The Twin's Poisoned Betrayal

You've been draining my heart's blood every month just to keep her alive?

I stood in the entryway.

Norman Stephens's briefcase was still in my hand, the one he'd left by the door that morning.

The strap bit into my palm.

It didn't hurt much.

On the sofa, the woman went still.

She held a mouthful of medicine, a smear of crimson at the corner of her lips.

I knew that smell.

It was mine.

Norman's hand jerked hard.

The white porcelain bowl knocked against the woman's teeth with a bright little clink.

He turned his head.

The instant he saw me, his face went white as paper.

"Jill Finley."

He stood up on instinct, putting himself between me and the woman.

The stance of a man shielding what he'd protect at any cost.

I looked at the face that was exactly like mine.

...

Corinne Finley, who had fallen into the snake pit ten years ago.

My twin sister.

She wasn't dead.

Not only alivekept, pampered, in this multimillion-dollar villa by my own husband.

Living off my life to hold on to hers.

"Jill, let me explain."

Norman took a step forward.

Then stopped.

As if he feared that the moment he moved away, I'd lunge past him and strangle the woman behind him.

I dropped the briefcase on the floor.

A dull, soft thud.

"Explain what."

I looked at him.

"Explain why you lied and told me it was to suppress the love hex?"

"Or explain how many years you've been keeping her?"

His throat bobbed.

Before he could speak, Corinne coughed softly on the sofa.

The sound was faint.

Like porcelain that would shatter at a touch.

"Jill."

She said my name.

With a kind of weakness that still looked down on me.

"Don't blame Norman."

"My body's just too frail. I can't take the cold up here in the north."

"He only did it to save us both, sister."

I looked at her.

Save.

Use my heart's blood to save her.

"Shut your mouth."

My voice was level.

Nothing rose or fell in it.

Corinne's eyes went red at once.

She flinched, shrinking back into the corner of the sofa.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you hate that I didn't hold on to you back then."

"But I really didn't mean for it to happen."

Norman's face darkened in an instant.

He turned and patted Corinne's shoulder, soothing her.

When he looked back at me, there was blame in his eyes.

"Jill, that's enough."

"Corinne is your own sister."

"Back in the highlands, if she hadn't drawn those snakes away from you, you'd be the one who died."

I stared at Norman.

It was absurd.

Ten years ago, it was Corinne who pushed me toward the snake pit to steal the sacred heir title.

I climbed out on my own.

And she was the one whose foot slipped and sent her down.

Now, in Norman's mouth, it had become her shielding me from disaster.

"Is that what she told you?"

I asked Norman.

"It's the truth."

Norman frowned.

"Corinne's constitution was ruined in that pit. She took a cold venom into her."

"There's a spirit of the Golden Silkworm hex in your heart's blood. You're the only one who can save her."

"I'm your husband. I won't stand by and let you carry the name of an ingrate."

He said it with such righteous conviction.

As if draining my blood was atoning for my sins.

I pushed up my left sleeve.

There was a red thread of blood across my wrist.

The mark of the love hex.

"Norman, I'm the one carrying the love hex."

"My heart's blood is my one fatal weakness."

"You've drawn it once a month. For three years."

"Do you have any idea how many months I have left to live?"

Norman's eyes flickered away.

They quickly hardened back into that same matter-of-fact coldness.

"The doctor already said it."

"Your blood regenerates fine. You won't die."

"Corinne's different. Cut off her supply and she's gone."

Behind him, Corinne gave a light tug at the hem of his shirt.

"Norman, let it go."

"If my sister doesn't want to, I'd rather just die."

"Give her back her life."

As she spoke, the tears fell in fat drops.

Norman grabbed her hand and gripped it in his.

"Don't talk nonsense."

"As long as I'm here, no one gets to let you die."

He turned his head and fixed his eyes on me.

Looking at me like I was a stranger throwing an unreasonable fit.

"Jill, stop this. She's your own sister. Losing a little blood isn't going to kill you."

"It won't kill me?"

I stayed where I was.

Slowly, I began to unbutton my coat.

One.

Two.

The coat slid to the floor.

Underneath was a thin silk blouse.

I pulled the collar open.

Below my collarbone, right over my heart.

The skin there was a mass of needle holes.

New wounds layered over old ones.

In some places the skin had scabbed over hard and dark purple; in others, a yellowish fluid was still weeping out.

Three years. Thirty-six times.

Every time, the thickest needle, driven into the same spot.

Norman's eyes went to that patch of skin.

His pupils flinched.

He turned his face away.

Wouldn't look.

"I already told Dr. Finch to use as fine a needle as he could."

His voice was a little dry.

But he didn't stop.

"Corinne's still short on her dose this month."

"Since you're here, we'll take the blood today."

I looked at him.

And laughed.

"And if I say no?"

Norman's face turned to ice.

"Jill, don't make me use force."

He took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Dr. Finch, bring your things up. Second floor."

Corinne sat on the couch.

Staring at the needle marks on my chest.

Something she couldn't quite hide flickered in her eyes. Satisfaction.

Tears washed it away fast enough.

"Does it really hurt that much, sis?"

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

"If I hadn't drawn the snakes away from you back then, I'd be the one suffering now."

I walked over.

Stopped in front of the couch.

Norman went rigid at once, watching me the way you'd watch an enemy.

"You know exactly how you fell down there."

I looked at Corinne.

"You tried to steal the sacred heir's place and failed. The hex turned on you."

"That cold venom in your body is the highlands punishing you."

The color drained from Corinne's face.

She grabbed Norman's arm hard.

Her nails dug into his flesh.

"She's lying, Norman."

"She just doesn't want to save me."

Norman pulled her in against him.

"Don't be afraid. I believe you."

The doorbell rang.

Dr. Finch came in carrying his medical case.

When he saw me, he froze for a second.

Then lowered his head.

"Mr. Stephens. Ma'am."

"Draw the blood."

Norman didn't waste words.

Dr. Finch opened the case and took out that thick syringe I knew far too well.

I stepped back.

Norman came straight over and seized my wrist.

His grip was strong.

I couldn't break free.

"Norman, I didn't take the heart-guard elixir today."

I looked into his eyes.

"Draw it now and I'll go into shock."

Norman frowned.

He turned to Dr. Finch.

Dr. Finch pushed his glasses up.

"Mr. Stephens, ma'am is genuinely weak, but two hundred milliliters should still"

"You hear that?"

Norman cut him off and turned back to me.

"You won't die."

He pressed me down onto the couch.

Corinne was sitting right beside me.

Close enough that I could smell that rotting, medicinal scent on her.

Dr. Finch came over.

An alcohol swab wiped across my chest.

Cold.

Piercing.

The instant the needle went in.

I bit through my lip.

My blood was drawn out, little by little.

My vision started to blur.

In my ears was the faint hum of the machine.

And Corinne's held-back breathing.

When it was done.

Dr. Finch pulled the needle out.

I didn't even have the strength to sit up. I slid straight to the floor.

The floor was cold.

Norman carried the freshly drawn blood off toward the kitchen.

A dozen or so minutes passed.

He came back out with a bowl of steaming broth.

Crouched in front of me.

Held the bowl to my lips.

"There now. Drink it."

His voice had gone gentle again.

Like a devoted husband.

"Dr. Finch said your blood's been low lately, so I added ginseng, just for you."

"Drink it, and next month we won't draw any."

I looked at that bowl of broth.

Brown liquid, my ghost-white face reflected in it.

I didn't open my mouth.

"Last month, you said the same thing."

"Jill, why do you always have to be this stubborn?"

Norman sighed.

He set the bowl down on the coffee table.

"I said I wouldn't draw next month, so I won't."

"Corinne's cold venom is almost under control. One more hex-extraction procedure and she'll be fully cured."

I kept my eyes shut.

I didn't want to look at that hypocrite's face.

Norman stood up.

"Rest here. I'll see Dr. Finch out."

His footsteps faded.

The door closed.

It was just me and Corinne in the living room now.

I braced myself against the edge of the couch and slowly sat up.

I slid my hand into my pocket and found my phone.

I wanted to call Granny in the highlands.

Granny was the only one in the enclave who knew the secret of my fate-bound hex.

My fingers had barely touched the screen.

A pale hand reached over and pressed down on the phone.

Corinne.

I didn't know when she'd come to stand in front of me.

Nothing left of the half-dead frailty from before.

She looked down at me from above.

A mocking little smile at the corner of her mouth.

"Looking for that old woman?"

Her other hand pulled something out of her pocket.

She tossed it onto the coffee table.

A small carved black wooden jar.

My pupils shrank.

That was the protective hex vessel Granny had left me.

I'd always kept it in the safe in the bedroom.

Corinne picked up the ashtray from the coffee table.

She smashed it down hard on the wooden jar.

The jar cracked apart.

A shriveled, dead black worm rolled out of it.

"Is this what you're after?"

She laughed.

"Norman handed it over to me a long time ago."

"He said keeping something that disgusting around would scare me."

I stared at the dead worm.

Something clamped hard around my heart.

This was what Granny had left me to keep me alive.

Destroyed, just like that.

"What is it you actually want?"

I looked at Corinne.

"What do I want?"

She sat back down on the couch and unhurriedly smoothed her skirt.

"Jill, you've taken my place for three years. Still not satisfied?"

"The one Norman loves has always been me."

"If I hadn't been poisoned back then and needed your blood, do you really think he'd have married you?"

I said nothing.

The wound on my chest throbbed.

Corinne leaned in a little.

Lowered her voice.

"And the love hex you're carryingdo you think that was an accident?"

My head snapped up.

Corinne's smile only widened.

"I cast it."

"Norman handed you the water laced with the hex eggs himself."

"He said the only way to keep you willing to be my walking blood bank was to control you with the love hex."

A chill shot up from the soles of my feet all the way to my head.

I was shaking all over.

Three years.

All that tenderness.

All that fussing over whether I was warm enough, whether I'd eaten.

All of it a con to drain me dry.

I swung my hand up and struck at Corinne's face.

My wrist was caught midair.

Norman had come back, I didn't know when.

He clamped down on my wrist and flung it away with force.

I crashed into the coffee table.

Glass shattered across the floor.

Shards drove into my palm.

"Jill! Have you lost your mind?"

Norman roared.

He pulled Corinne into his arms and anxiously checked her face.

"Corinne, are you okay?"

Corinne's tears burst out at once.

"Norman, I only wanted to apologize to my sister"

"She won't forgive me, and now she's trying to hit me."

Norman turned his head, his eyes cold as ice.

"Jill, you've disappointed me so much."

"Corinne gives in to you at every turn, and this is how vicious you are."

I looked at the two of them.

Blood dripped from my palm onto the floor.

One drop.

Two.

I didn't cry.

I just felt how absurd it had all become.

"Norman, you'll pay for this."

I looked into his eyes.

One word at a time.

Norman gave a cold laugh.

"My punishment is not curing Corinne sooner."

"Prep her for surgery."

Norman's voice came through the door.

Calm.

The kind of calm that decides who lives and who dies.

I lay on the freezing operating table.

Straps pinned my wrists and ankles tight.

This was the sterile surgical room in the basement of the mansion.

Dr. Finch stood under the surgical light in his mask, adjusting the machines.

The door swung open.

Norman came in pushing a wheelchair.

Corinne sat in it.

She'd changed into a clean white dress. Her face was still pale, but she couldn't hide the excitement in her eyes.

"Mr. Stephens, the hex-extraction procedure carries serious risk."

Dr. Finch glanced at the readings on the monitor.

"Your wife's condition is very poor. Forcing out her fate-bound Golden Silkworm hex could kill her."

Norman stood behind the wheelchair.

His hand rested on Corinne's shoulder.

Not a flicker of hesitation.

"Save Corinne."

"Put her under. Full anesthesia."

He looked at me.

There was even a trace of pity in his eyes.

"Jill, just go to sleep. It'll be over before you know it."

"Don't worry. Even after you're gone, I'll take care of the Finley family."

Corinne gripped Norman's hand.

Her voice trembled.

"Norman, she'll hate me."

"She won't get the chance."

Norman closed his hand over hers.

"Once the Golden Silkworm hex is inside you, your cold venom will be cured for good. Then we can start over."

I stared up at the surgical light on the ceiling.

Blinding.

Cold.

Dr. Finch came over with a syringe.

The needle went into my vein.

Cold fluid pushed into my blood.

"Ten. Nine. Eight..."

Dr. Finch was counting down.

Norman turned away, no longer looking at me.

The corner of Corinne's mouth curled with satisfaction.

"Three. Two. One."

I closed my eyes.

My breathing evened out.

The machine gave off its steady beeping.

"The anesthesia's taken effect."

Dr. Finch said.

"Begin."

Norman's voice.

The sound of the scalpel parting skin.

Faint.

But perfectly clear.

Because I hadn't been anesthetized at all.

Three days ago, when I sensed something wrong with my body, I'd swallowed the last clarity pill Granny left me.

Ordinary anesthetic had no effect on me whatsoever.

Wide awake, I felt the blade slice open my belly.

Blood ran out.

Dr. Finch used a retractor to spread the wound.

"Found it."

There was a thread of excitement in his voice.

"Mr. Stephens, the Golden Silkworm hex is dormant."

Norman stepped closer.

"Take it out. Careful. Don't hurt the hex."

I lay on the table.

Feeling the forceps push into my body.

They touched that sleeping little golden thing.

That was my fate-bound hex.

Bound to my blood.

The instant the forceps closed on the Golden Silkworm hex,

I snapped my eyes open.

The surgical light reflected in my pupils.

I silently chanted a line of the highland tongue.

The spell to awaken the Golden Silkworm hex.

The hex, quiet a moment before, suddenly thrashed with violent force.

Golden light flickered through flesh and blood.

"What's happening!"

Dr. Finch cried out, the forceps slipping from his grip.

The Golden Silkworm hex tore free of my body.

It didn't fly toward Corinne the way they'd expected.

Instead it became a streak of gold, shooting straight at Norman, who stood closest.

And bit down on the back of his hand.

Norman screamed.

He flung his hand back hard.

The Golden Silkworm hex spun once in the air and dropped neatly back into my palm.

Corinne shrieked.

"Norman!"

Dr. Finch stumbled backward in terror, knocking over the tray beside him.

Scalpels and gauze scattered across the floor.

Norman clutched the back of his hand.

Black-purple venom spread fast around the wound.

He stared at me.

His eyes full of disbelief.

"What's going on? Why wasn't she under?"