She’s not there, either, but I step outside anyway, then glance across the snow-covered lawn.
“Looking for me?” Mona calls.
“Have you seen Cadee?”
“Yeah, I saw her. She and Leela left in a limo about half hour ago.”
“Where did they go?”
She laughs. “You’re asking me? You’re the one who lives with her.”
I sigh and walk across the snow-covered lawn that spans the distance between our mansions. Not sure what I’m gonna say to Mona, but very sure I need to say something. She stares at me the whole time with a look of utter fascination on her face. She’s not smoking, but she is drinking. She’s got a bottle of Grey Goose sticking out of a mound of snow off to the side of her chair and a tray of shot glasses lined up on the table in front of her like she’s expecting company at any moment.
“What are you doing, Mona?”
She holds up a shot glass and smiles. “I’m doing… exactly what it looks like.” Then she downs it. Coughs. And then breathes out a long, “Ahhh. That burns,” in a throaty voice. “Want one?”
The chair across from her has a cover on it, so I pull it off and take a seat. “Sure. Make it a double.”
Mona laughs as she pours. One for her. Two for me. We down them at the same time, and then we both breathe out. I lean back into the cushions and look at her. “How are you, Mona?”
“Oh, I’m hanging in there. Living my best sex slave life, I suppose.”
I frown at this. “Is Dante mean to you?”
“Dante.” She laughs again, pours us each another shot. “No. He’s not the problem, is he? I’m the problem here.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighs and shakes her head at me. “We’re not supposed to be talking about it, Cooper. You should go home now.”
I want to ask her a million questions. And she must see this written all over my face because she puts up a hand before I can speak. “What’s done is done. The semester is over, New Year’s Eve is right around the corner, and then we’ll all make our little resolutions and be granted a fresh start, won’t we?”
I think about that for a moment.
“Go home, Cooper. It’s Christmas Eve. And if Cadee’s night is anything like mine—and why wouldn’t it be, hmm? We are both offerings, after all—then you should be preparing for that. Because you can bet money that Leela is preparing Cadee right now.”
I let out a breath. “Mona—”
“I’m not nearly drunk enough to talk about it.”
“But are we—”
“Go. Home. Cooper.”
I don’t move. So she does. She gets up, grabs her bottle of vodka, and leaves me there.
I don’t leave. Not right away. I sit there in the cold, freezing my ass off because I have no jacket until I see the Judge get in his car and pull out of our driveway. The Mayor just lives on the other side of our house, so he’s probably gone too. Just walked home instead.
It’s only four in the afternoon but the sun is already setting and the entire lake neighborhood, and college campus across the lake, feels gloomy and dark as a light fog drifts in.
A limo appears and I get to my feet because that’s Cadee and Leela.
I walk out to the driveway and wait for them to get out of the car. It takes more time than it should, and when Leela finally steps out first, I know she was talking about me.
“Cadee.” I reach for her as she slides out of the limo. “Can I see you for a moment?”
“Not now, Cooper,” Leela sighs. “She has to get ready for dinner.”
Cadee says nothing. She doesn’t even look at me. Leela reaches up and places her hand flat on Cadee’s cheek. I can’t decide if this is some twisted motherly gesture of love or just a creepy way of reminding Cadee that she’s a good, obedient girl.
“I’m not talking to you, Leela. In fact—” I suddenly remember who I am. “Get the fuck out of my face. I’m going to have a conversation with my Maiden.”
I hate saying that word. It makes me fucking sick. But Leela is nothing if not well trained, and it gets my desired result.
She stares at me for a moment, perhaps calculating how much power I have compared to her. She shakes her head at me. Like I just disappointed her. But she turns and walks away without another word.
Cadee lets out a long breath. “What do you want?”
“Why are you being like this?”
“Being like what?”
“A total fucking bitch.”
She points to herself. “I’m the bitch? Me? You moved out, Cooper. And you left me a note telling me to move home to the servants’ quarters at the end of the week. So here I am. Your loyal fucking servant. How can I serve you, my king?”
She bows mockingly.
“Hey, you’re the one who showed up. You own an inn with fifteen bedrooms, Cadee. If you don’t want to be here, leave.”
“Why would I leave now? I’m about to get everything I ever wanted.” I narrow my eyes at her, but she doesn’t wait for me to ask the obvious question. “I know who my true friends are now.”
“Yeah? Who’s that?”
“Well, not you. Not Mona. Not Ax. Not Lars. Not Isabella. Not any of you.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a whole lot of nothing there, Cadee.”
“Not true. I have Leela now. And she’s worth a hundred of you nobodies.” Cadee tilts her chin up. Daring me to do something. Say something. Just like she did that second day of summer rush when all the pledges got the rules. Then she laughs unexpectedly. “Come on, Cooper. You can’t possibly be mad because I’m better at playing the game than you are.” Then she laughs again. “Oh, my God. You’re threatened, aren’t you? Maybe even… a little bit jealous. Ho-lee shit. Cooper Valcourt stands before me in a state of… wanting. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this side to you before.” Then she shakes her head and pouts out her words. “It’s not a good look for you, my king.”
I don’t say anything back. There’s really nothing left to say.
Cadee Hunter came into this game knowing full well what she was getting into. And she’s in it so deep now, there’s really nothing else to do but play it forward.
“Are we done here, Christopher?”
I nod. “Yeah, Cadee. We’re fucking done here.”
I stay up in my room until Jack comes looking for me. He knocks on my door and pokes his head in. “Can I come in?”
I’m playing video games and don’t even look at him. “Looks like you’re already here.”
He walks over to my game console and turns it off.
“What the fuck?”
“I didn’t come up here to hang out, Cooper. We need to discuss things. The Huntingtons just arrived and we’re about to have dinner.”
“So?”
“Cooper, you have a legacy offering as your guest this year. There are protocols.”
I get a sick feeling about this. “What are you talking about?”
“She can’t sit at the table. You know this.”
“So… why is she here? I mean, if she’s not allowed to celebrate Christmas with us, why is she here? Why am I here? We could just go to the inn and celebrate Christmas with Ax.”