Epilogue

MAIN MASTER

“ L et’s go over it again, Main Master. This time let’s focus on the time Dr. LaRoe had you in your apartment. You mentioned losing time. You say you can’t remember much after she attacked you. I want you to think back to the last thing you heard her say.”

I let out a deep breath, letting myself relax against the love seat in Dr. Almer’s office. He didn’t have my gifts. It was purely talk, and that was a relief.

“I don’t remember. She said something about her son, and then she hit me. That’s it. When I woke up, she was going crazy. Pacing. She had a knife. I managed to wrestle it away from her. I guess I lost my temper. I chopped off her fingers and drug her to her cell where I livestreamed her punishment to set an example. The rest is history.”

A contemplative look crossed his face as if he were trying to discover the secrets of the world. Or me. But I didn’t mind. The man was harmless. He wasn’t a threat, just curious.

“You keep her heart. Why?”

I smiled. “As a reminder. Be careful who you trust. I trusted her, Dr. Almer. We all did.”

“That is true.” He nodded, seeming to be satisfied with my answer for now.

“The following day when you came to see me?—”

“As protocol for the Gardens after such an incident.”

“Yes, most certainly,” he continued, “but…you mentioned eyes. You said something about eyes peering out through a robe. They were watching you. Whose eyes were you referring to? You were upset.”

I got quiet, my relaxed state slightly stiffening through the anger that came automatic at the thought. I glanced at my doctor, rubbing my finger along my jaw, triggering the start of a moment I wished to erase within my doctor’s mind when we finished.

“The Council arrived in hoods, showing their support. They hide their identity, but you already know that. I didn’t expect them to come. How could they? It was so soon after the trial. They had to have already been here. But I know they couldn’t have been roaming these halls. Not him. Not after…” My jaw clenched. “ I would have seen him . I would have known or heard of his arrival. It makes no sense.” I cursed, rubbing against my eyes as I was transported back into the room.

I was pacing after skinning her. Insanity kept trying to steal me. I was foggy, a complete animal as I tried to determine where I wanted to start dissecting. I was covered in blood. My slacks were drenched. I had red stickiness all over every inch of me, and I wasn’t even sure how. The dripping as I kneeled to skin her legs? Melissa died somewhere in the process. I didn’t even know when the screams stopped.

I went back and forth, eating the floor with all the racing of my mind. And then I looked up, right at him. Blue eyes. They were slightly narrowed. So bright for us being so many feet away. Even in the shadows they seemed to radiate. And I knew. I knew as if he’d peeled back that hood to come and face me. But he didn’t. He didn’t say a word, and neither did I as I began hacking Melissa into as many pieces as I could. I really did go crazy in that moment.

“What did you see? Whose eyes were under that hood?”

My head shook, still not wanting to believe. And maybe I was wrong, but I didn’t think so. “He looked right at me. Blue eyes. My eyes. But it wasn’t me. It was him. My cousin. Why let Bram Whitlock on the Collective High Council? Why make him a leader amongst us? To best me? To throw it all in my face? To show me I’d never reach his status even if I made it to the Council? He failed Whitlock. Failed us. He’s a risk. Why give him the right to make any sort of decision concerning our circle?”

“Bram Whitlock?” Dr. Almer mumbled. “Really? Your cousin, on the Council? I’ll be damned. The former Whitlock Main Master. He failed…but he did it for love. Everyone knows that.”

I was catapulted back to my conversation with the Council. “Answer this for us, Main Master. What means more to you in this moment? Revenge or loyalty? Love…or duty?”

“Love,” I breathed out. Was that Bram I was talking to the entire time? This entire time? He had said he was new. Did he know what I’d done for him and Everleigh? The connections I sent their way so they could conceive an heir? Something about that only made me angrier. It wasn’t for him; it was for the circle . For…the good of all of us.

“Balance,” Dr. Almer bellowed, nodding as if he’d just solved the hardest puzzle in the world. “They brought him in for balance. It makes sense. It’s a good choice.”

“It’s a horrible choice,” I ground out. “Or.” My mind raced. The room tilted as schemes and possibilities flooded in. The idea wasn’t new. It wasn’t even bad, even if I wanted to hold to the thought that it was. But wasn’t that Melissa’s doing as well? For me to hate my cousin? “Maybe you’re right. The past is the past. We can’t change it. We have an auction coming up in a few weeks. I should offer him and his wife an invitation. After all, they’re back in the circle. In the fucking Council . Maybe they need my help. The Gardens might be perfect for them. What do you think, Dr. Almer? Should I reach out? Should I bury the hatchet with Bram?”

“I think it’s a brilliant idea, Main Master.”

His smile was genuine, but my question didn’t need an answer. Only a fool would take their eyes off the snake, otherwise you risked being bitten. Bram Whitlock was dangerous, but his wife was the one to watch. I needed them here. I needed them close. You couldn’t play chess without all the pieces, and in the eyes of our circle, Bram was the board. His name was foundation. It was power. To fight against his status was stupid. But I didn’t need to fight. I was smarter than them. I already had pieces in place, and when the time came they’d all come to see it wasn’t the board they had to depend on. It was the table. It was me.