Читать книгу Menagerie - Rachel Vincent - Страница 2

One hundred twelve years.

That’s how long the menagerie had been in Rudolph’s family. The technological boom had not been good to traveling circuses, but thanks to Rudolph’s talent and attention, Metzger’s had survived when many other menageries folded. But survival wasn’t enough. He wanted Metzger’s to flourish!

His gaze focused on the occupants of the room beyond the one-way glass, uncomfortably aware of the fact that if the woman hadn’t been chained to both her chair and the floor, he would’ve had no idea she wasn’t, in fact, a woman at all. She was a monster.

“She wasn’t trying to pass for human. She thought she was human. The world thought she was human. When audiences look at her, they will see themselves, locked up and helpless. When the other exhibits look at her, they will see possibility. Opportunity. She grew up in freedom and human privilege. She’s smart, she’s loud, and she has a severely inflated sense of self-worth. Her delusions make her dangerous.”

He turned to his boss of livestock. “You must break her, Gallagher. She is the spark, and if that spark kindles, it will burn my menagerie to the ground.”

Rudolph shook his head to disguise the chill traveling up his spine. This female could incite riots. She could save the carnival—or be the end of everything he’d been working toward his entire life.