The wet cracking sound that punctuated the explosion of pain was so loud, my eardrums throbbed. There was a dim moment of blackness, and when I came to again, I was bent over, my face toward the floor. I could taste the blood as it welled into my mouth from my re-split lip, and I spat it out on the floor.

Coughing, I sat back up and glared at my attacker. “Who taught you how to hit?” I said, baring my teeth at her.

She just grinned in that calm, eerie way and raised her hand for another blow.

I braced myself, but kept my eyes on hers, trying not to convey my fear as her hand came down.

She hit harder than anyone I had ever come up against, and that was with an open hand. There was something going on with her—she was insanely strong, but slim. Lithe even. There was nowhere for her to hide muscle, so then how was she hitting me so hard?

As I came to from her latest blow, I rocked my jaw back and forth, making sure it wasn’t broken. Whoever she was, she was good at controlling her blows.

She also liked to change up the location of her hits. My entire body throbbed from her attention, and I was pretty certain she had broken a few of my ribs. I spat more blood on the floor, and slowly sat up.

Instantly a wave of dizziness overcame me, and I doubled over as my stomach heaved. I definitely had a concussion.

I rotated my head and looked at the second twin, who was calmly sitting on the table, her legs crossed, her head angled up at the ceiling.

“Don’t you want a turn?” I asked, and her head swiveled, her blue eyes coming to rest on me. She gave me a small, tight smile.

“No,” she replied. “I don’t think that I would.”

The first twin grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and hauled me back up. I hissed with pain and glared at her.

“You’re mine, pretty Patrian boy,” she declared, running a finger down my cheek. I flinched away, shooting her a disgusted look.

“You can feel free to hit me all you want, but please don’t do that again,” I stated.

The twins exchanged a look, and the one hovering at me let out a choked laugh. “This one is feisty,” she declared.

I grimaced, and spat more blood on the floor. Just what I needed—a psychopathic fan with a mean left hook.

“Listen, ladies,” I coughed, drawing their attention back to me. “We haven’t been properly introduced. My name is Viggo Croft.”

“We know,” chimed in the one from the table, and I felt annoyance radiate off me.

“Yes. I know that you know,” I replied. “But I would very much like to know your names.”

The two exchanged looks and fell silent for a moment. I took the opportunity to breathe, trying to calm my stomach and keep from vomiting all over the twins of terror.

“Why should we tell you?” asked the one over me.

I shrugged. “Why not? I’m chained to a chair, completely at your mercy. Odds are, you’re going to get bored, or tired of me soon, and then I’ll be dead.”

There was another silent moment, another reprieve from the blows that kept coming, and it was a welcome one. I knew that trying to draw them into conversation was a risky move, but I didn’t have any other options available at that moment. Maybe if I kept them talking, an opportunity would present itself.

“That is illogical,” said the one perched on the table.

I squinted at her. “How do you mean?”

She gave a little shrug, her face neutral. “You have no need for our names because you’re right, we are going to kill you soon.”

I gave a little sigh. “Yet, what harm will it do?”

“You could escape.”

Her sister’s head whipped around to regard her. “Excuse me? You think this little Patrian male could escape us?”

The twin shrugged again. “It’s not outside the realm of possibility. It is likelier, however, that he will die here, but it is best to remain cautious.”

The first twin laughed outright. “Who’s going to stop us, sister mine? Ms. Dale is completely loyal, and if this Violet girl shows her face, I’ll crush it.”

The second twin tsked, and smoothed the front of her uniform. “We have no idea where Violet is or what tricks she has up her sleeves.”

“But you can’t seriously think that anything she has can contend with us.”

“We’re not exactly immune to bullets, sister.”

The first twin scoffed and turned on her heel to face me.

I offered her a bloody grin. “So you and your sister fight a lot?”

She paused, drawing her brows up in confusion at my change in topic. “We disagree from time to time.”

I nodded. “That happens with family.”

The second twin smiled. “You have no idea.”

The first twin lifted her hand for another blow.

“Hey, before you hit me, I was just wondering about something.”

She lowered her hand, huffing in irritation. “What?” she snapped, folding her arms across her chest.

“What would you do if I could prove Violet was innocent?”

The twins exchanged mirrored looks. “What do you mean,” asked the one on the table.

“Well, I’m fairly confident that Violet did not kill Queen Rina.”

The one in front of me seized my shirt and picked me and the chair off the floor, hauling me up to eye level. I squirmed, my hands gripping the sides of the chair and looked over at the floor that I was dangling over.

She held me up, her face red and eyes bulging with rage. “Don’t you dare utter her name, you filthy arrogant Patrian,” she shouted, spittle flying.

She shook me for good measure, before flinging me away. I impacted with the wall hard, sliding down it into a heap on the floor. It took me a few seconds to clear the shock and stars from my eyes.

When I did, I realized I was lying face down, blood trickling from a fresh cut on my forehead and with my ribs on fire.

I tried to get on my feet, but the chair I was still secured to was limiting my movements. I gave a low groan, and rotated my head back over to the twins.

The one who had thrown me was shouting at me. I couldn’t make it out—it felt like cotton had been stuffed in my ears—but the second twin was blocking her from me, holding her back.

I watched as the second twin pushed the first back, making soothing motions with her hands. The second twin slammed her fist into the table, and I gaped as the metal bent and buckled under her fist. I couldn’t even do that.

Nor could I throw a grown man tied to a chair into a wall. Whatever I was dealing with—it was like it wasn’t human, not anymore.

I groaned again, and the second twin walked over. I tried to look up at her, but I could only angle myself to see the tops of her knees. She knelt down, and I experienced a moment of weightlessness as she righted my chair.

It took me a moment to calm my nausea and focus. I was hurt and my vision was graying out. I could now hear snippets of their conversation as they talked over me.

“—your temper is going to—”

“He had no right—”

“—our sister’s orders—”

“—a liar, we should just—”

“—where she is—”

“—cares? I want to—”

“No!”

My mind drifted in and out of consciousness, but I clung to what I had seen and heard, piecing together the information. When it finally dawned at me, I started laughing.

The two stopped their bickering and turned toward me.

“You two…” I heaved, my breathing labored. “You’re the twins.”

The two stared at me, mirrored looks of confusion reflecting off their faces.

“The twins. The twins!” I emphasized. They exchanged looks and I sighed. “You’re the daughters of the queen. Her twin daughters. What… Third and fourth in line of succession?”

“How could you know that?” one of them hissed, and I recognized her as the one who had been hitting me.

I chuckled, my ribs aching. “You told me in everything you did,” I heaved, a smile playing on my lips. “In how mad you got when I mentioned the queen’s name. In your argument. In how you comport yourself.”

The first twin’s face watched me passively. “That’s a lot to assume, with just pieces of information,” she stated calmly.

I nodded my head toward her sister. “She just confirmed it,” I replied dryly.

The second sister’s head swiveled around and she shot her sister a look of warning. She then turned her gaze back to me. “It doesn’t matter that you know who we are. You’re going to be dead soon.”

I shrugged. “What are your names again? I had them memorized, but I’ve forgotten them. It’s like… Elena, Tabitha, Sarah and Mara?”

“Selina and Marina,” hissed the second twin, her eyes flaring.

I gave her a smile. “Sorry. You have a lot of sisters. Are all of them as freakishly strong as you are? Also, which is which?” The twins remained silent, and I shrugged. “I guess I’ll just pick one. You, calm one—you’re Marina, and the angry one is Selina.”

The angry one rolled her eyes. “I’m Marina, you do it.”

I shrugged again. The edges of my vision were going dark—I was going to be unconscious again soon. “I don’t think it really matters at this point,” I slurred. “All that matters is you hear me out about Violet before you kill me.”

Selina squatted down in front of me, her eyes flicking all over my face. “Your left pupil is blown,” she observed. “You’re losing consciousness.”

“You think,” I snapped back sarcastically. “I was thrown into a wall, and Marina did a pretty good number with her super strength.”

I yawned then, suddenly feeling very tired.

“Should we repair the damage, Marina?”

“Why? He’s not going to tell us where the girl is. He’s also too smart—look how he figured out who we were.”

“I warned you he was observant,” came a voice from the door.

I angled my head toward the door to see Ms. Dale leaning against it, her arms across her chest.

“Melissa,” chided Selina, stepping over to the older woman. “You need your rest. I told you we would handle this.”

“Don’t speak to me as if I were a child, Selina,” said Ms. Dale, her eyes widening. “I trained you both for years. Just because you aren’t in my class anymore, doesn’t mean you get to act like you are superior.”

Marina huffed. “We are superior,” she declared, flopping down heavily on the table.

Ms. Dale smile. “Oh really?”

Without any warning, she pulled a gun out and shot Selina square in the chest. Marina roared, and rose to her feet, but Ms. Dale calmly angled the gun toward her, and pulled the trigger twice.

I flinched, expecting a loud bang, but the gun only emitted a hissing pop.

“What was that?!” I wheezed, my voice thick and heavy.

Ms. Dale crossed over, and pressed something against my neck. Instantly my heart beat increased, and I felt a surge of energy. I sat up, instantly aware.

“What was that?”

She held up a patch with a red cross through it. “Adrenaline,” she replied, taking a step back.

I frowned deeply at her. “What are you doing?”

“Look, I don’t know how long those tranquilizers will last, and I need to talk to you, Patrian.”

“My name is Viggo, Melissa,” I grated out. “And fine, you want to talk? Release me from my cuffs, and let’s go.”

“No. I’m going to talk first, and then you’re going to dart me.”

“Won’t they remember?”

She shrugged. “Unlikely. The tranquilizer has an effect on short term memory. I’m not sure how long it will keep them out though.”

“What are they?”

She shook her head. “That’s not what I’m here to talk about. Are you willing to listen?”

I looked at the two women lying unconscious on the floor. “Okay. Talk.”