Page 162 of Whispers of Wisteria
“Don’t talk about her like that,” I told him, hardly able to breathe under the pressure pushing against my chest. “She never should have been brought into this.”
Albert, not realizing that he’d now been marked for dead, turned up his nose. “You know, I’m getting really tired of your mouth.”
I pressed my lips together, trying to ignore my thrumming pulse, to focus on anything other than the darkness rising in my thoughts.
It was getting harder to do.
Bianca. Bianca. Bianca.
Her name was the only thing keeping me sane. She had to be okay.
“Besides, it was Jameson’s idea,” Albert said, vaguely gesturing in the stoic man’s direction.
Jameson narrowed his eyes. “Do not use my name as justification for your delusions.”
“I’m not delusional,” Albert frowned. “This was exactly what we needed to stabilize the spell.”
Jameson’s expression sharpened, the faintest edge of alarm breaking through his controlled mask. “If she dies, it’s a moot point, though, isn’t it. This is why you’re left out of operational decisions. You’ve cost us a resource.”
I saw red as the fire spread through my chest.
“She’s not a resource!” I snapped, pulling against the chains. But I couldn’t break through, and they both remained annoyingly out of reach. “She doesn’t even know what’s going on! She’s not like us! She’s—”
“Expendable,” Jameson interrupted. “Even though her death would be unfortunate, it is not the end of the world.”
It was to me! My teeth sharpened. “I’ll kill you!”
“Unlikely. You can’t even escape,” Jameson replied. “You can’t protect her if you can’t succeed at that simple of a task.”
Albert shrugged, losing some of his swagger. “There’s no way she’s alive anyway. But who cares? Why are you on my case?”
The world was sharpening to a single point. Being imprisoned in this way had made it nearly impossible to reach her, so I had only their word and the most logical conclusion.
She was dead.
“Don’t misunderstand my frustration. Her value is unimportant in comparison to your disregard for the chain of command. Consider yourself lucky I don’t report this,” Jameson told Albert. “Next time, restrain yourself before you turn our assets into toys for your amusement. She wasn’t yours to use.”
Albert glared at him. “You used her first.”
“Not relevant.” Jameson waved.
“But—” Albert began.
“Get out.” Jameson’s order was firm, still, Albert hesitated. “Now.”
Albert frowned but hurried from the room.
“You’ll regret this,” I warned. I wanted nothing more than to kill him. “I never thought you were the type to hurt a girl who’d been trained not to fight back.”
Jameson scowled. “Break free if you want to threaten me. Until then, stay silent.” He didn’t wait for my reply before heturned and quickly stalked from the room, leaving me alone with my failure and the image of her in their hands.
25
Bianca POV
I was afraid to drift.I had a feeling that if I slept now, it would be a long, long time before I ever woke up again.
My ears were buzzing as I curled up on my side. I should have had the foresight to wear more clothing. The only thing keeping me from freezing to death was the red cape that—despite everything—had remained tied around my neck.
