Page 68 of Grotesque
Corban frowned the longer he held my gaze. When I didn’t back down, he gave a curt nod and let his hand drop so he could flip through the sketchbook more quickly.
What was there that he didn’t want me to find?Othersmeant there was more than just Rosaline’s to be found. How many women had Corban tormented and failed with?
How many women had he killed?
I dismissed the thought in case he was able to track my attention to where her diary lay hidden beneath the cushions of the couch. Instead, I asked a question I already knew the answer to. “Are you the dragon over the door? That’s you in the book, isn’t it?”
“The grotesque,” he said. “Yes.”
“Why haven’t you come to me in that form?”
Corban shut the book and slid it under his arm before turning to me. “You’re already fucking a monster, Sorcha. Would you fuck a beast too?” He grabbed hold of my chin when I flinched. “While I do enjoy feasting on your fear, it is not my desire to scare you to death. I much prefer your heart beating.”
“How kind,” I choked.
The smile he gave me looked strained, forced. He held up the sketchbook. “I do not know how far you truly got but you cannot believe everything that you read and saw. Your grandmother was not in her right mind at the end.”
Mad Maxine.
Ridiculous Rosaline.
What were all the others called?
Stupid Sorcha. Because of Corban, because of the spell he cast over us.
Even teetering on the edges of terror, I found myself wanting to tip forward into his arms. Fall into his chasm and never see the light of day again. It was toxic, this sway he had over me.
“Why do you say that?” I asked softly. “Is there something bad in there?”
His silver promises are empty. Do not let him out.
What was so terrible about returning him to his realm?
“A mind gone lost is always tragic,” he said. He cocked his head one way and then the other, assessing me. “The only harm I mean to bring to you is what I have already brought. I will not hurt you more than I already have.”
“I believe you.”
Corban’s lips pouted.“You’re a terrible liar, Sorcha. Do you know how I know? Because I can see the damned diary sticking out from under the cushions.” He clucked his tongue. “Now get down on your knees. I want to feel your lying tongue around my cock.”
The slam of her heart against her ribs was like music to my ears. Its steady pump was the only thing that kept me grounded. I don’t know whether I was more angry, or afraid that she had read those bitches’ diaries. They had too much of the truth in them. Truths that Sorcha could not find out lest she try to pry herself from my hold.
I was so close, so incredibly close to sealing her fate to mine. I would not fail this time. I refused.
I stroked her throat with my thumb, pressing harder into the vein at her neck with each swipe.
“Two truths and a lie,” she blurted.
“I’ve already sniffed out your lie, sweetheart,” I growled. “Down on your knees and if you do a good job, we can play a different game after.”
She had the good sense to look afraid. Her fear wafted up into my nose. But so did her heat. The two had become close as lovers, perfuming the air each time I loomed over her.
“It’s only those two, I swear. I didn’t know there were others.”
Truth? Her heart hadn’t kicked an extra beat like it had before when she was fibbing.
“I want Glamis,” she said. “Macky left it to me, and I want it. I’ll do whatever I can to free you and get you back to Under. I was looking to see if there was a way to free you that you hadn’t already tried before. A clue they may have written but didn’t understand for themselves.”
Lie.
