59

59
CLARISSA DEVOR —

They didn’t take me back to the throne room after dinner.

Instead, they led me down a corridor lined with heavy wooden doors, each one shut tight with iron locks. The floorboards creaked under my boots, and the air grew colder with every step. I wasn’t sure if it was the temperature or just the weight of where they were taking me.

Karl strolled ahead like a man giving a house tour. “You’ll like your room,” he said without looking back. “It’s got a view.”

“I’d prefer one with a key,” I muttered.

He chuckled. “Oh, it has a lock. Just not on your side.”

When we reached the end of the hall, he stopped in front of the last door and gestured to one of the guards. The lock clanked, the hinges groaned, and I was ushered inside.

The “room” was bigger than I expected — high ceilings, a single narrow window with bars, a bed that looked far too clean for someone like Karl to provide without strings attached. The view, as promised, overlooked the city skyline… but from this height, it might as well have been a painting on the wall.

Karl stepped inside after me, hands in his pockets. “This is where you’ll be staying until I need you. I’d suggest getting comfortable.”

I crossed my arms. “Not much of a people person, are you?”

“I’m more of a results person,” he said, his voice losing its casual tone. “And I’ll get mine whether you cooperate or not.”

“That’s a dangerous way to think,” I said. “People who get too sure of their results tend to miss the little things.”

His gaze sharpened. “Like what?”

“Like the fact that you just put me in a room with a window.”

Karl smirked. “That window is thirty floors up. But if you want to try, I’ll let you. Might even film it for him.”

The guard snorted behind him.

I didn’t give Karl the satisfaction of reacting. “Then you’d better keep the camera ready,” I said, walking past him toward the bed. I sat down slowly, like I had all the time in the world.

He lingered in the doorway, studying me for a moment before speaking again. “You’ll have food twice a day. You’ll have light as long as I want you to have it. And you’ll have company whenever I feel like sending it.”

The implication in his voice was deliberate — and disgusting.

I met his eyes without flinching. “You try that, Karl, and you won’t have a plan left to run.”

His smile was thin this time. “Sleep well, Clarissa. Tomorrow, the real game starts.”

He turned and left, the lock snapping shut behind him.

I sat still for a while, listening to their footsteps fade. Only when silence wrapped itself around the room did I move. I walked to the window, gripped the cold bars, and looked down at the glittering city lights far below.

Thirty floors was a long way down. Too far to jump. Too far to climb without being seen.

But it was still a window.

And windows… could be opened.