Chapter 24 The Oryssian Contract

Chapter 24 The Oryssian Contract
The sunlight in Ivy Heights always carried a strange chill, no matter how brightly it shone. After that night in the medical wing, every footfall on the marble floor sounded like the ticking of a clock, counting down to my end.

I still couldn’t fully process what I had seen. Leo, the fairy tale book, and the tear that escaped Julian’s eye. But in the Sanctum, there is no time for hesitation. This world does not stop for confused hearts.

Today marked the arrival of General Oryss, the most powerful military strategist from across the ocean. The contract he carried was enough to fund the Sanctum for the next decade. To Viveca, this contract was the ultimate judge—it would settle once and for all who reigned supreme over her stable of girls.

The main ballroom smelled of expensive tobacco and leather. We stood in a line—the Top 10 assets. I donned an emerald green gown, a creation by Vera; its hue was a stark reflection of the insidious venom now coursing through the veins of this estate. Beside me, Dominique was a statue of perfection in her white silk dress. But beneath her makeup, I could see the slight tremor in her hands.

The General arrived. He was an old man with scars on his face that looked like maps of the wars he had won. He was flanked by Viveca, who wore an arrogant smile, and Julian, whose eyes remained fixed straight ahead—avoiding any contact with me.

“General Oryss,” Viveca began, her voice as sweet as honey but as sharp as a razor. “I present to you my finest. Dominique has been our Rank 1 for two years. She is discipline and grace personified.”

Dominique stepped forward and bowed slightly, every movement honed by years of training. “It is an honor, General.”

But the General didn’t spare a glance for Dominique. His eyes, trained to distinguish true threats from true value, came to a halt on me.

“And who is this one?” the General asked, gesturing toward me with his cane. “The one with the mark on her neck that looks like it’s still bleeding?”

“That is Eris,” Viveca replied, her brow furrowing slightly. “A recent addition to the Top 10. She is… unconventional.”

The General approached me. I could feel Julian’s tension radiating from across the room. The old man tilted my chin upward, forcing me to meet his eyes. I didn’t blink. I didn’t show a flicker of fear. Instead, I met him with the same cold, soul-piercing gaze I had used on Prince Azrael.

“Unconventional,” the General repeated, breaking into a laugh. “I don’t need grace, Madame Viveca. I have enough of that in my court. I need fire. I need someone who looks like she can slit a throat while whispering a prayer.”

The General turned to Viveca. “I choose the girl in green. The Oryssian Contract will be hers to handle.”

The silence in the ballroom became deafening. I saw Dominique’s face flush a sudden, angry red. Her perfect mask was beginning to crack.

After the event, while the General and Viveca were signing documents upstairs, I followed Dominique to the Gilded Gallery. I found her in front of a massive mirror, but she wasn’t admiring her beauty. She was clawing at her own throat, her fingernails leaving jagged red welts against her pale skin.

“Dominique,” I called out.

She spun around, and for the first time, I didn’t see the formidable Rank 1. I saw a child lost in the middle of a storm.

“Do you know where I came from, Eris?” her voice was hoarse, thick with bitterness. “I was six when Viveca found me in an orphanage that smelled of piss and rot. She told me I was special. She told me that if I followed every rule, if I became the best, I would never have to be hungry again. I would never be ‘nobody’ again.”

She gripped the edge of the table, tears falling and ruining her perfect eyeliner.

“Ten years, Eris. Ten years of starving myself, of learning languages I hate, of sleeping with men who look like monsters—all for that number. Rank 1. I am nothing without that number! I don’t even know my real name! Viveca gave me ‘Dominique.’ She gave me this face! And now, you… you just walk in with your sad eyes and your silent defiance, and you take it all?”

“I didn’t take anything, Dominique,” I said, stepping closer slowly. “The General chose. This place is a cage, and that number is just a heavier chain.”

“No!” she screamed, sweeping the vases off the gallery tables. The sound of shattering porcelain echoed the sound of her identity splintering into pieces. “It’s my life! Without this, I am just the orphan in the rot again! I will not let you take the only thing that makes me real!”

In that moment, I felt a pang of pity. Dominique was the perfect product of the Sanctum—a woman who had erased her past for an identity that could be revoked in an instant. But pity was a luxury I couldn’t afford to maintain.

I returned to my quarters to prepare for my first dinner with the General. Upon entering, I found a small tray of chamomile tea waiting on my bedside table. There was a note attached: “For your nerves before the dinner. - Lulu.”

I was used to Lulu providing these small favors. I picked up the cup and raised it to my lips. The scent was sweet, but there was a strange, pungent spice at the back of my nose—a scent Julian had taught me to identify during our Chemical Defense training.

Oleander.

I set the cup down, my heart rate spiking. This didn’t come from Lulu. This poison was fast-acting, designed to paralyze the throat within minutes. I glanced toward the door and caught a shadow darting away. I didn’t have to guess who it was.

I carried the cup and stepped out of my room. I found Dominique at the end of the hallway, leaning against the wall as if she were waiting for the sound of my collapse. When she saw me walking toward her, her eyes widened in pure terror.

“Would you like a drink, Dominique?” I asked, offering the cup to her.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered, her voice trembling.

“In this house, the clients are predictable,” I whispered, pressing the warm cup against her cheek. “They want power, they want sex, they want secrets. But my ‘sisters’ here? You are the truly dangerous ones. Because you know how to kill without ever reaching for a gun.”

I poured the tea onto the floor, right at the tips of her shoes. The steam rising from it was a silent threat.

“The next time you try to kill me, make sure you don’t use a scent I already know. Julian taught me well, Dominique. He taught me how to spot a predator—even one wearing white silk.”

I left her standing there, shaking with rage and fear. But as I walked away, the weight returned to my chest.

Julian.

I owe him every survival instinct I have. The man who trained me to endure this world is the same monster keeping my brother trapped in a coma.

I went to Julian’s study before the dinner. I knew he would be there, alone, drinking his regrets. I entered without knocking. He turned, and for a moment, the wall between us vanished.

“Pearl,” he called out, his voice heavy with exhaustion.

That name… the endearment only he knew. It was a knife to my heart. Pearl. Because to him, I was still the treasure that needed to be hidden from the world.

“I saw him, Julian,” I said, staying by the door. “I saw Leo.”

Julian dropped his glass. The scotch soaked into the expensive carpet, but he didn’t care. He rushed toward me, his face full of terror—not for himself, but the fear of losing me all over again.

“Margo, listen to me—”

“I saw the book, Julian. I saw the equipment. I heard what you said to him.” I looked at him, my eyes blurred with tears. “Ten years. You let me live in hell for ten years, thinking I had no family left. Why? Why did you hide the truth from me?”

Julian grabbed my shoulders, his hands shaking.

“Because if you had known, you would have charged in! And if you had charged in then, Viveca would have killed you! Leo was the only thing I could save, Margo! He was my insurance… not for my power, but for your soul! I needed to make sure that if you ever came back, you had something to come back to!”

“But you became a monster too, Julian! You signed the reports! You let them inject him with those drugs!”

“To keep him under the radar!” Julian roared. “Viveca had to believe he was ‘useful’ as a subject, or she would have tossed him out like trash! I did what I had to do to keep his heart beating, Pearl. I became the devil so you could stay an angel, but I failed. Look at you… look at what this place did to you.”

He stroked the Black Rose on my neck, his touch filled with remorse. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that the only way to save the brother was to lose the sister.”

That was when I finally broke. I collapsed against his chest, my tears soaking into his shirt. In this fleeting moment, I wasn’t Eris. I wasn’t Rank 10. I was Margo, held by the very man who had destroyed and saved my world all at once.

“I’m losing myself, Julian,” I whispered. “I don’t even know who the enemy is anymore. Dominique… she tried to poison me earlier. Everybody wants me dead.”

“Not me,” Julian whispered, kissing the top of my head. “Never me. I will burn this entire Sanctum to the ground before I let anyone else touch you.”

But we both knew the truth. Viveca was watching. The General was waiting. And the Oryssian Contract was a trap we had to navigate.

“Go to the dinner,” Julian said, slowly pulling away. “Perform for the General. Win the contract. I will find the antidote formula, Margo. I will finish what I started. But you need to be Eris in front of them. Can you do that, Pearl?”

I wiped my eyes. The softness in my heart turned back to stone. The mask returned.

“I can,” I replied.

I walked out of his room, carrying the weight of our silent pact. I am Margo Valderama, and I am the Pearl in the heart of a monster.

Tonight, I will dance for the General. I will secure the contract.

And tomorrow? Tomorrow, I will make sure that every drop of poison they forced down our throats is returned to them—with interest.

Dominique thinks she is nothing without her rank.

Julian thinks he is a villain for my sake.

And Viveca thinks she owns us all.

They are all wrong.

Because a Pearl doesn’t just stay beautiful in the dark. In the right hands, it can be a bullet.