Page 78 of Forsaking All Others

“Outside. Evelyn’s killing Thorun.”

I shoot a hard look at Sona, who doesn’t seem surprised, and rise to follow the French woman as she grabs me by the arm and pulls me outdoors.

56

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me — a kissing competition?”

The director shrugs but doesn’t look apologetic at all.

“We need to do something about the ratings,” he says, raising his hands in a ‘what can you do?’ kind of way. “There are twelve women left, and so far there’s no clear favourite. You didn’t seem moved more than usual when we lost the Cuban and the Romanian last night, and your response when you heard about Thorun was underwhelming to say the least.”

I pause and consider my reaction. What was there to say about Dana and Alondra? Dana was a genius who would have made an excellent, cold, vampire wife and probably would have taken on the role I was offering very happily. Alondra was a dark-eyed, dark-haired beauty with absolutely no sense of humour, descended from a rich coffee family with dubious political links. I didn’t know either well, but I was saddened by their deaths, as I have been by all the women who’ve died on this show for me.

As for Thorun, I was more concerned than he knew. I thought she’d be safe inside the resort since some of the upcoming trials require contestants to eliminate a competitor in order to win. I’d honestly expected that someone would see Thorun as an easy mark on a challenge and their ticket to a win, and therefore leave her alone outside the trials. I’d been disappointed Evelyn had been the one to try to kill her, but I hadn’t been surprised Thorun was saved. Not at all. And I’m not staggered that she’s in the medical centre, traumatised by what had gone down. It’s not every day you have someone feed your hair into a spa filter to drown you, have to be virtually scalped to save your life, and then watch your attacker bleed to death from a blade wound to the neck.

I might not have shown it on camera, but I was particularly concerned when I’d heard the news. If she’d been killed today I would have had her death on my conscience because I’d concealed from her what the Life Token was and encouraged her to keep it secret. But the fact of the matter is that the Life Token, if we use it wisely, will save her and me. I’d been pondering the finer details of my strategy up until the attempt on her life today. Since then I’ve had to refine my plan. The Italian, thankfully, had unwittingly helped me finalise it.

“My response was commensurate with what you already know, Mr Dott,” I growl to the ridiculous little director. “The winner will be decided by the contestants, not by me. You know any one of them is perfectly capable of eliminating their rivals and winning my hand. Any one of them could be the one. Reading between the lines, though, I’d say your wheels are spinning in mud because Starlen’s gamble that killing off six women at once in Seville would get the viewers’ juices flowing didn’t pay off.”

“Correct,” he sighs, his shoulders slumping, “we misread the room. We thought viewers wanted more excitement, but they wanted more romance first. Torturing them all was also a mistake. Advertisers have fallen away in droves. We didn’t anticipate that response. The producers need to claw back ratings and, by extension, advertising revenue.”

“And given that you lost another two last night, and Evelyn was eliminated today, you don’t want to lose any more competitors for the time being, so instead you’ve come up with this fucked-up plan.”

“Yes,” he pushes his glasses up on his nose with one finger, “we lost a swathe of lucrative US deals today. Nobody anticipated a crowd favourite would go that way. The Italian is responsible, I blame the Italian,” he mutters. “Where she goes, trouble follows.”

“Evelyn knew the risks. She tried to murder Thorun and should have known the Italian wouldn’t allow that,” I shrug. “Catriona’s reputation preceded her.”

‘And her honour. She has a friend, whether she’ll admit it or not.’

“Well, be that as it may. If it’s romance the viewers want, then that’s what we need to give them — even if, as you say, you’ll allow the competitors to decide, the fans can’t know that.”

57

I shake my head and frown as Valérie makes herself comfortable on Evelyn’s bed, her suitcase with all her gowns spilling out most of its multi-coloured contents onto the floor nearby, her make-up already littering the bedside table.

She wasn’t here an hour ago when I’d left to take a shower. I wasn’t dirty, but I needed time to check my stitches were still OK and wash Evelyn’s blood off me in preparation for the challenge tonight. The blood was metaphorical. None had spilled on me. Which was a very good thing, because I might have thrown up everywhere again if it had. The last thing I need is to have a reputation as the competitor who vomited the most, but the fact is, I can’t stand blood. I never even buy raw meat in the grocery store because I can’t bear the thought of touching it. Fortunately, today with Evelyn that hadn’t been a problem; I’d simply swung the scalpel I’d concealed in my hand, taking her in the jugular. As she’d gasped and dropped to her knees I’d withdrawn my makeshift weapon, jumped into the spa and cut Thorun free from the filter where she was pinned underwater by her long plait.

Mostly I’d needed the shower just to soothe my rattled nerves, berate myself for my actions, and strategize my next move. Thanks to Thorun’s idiocy, and mine, I’ve now lost my one house kill. I’d hoped to keep that until further towards the end and use it tactically if I made it to the final three. Instead, I’d sacrificed it to save the Icelander. Why? Maybe because Valérie’s hysteria caught on, maybe because I owed Thorun, maybe it was the look on Evelyn’s face as I approached. Mostly it was the latter. That and my previous conversation with the bachelor.

Now, clean and still ruminating, I’ve stepped back into the bedroom to find that I’ve not only given away an advantage, but I have a new roommate.

A most unwelcome one at that.

“Why?” I groan.

“I’d prefer to sleep away from two people who left me to drown on the bottom of a river,” Valérie shrugs. “Also, you’re tough and fearless, even if you are a heartless killer. And you and I have both been targeted by those disgusting little redheads, so we should be on the same team. If there’s another bedroom challenge you have a fourth member again.”

“God save us,” I sigh.

“Plus,” she goes on. “Thorun is obviously suffering from shock. She’ll need a friend when she gets out of the infirmary.”

“She clearly has one,” I snort. “You literally dragged me outside today. She owes you her life.”

“She owes you her life,” Sona shakes her head, her tone subdued. “You cut her hair to free her from the spa filter. You stabbed Evelyn, even though you didn’t need to.”

“Yes,” I give her a measured look, “I did.”

I study Sona where she sits hugging her pillow. She’s been in a weird mood since she’d guided me to our tent, and I can’t shake the feeling that she was privy to Evelyn’s plan.