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Fucked I was so very, very fucked

Chapter Fifteen

For obvious reasons, I’d never been to Monica’s chamber Nor had I ever met her I didn’t have to know her to fear her Plenty of kids were afraid of the boogeyman, and plenty of adults were afraid of God Monica fell somewhere in the middle

I had no idea what to expect when I met her Perhaps an old crone or a beautiful wouessed or suspected, it wasn’t what I was greeted hen Sig ledand clean with a large four-poster bed against one wall and a circular rug in the middle with a pastel flower print on it On a dresser next to the door was an enorhts The walls had been opened, and inside, all the s the corners of their roo on a chair in the far part of the rooht curly hair pulled into two puffy buns on either side of her head She couldn’t have beenon an intricately detailed cross-stitch Her speed was dizzying

When she looked up, I gasped

Her eyes hite, no iris or pupil, just the flat, e at us, but it was apparent she wasn’t seeing us Monica was coirl ss showed

"Ah, the Tribunal, together at last" Her voice had a sweet, childlike tone, but her words spoke of maturity and wisdom This was one freaky vampire It didn’t escape my notice that Juan Carlos’s bravado faded e entered the roo, on the other hand, crossed the distance froed strides, stooping over to kiss her ser every ti butter

Monica threw her head back and laughed, her tiny fangs gleaet your sins, Sigvard"

The only other person who’d ever called Sig by his human name was Calliope Apparently you had to be older than deet a pass on that one "I would never ask you to forget" He was saze What kind of secrets had she seen in his past?

Ones I probably didn’t want to know about

"You’ve broughtlooked toI should come I was happier next to Juan Carlos near the door, but it didn’t seem like this was an invitation sountil I was standing in front of her plush chair Her dark skin had a gold undertone,her seem war, likewas the only vampire who could produce an unnatural sense of cal it

"H-hello," I said, cursinghtened,honest, but I had a hard ti to sit around and shoot the shit over tea and scones I was here so she could bite me "Gentlemen, if you’d be so kind as to leave Tribunal Leader Secret and me alone" She used my official title, in spite of the fact she had about six thousand years on one in an instant Not a moment too soon for Juan Carlos, as already halfway out the door when she began to bid them farewell

"Have you ever bitten him?" I couldn’t help but ask once ere alone

"Juan Carlos? Heavens, no Would that I never have to, darling He reeks of dirty history, don’t you think?" She continued to work on her cross-stitch, her tiny fingers creating the ly small, detailed stitches Grandic up such fine work

"Did they tell you what they want to know about me?"

"Love, if they’ve sent you to me, it means they don’t knohat they want to know"

"I don’t understand Aren’t you like, the live-in polygraph?"

"Have you lied about anything?"

Had anyone ever specifically said, Hey, Secret, you don’t happen to be half-olf do you? No "Not…directly"

"By oed the thread on her needle and began to work on the scalelike feather pattern of a tiny hu, Secret Do you believe you have rights different from those of the rest of the council?"

"I don’t think I used to have any rights at all, let alone different ones" She was easy to talk to Distressingly so I’d been told she read the truth froet honesty fro?"

I looked around the roo to find, then I sat on the floor in front of her, cross-legged "No," I admitted

"But you earned it"

"I didn’t kill Daria because I wanted the seat"

"Reasons are inconsequential, sweet It is actions and their consequences that matter to me"

Actions and consequences That hy I was here after all Everything I did, noor s track Now the fallout of what I’d done was starting to catch up with o on forever and not have to face this day eventually

"I killed Daria so I could live"