7

On Saturday, Father and I went to the Tanners’ for the matriarch’s eightieth birthday.

Beastkin weren’t allowed at events like this, so I left Silas at home.

At the party, I saw Daisy.

She’d been greeting guests with a bright smile, but the moment she saw me, her face went stiff.

After Father and I had presented our gift, I went over to Daisy.

“Where’s Reynard?”

She glared at me through gritted teeth. “You’ve got a nerve asking! If it weren’t for you, Reynard would never…”

“Daisy, do we actually have a problem with each other?”

She paused. “How should I know? You’re the one who’s got it in for me!”

I smiled. “I don’t have it in for you. I’ve got it in for Reynard.

“If you don’t believe me…”

I leaned in and whispered a few things in her ear.

After a long moment, Daisy said, half convinced, “I don’t believe he’d treat me like that.”

“Then let’s find out.”

When no one was looking, Daisy slipped me into the cellar where they kept Reynard.

The stink of blood and rot turned my stomach.

I pinched my nose. “Go in. And remember—don’t let him out.”

Daisy wrinkled her nose, pinched it shut, and picked her way into the cellar in her heels.

I followed quietly behind her.

We walked a long way before we reached the place they kept him.

He was chained by the neck like an animal, shut in a cage, filthy, utterly wretched.

I hid around the corner and stayed out of sight.

Reynard’s eyes were closed, the ears on his head drooping. If his chest hadn’t been rising and falling ever so slightly, I’d have thought he was dead.

“Reynard.”

Daisy called his name softly, twice.

He slowly opened his eyes. When he saw her, he came alive at once.

“Have you come to get me out?”

The chain rattled with his movements.

He was a wreck, but those eyes were still beautiful, and they fixed hungrily on Daisy.

Daisy looked down and said hesitantly, “I… I can’t get you out yet. My dad’s still angry.”

Then she quickly promised, “But trust me, I’ll get you out, I swear!”

Reynard thrust his hand through the bars. “Daisy, look at me. Please?

“I’m begging you, get me out of here. Like when you saved me from the pit.

“You were my savior then. Please, just look at me…”

Daisy clenched her teeth. She did exactly as I’d told her and never looked him in the eye, so his charm magic had nothing to work with.

She just kept saying the same thing over and over. Before long, Reynard couldn’t keep up the act.

He was sick of being forced to please strangers day and night. It was worse than being an animal.

And all of it, as far as he was concerned, was because Daisy had bought him.

“Daisy! I said get me out! I want out!”

His voice shot up, and he pounded wildly on the bars.

Daisy jumped. “I… I can’t, not right now…”

Reynard was furious. “Why not? Why not?

“You did fine at the pit, didn’t you? You went around borrowing money for me, didn’t you? So why can’t you now?

“Look at me! This is all your fault!”

Daisy went still. “You’re blaming me… But you’re the one who begged me to save you.”

Reynard gave up pretending. “If I’d known how much I’d suffer coming out with you, I’d have tricked anybody but you.

“It’s your own fault for being so easy to fool. My charm magic had barely even started working and you couldn’t wait to throw yourself at me. Just like Ivy.”

“Ivy… You tricked her too?”

At that, I stepped out from around the corner.

“Now you see it? He barely lifts a finger, and you come running—and all you get for it is the blame.”

Daisy turned to look at me, her eyes blurry with tears.

I patted her shoulder. “Go wait for me outside.”

“But…” She glanced uneasily at Reynard.

“It’s fine.”

Daisy went out, looking back every few steps. Soon it was just me and Reynard in the cellar.

He watched me, a little wary. “What do you want?”

“I’m curious. How did you get reborn?”

All the color drained from Reynard’s face.

I thought about it. “Let me guess. After I died, you went to Celia. But your charm magic didn’t work on her, did it? She must have kept her guard up the whole time. I was so good to you, and you still did that to me. Of course she was afraid you’d stab her in the back too.

“But a gift like yours would be wasted if nobody used it. Did she send you off to charm other people? Just like now?”

I looked him up and down. His filthy, ragged clothes couldn’t hide how broken his body was underneath.

At first I hadn’t even considered it. But seeing how numb he was now, I couldn’t help thinking it.

I gave a cold little laugh. “And in the end, when you were completely used up, her black wolf killed you just the way he killed me.”

“That’s not true! She was good to me, so good to me! You’re lying!”

Reynard’s eyes were bloodshot. He was shaking all over.

I tilted my head. “Then why were you so desperate for me to buy you?”

His face went blank, as if a dream had shattered.

“Ivy—Ivy!

“Why didn’t you pick me? Why?”

Tears and snot ran down Reynard’s face. “I know I was wrong, I really know it now. I want to be good to you. So why didn’t you pick me?

“Pick me again, please? I’ll love you properly this time, I’ll never lie to you again, Ivy.”

He lunged for me.

I stepped back, and he grabbed at empty air.

The chain around his neck snapped him short.

“I’ll give you one chance.”

“A chance at revenge.”