All Chapters of THE KILLER THAT CLAIMED ME: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The halls of the Valak estate were usually a vacuum of sound.It was always so very silent.Like it had been designed to swallow the secrets of the men who walked them. But as I rounded the corner near the service entrance to the kitchens, the silence was broken by the sharp, rhythmic clatter of silverware.There was also the little laughter and conversation of unseen voices of the female house staff.I slowed my pace, my hand and ears hovering near the cold stone wall. Usually, the staff fell silent when I approached, their eyes dropping to the floor in a practiced display of the "Bane Protocol." But they didn't hear me this time. The thick velvet rug muffled my footsteps, and the door to the pantry was propped open just enough to let their words leak out."Did you see the ugly dress she wore yesterday?" a voice sneered. I recognized it immediately. It was Sofia. The same girl who had brought me chamomile tea with a look of faux-sympathy. "She thinks she’s a queen because the

The shadows in my room had grown long and skeletal, but I didn’t mind it much. I was too exhausted to even bother. I hadn't moved from the chaise lounge in hours. I was still wearing the dress I had on in the kitchen but now it had the microscopic red speck of blood on the hem. I couldn't bring myself to touch it, let alone change out of it. It felt like a second skin made of my own shame. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard the SNAP of the leather. I saw the way Sofia’s skin had puckered and split and I saw the raw, primal terror in Maria’s eyes. It was the same terror I had carried since the day I met Raul, and since the night he was killed. I had become the thing I hated. I had used a weapon to silence a voice. A soft, rhythmic knock sounded at the door. I didn't answer. I didn't want to see Sofia’s replacement. I didn't want to see the new, sharpened fear in the staff's eyes. "Amaya. Open the door." It was Regina. I didn’t want to see her

The morning air was chilly, the cool breeze biting at the exposed skin of my arms as I stood on the secluded archery range at the far edge of the estate. I wore a thick pair of fitted black trousers and a structured tunic. My hair was pulled back into a tight, unforgiving braid. I needed to focus. The encounter with Bane in my bedroom had left me rattled, my skin still humming from the near-touch.My mind was still a chaotic mess of Regina’s "lessons" and my own surging adrenaline. On top of that, I missed Nathaniel.I felt like I was losing my grip on the reality of who I was. Learning to shoot a bow felt like a clean way to reclaim my focus. It was silent. It was precise. It was the only thing that I had control over right now . I lifted the recurve bow, my muscles straining as I pulled the string back to my ear. My aim was shaky but I released, and the arrow hissed through the air, thudding uselessly into the outer ring of the hay-stuffed target.I missed.Damn it!! "Yo

The garden had become my only sanctuary. It was the only place I could have any semblance of privacy even if the air was thick with Bane’s expensive surveillance. I was sitting on a stone bench near the lily pond, a sketchbook open in my lap, though I hadn't drawn a single line. My mind was too busy dissecting the cold, jewel-encrusted wall Bane had built between us. I also hated the fact that I was finding it increasingly difficult to get him off my mind. "Hello, Little Bird. looks like you’re contemplating a flight to the coast," a voice said, light and familiar. I looked up, my heart skipping a beat. Nathaniel was standing near a trellis of climbing jasmine, looking remarkably handsome in a dark navy sweater and gray trousers. He looked sun-kissed, his eyes bright with a spark that was entirely missing from the rest of the inhabitants of this house. "Nathaniel!" I stood up, the sketchbook sliding to the grass. "You’re back. I thought... I wasn't sure when the 'Gho

I stood in the center of the garden, the scent of jasmine suddenly cloying, like the smell of a funeral. My eyes were fixed on the spot where Nathaniel’s hand had been resting on hers. It was a casual, intimate touch that felt like a hot iron pressed against my throat. How could he do this?! I wanted to break him. I wanted to reach out and snap my nephew’s wrist just to remind him whose mark was on this girl. But the Valak in me, the one who had could not bring harm to my own family, held my hands steady at my sides. I could be over thinking it. I had to be. Right? "Are you having fun making new friends, Amaya?" I asked. My voice was a flat, dead thing after Nathaniel left. There was no emotion and definitely no edge. Just the sound of a man checking a ledger. Amaya looked up at me, her eyes searching my face for the explosion she suspected was coming. "I... I’m fine, Bane. We were just talking." "Good." I didn't look at her again. I couldn’t bring myself to. "The