Greymoor Academy: I Accidentally Bonded With Four Lycan Royals! novel Chapter 126

Chapter 126: 126. Quinlan II

Maisie

Her voice was dark and coaxing, pulling me along in a tale I could almost picture.

"I met Auguste then. He was one of her suitors. No. Actually. He was trying to get her out. He was trying to marry her. I thought he was an idiot. It was clear as day that it didn’t matter how much money you threw at Seraphine, it would never be enough for her. She was an addict. Addicted to the drugs. Addicted to the sex. Addicted to anything that drove her high. Eventually, he stopped trying."

She took another long drink. "And she fell pregnant." I thought I saw a slight tremor to her fingers. "For many months, she tried to get rid of it, but I suppose Quinlan was stubborn. And nine months later, she gave birth to him in that filthy place."

Violette shook her head. "The women there adored him. They cooed over him, fed him scraps, protected him when they could. But his own mother... she didn’t care. She left him unattended for days. Starving. Crawling under tables while men grunted and women moaned above him. Eating scraps off the floor like a stray dog."

My stomach twisted painfully.

Violette continued, voice quieter now. "I was barely surviving myself. But I couldn’t stand it. I started sneaking him food, cleaning him up, clothing him. He was so small. Mon Dieu. So terribly small. Every time someone spoke about getting him out to his father, Seraphine claimed not to know who he was. Between all the drugs and men, it wasn’t hard to believe, but I’d spent enough time hating on Auguste to know the boy was his. I just didn’t know how to contact him."

She inhaled deeply. "And one day I could not find Quinlan. I’d been engaged the entire day, and hadn’t been able to check on him. I searched the whole building."

The softness left her voice. "When I finally found him..." Her jaw tightened and murderous rage lit up in her eyes. "He was cornered in the dark. There was a man. He... he had his hands down Quinn’s pants."

The blood drained from my face and the glass in my hands cracked.

Violette stared into her drink.

"Quinlan was seven. He was quiet. So quiet. Like it wasn’t the first time."

For a moment neither of us spoke. The laughter from the kitchen sounded very far away.

"I killed him," Violette said calmly.

My eyes widened.

Violette shrugged one shoulder. "He stopped breathing long before I stopped hitting him, bleeding out all over the floor. I was arrested and tossed in jail for murder, and all I could think about was the fact that I had left that boy in that place."

Her fingers tightened around the glass. "Seraphine did not care."

My throat felt thick.

"She knew what was happening, how many times it had happened," Violette said. "In some ways, she encouraged it. Children were commodities in that place. Pretty children even more so."

I closed my eyes.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify