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Soup boiled on the stove. She ladled it mechanically into a bowl, carried it to the table.
"That's it? That looks disgusting." Vivienne stood in front of the table, wrinkling her nose, hand over it theatrically.
Seraphina was done being patient. "Then don't eat it."
A calculation flashed through Vivienne's eyes.
The next second, Vivienne's hand shot out, clamped onto Seraphina's wrist, and slammed her palm down into the boiling soup.
"Ah —"
The burn ripped up her arm. On reflex, Seraphina tried to yank her hand back.
Vivienne kept pressing. In the struggle, the ceramic bowl tipped, rolled, and crashed to the floor. Soup sprayed everywhere.
Seraphina shook her hand desperately. It had already blistered, ugly and red.
"What happened?" Damien walked in at the noise.
Vivienne raised her hand to show a thin streak of broth on the back of her wrist. Her eyes welled up.
"Damien — she didn't want to cook for me. She got angry and dumped the soup on me. My hand — my hand is burning —"
His face changed instantly. He caught Seraphina's wrist.
"Sera. Are you out of your mind? Apologize to Vivienne. Right now."
Her face had gone white with pain. She twisted her wrist free and held up her own hand — blistered, scalded raw.
"You want me to apologize? Look at this, Damien. Look at it. Tell me whose hand actually went into the soup."
He froze.
He turned to Vivienne, something questioning in his eyes.
Her face went pale too.
Then she clutched her stomach and doubled over with a moan. "Oh God — my stomach — Damien, there's beef in that soup. I'm allergic to beef —"
"I only asked her to make me something, and she dumped soup all over me. Damien, pull the security footage if you don't believe me. I don't lie."
"Damien — my stomach —"
The suspicion in his eyes flipped straight to rage. His gaze came back to Seraphina, now cold.
Vivienne's beef allergy — he was the one who had told her about it.
Seraphina glared at him. "I didn't do it! Pull the cameras and you'll see!"
Something in him broke. He scooped Vivienne into his arms and snapped —
"Sera, enough."
He shouted for the estate manager.
"Take her to the basement. No one lets her out until I say so."
The basement. Where Damien had set up Vivienne's reptile collection. A pitch-black, airless room full of over a hundred snakes.
Her skin crawled. Her whole body shook in refusal.
"No — no —"
"Let go of me!"
She thrashed with everything she had. Damien didn't look back.
She was thrown inside and the door slammed shut.