FreeNovel
Chapter 0334
Hours passed.
Many items were brought to Veronica. Everything from necklaces to teacups to feathers and books.
With only a passing glance from her, each item was quickly dismissed.
The latest item, a stone found in an odd place in the hallway, was handed to Veronica.
“There’s no magic in this,” she said and handed it back to the guard who had delivered it. He slumped
his shoulders as he left the room to return to his search.
Night turned to day and then night again. None of us slept.
When every inch of the bedroom had been searched, everyone moved out into the hallway and
beyond. Last I’d heard, Nicholas was turning the entire palace upside down.
The doctor had been in and out. She’d administered more medicine, but nothing was working. Elva was
growing weaker.
Just then, Nicholas burst through the door. In his hands was the dagger that had nearly taken my head
off, the one Jane had thrown at me in the hallway. He walked to Veronica and
presented it.
She didn’t even pick it up. “I’m sorry.”
He deflated instantly, and I saw the heavy bags under his eyes. He hadn’t slept either, and
looked all the worse for it.
In the next moment, Julian burst into the room in the same manner as Nicholas had. In his hand was a
bag of flour from the kitchen.
When I looked at it curiously, he said, “Maybe it was the cookies. But since she ate those, we have to
go to the basics.”
“I’m not sure Jane would have an emotional attachment to flour,” Nicholas said.
“We’ve tried everything else,” Julian said. “Maybe it’s a fond childhood memory or something.”
“Bring it here,” Veronica said.
Julian did as she asked. She held the bag of flour and closed her eyes. We all held our breath. A
moment later, she shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Da mn it,” Julian cursed.
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The rest of us exhaled.
I stood up from my chair and came to stand beside Nicholas and Julian. As I drew closer to them, I
noticed that they looked even more tired than they had at a distance.
“You need rest,” I told both of them.
“No way,” Julian said.
“I’m not giving up,” Nicholas said.
“Jane has been all over the palace,” Julian said. “It could be anything. We just need to find something
that wasn’t here before.”
Nicholas nodded. “We’ll continue our search.”
Julian turned, eager to restart the hunt. Nicholas lingered a moment longer.
His hand touched my arm. “You tell us to rest, but you are the one who needs sleep, Piper. You look
ready to fall over any minute.”
“So do you.”
Nicholas leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Just try to rest. For me?”
I couldn’t, but when he put it like that, I couldn’t exactly refuse. I would sit on my chair and watch Elva. I
wouldn’t close my eyes, but I could at least rest my bones by not pacing.
“I’ll try,” I said.
He leaned in and kissed my ear. “Good girl,” he whispered there.
The praise warmed me. I liked having his approval, even when all I was agreeing to do was to try to
take care of myself.
Nicholas left me then, following Julian out the door.
True to my word, I returned to my chair and sat to rest my body.
Veronica stood at the end of the bed, diligently watching Elva. After a moment, I felt her gaze slide to
me.
“What is it?” I asked. I was learning that she only let her gaze wander if she wanted or noticed
something.
“Jane is your twin, is she not? And you believe fully that she is the one who created the curse?”
Veronica asked.
“Yes,” I said, answering both questions.
“Then as her twin, you know her best,” Veronica said.
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I lowered my gaze. “We’ve been estranged many years. I don’t know what she values anymore. And,
seeing how she is now, it’s likely whoever she was before wasn’t real.”
Veronica hummed. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The underground can be tempting… especially to
a girl who feels lost. They make promises to lure you in, and then keep changing the end goal to keep
you constantly on the h ook.”
Watching her, I knew she spoke from experience. Her eyes glossed over a little, and I
imagined she was trapped in a place far away, alone as a little girl.
“They… brainwash you and make you see the world differently. But… they can never quiet
reach the same emotion as the memories of your childhood.” 1
She shook her head, and seemed to awake from her own memories. “No, even if Jane cared
passionately about their cause, it’s unlikely she could attach the same level as emotion to something
from her time with the underground as she could with something from her youth.”
But if that were true, then…
“I knew Jane best when we were children. At least I thought I did,” I said.
“Yes,” Veronica said. “That seems likely.”
“So… I should know what she used for the talisman?”
“Yes. Or at least, where she might have hidden it.”
What Veronica was saying was sound, so I tried to think about our time as children. It was painful now,
to remember how close I thought we were, when Jane was only feeling anger and resentment. If I had
known then, I could have talked to her. We could have worked it out.
Now, it was much too late. She was cursing my child and trying to kidnap the man I most admired and
attempting to kill me. There could be no redemption for the woman she was now.
“It’s hard to remember,” I said. “I keep seeing her as she is now.”
“She wasn’t always this way,” Veronica said. “Did she ever have pigtails?”
I thought back. “Yes.” Pigtails and scraped up knees, and a gap between her two front teeth.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThough we were twins, she stayed in my shadow, shy when I was bold.
When we were teenagers, everything began to change. Jane acted out, while I stayed in the lines. She
was rebellious. She hated authority. She called me a goody two-shoes.
No, I reminded myself. I needed to go back further.
Before Jane was a monster, before she was a furious, rebellious teen, she was just a little girl.
“Siss y,” Jane had called me. “Do you know what this is?” She handed me a hand-woven
“Is it for me?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Did
you make it?” I asked.
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She nodded again.
“I love it!” I took it from her. “Help me tie it.”
She did, tying the bracelet around my wrist.
“Do you know what it means?” she asked.
“What?”
“It means we’ll be friends forever.”
I laughed. “We don’t need a bracelet to tell us that. You are my sister.”
Jane had rubbed her hands together. “Yeah, but the bracelet makes it official!”
To my child brain, that had made perfect sense. “Yes, of course.”
“Did you think of something?” Veronica asked now, returning me to the present.
“No…” I turned my head.
It couldn’t be that bracelet. When she started straying from me, I had confronted her, showing her the
bracelet and giving her a heartfelt plea. “We’re friends forever.”
She’d snatc hed the bracelet from my hands and held it above her lighter.
I had watched it burn.
Jane had snarled, her voice echoing in my head, “You’ve never been my friend.”
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