly irregular, even normally. It waseither speeding up so fast she might faint, or crawling to a halt and making her lightheaded.
