A hand clamped around my arm and steered me deeper into the shadows. I’d known it was Laurie the moment I caught his scent, so I didn’t struggle. I quickly realized we were heading for the doorway that would lead us to Sorcha.
Smart, I thought. Laurie had seen an opportunity and seized it—everyone in the room was distracted by Lord Arthion. The attention was finally off us.
But it wouldn’t be for long.
“Lensa will worry about the other two,” Laurie said. “The rest of my circle are waiting near the front door. They’ll surround you and your… companions as you make your way down the steps.”
It was easy to imagine the scene Laurie was going for. Everyone would probably be wearing coats, and clustered in a group to ward off the cold. What kind of condition would Finn be in, though? What if he couldn’t walk on his own? There were so many variables that Laurie didn’t seem concerned about. I felt another burst of frustration toward him, and I smothered it like a small flame, reminding myself yet again of the sacrifice he’d made.
“Is there a Door nearby?” I asked. “I don’t exactly have a passport on me.”
Laurie guided us through the doorway and down a narrow hallway. The ceiling was much lower than the others I’d seen, and the lights on the walls were so weak that most of the way was shrouded in darkness. Laurie talked while we hurried through the quiet space, the noise of the ballroom already muffled and distant. “There should be a car waiting for you. The driver is named Riggs, and he’ll help you get to safety.”
Before I could ask him about Gil and Finn again, a voice drifted past. “I was starting to think you’d stood me up.”
Hearing my own voice was eerie and unsettling. Turning, my body stiff as the ice sculpture I’d seen in Stone Hall, I watched myself step out of the shadows.
Sorcha had gotten every detail correct. Laurie must’ve made preparations while I’d been sleeping—before he’d even told me about Sorcha’s part in tonight’s plan—because she wore a gown identical to mine. Her makeup, her hair, the way she held herself. All of it was me. She was even arching her eyebrow like I did sometimes, her expression slightly haughty.
She’d achieved this from memory?
My mind flashed back to the last time Sorcha and I had seen each other. We’d been standing on an icy, night-covered street in Denver. Sorcha had just decided not to kill me, despite the money she’d been paid by yet another one of my enemies. Our friendship didn’t mean nothing, Your Majesty. Let tonight be the proof, she said.
“It’s good to see you again, Fortuna,” she murmured now, her overly sweet voice triggering more of the past. I thought again of the summer Sorcha had seduced me. She’d known exactly what she was doing with every innocent kiss and moonlit conversation, drawing confessions and secrets from my heart with her cloying voice. That time, she hadn’t done it for money—she’d done it for fun.
“Who left your cage open?” I asked flatly. It was the only greeting she would get from me.
Sorcha just smiled. She brought her hand into the open, revealing that she held something. With a single flick of her wrist, the material unfolded and fell to the ground. A cloak. Coming closer than necessary, Sorcha put it around me and secured the front clasp.
“Good luck,” she said, drawing the hood up. Her breath touched my lips. “I genuinely hope you survive Belanor. I never imagined that a summer fling with a broody teenage Nightmare would end up being so enterprising.”
My blood cooled. I caught myself wondering what the inside of her mind looked like. What her fear tasted like. Slowly, I removed the rose that was still tucked behind my ear. My fingernail brushed against the skin of Sorcha’s temple as I put it around her ear instead, and I caught her eyes widen before she could hide it.
“You know,” I said, “faeries like you are treasures, Sorcha… you just want to bury them.”
“We may have a problem,” Laurie said abruptly, appearing at my side. He probably just didn’t want to deal with Sorcha’s body after I killed her. He ignored my glare and continued, “Lensa hasn’t heard from Morelli. But I have another idea for you, Lady Cralynn, should my brother cause trouble.”
Sorcha’s gaze shifted to him. Looking at my own face was still disconcerting, so I dropped the mask at her feet and left the two of them to their plotting. I picked up my skirt to walk toward the door at the other end of the hall. The cloak was heavier than I thought it would be, and the hood made the room feel even darker.
Maybe that was why I didn’t notice the Guardian.
He’d opened another door soundlessly, and his body filled the entire frame, bulky with armor. By the time I noticed him, I almost collided with that round, plated chest. I watched the male’s eyes go to Sorcha, then back to me. Shit. I was frozen in indecision. For an instant, everyone was utterly silent. It felt like even our hearts and lungs had stopped.
The faerie’s throat split open. A spray of blood hit my face.
I jumped with slow shock, staring first at the gore-covered tip of a blade protruding from his neck, then up at the Guardian’s startled expression. I knew I probably wore a similar one.
Eyes wide and unseeing, the male tipped forward and crashed face-first onto the unforgiving floor.
Gil and Laurie stood on the other side of him.
“What the hell, Laurie?” I snapped. He must’ve sifted the moment he heard the door open, I realized. Where had Gil come from? I turned to the vampire, but his eyes were fastened to the unconscious faerie at his feet. The smell of blood filled the corridor.
My insides were already getting shredded by guilt’s relentless claws. I saw a flash of that tree-surrounded clearing again, bodies strewn everywhere, blood soaking into the dirt and grass. I saw myself throwing that Agatha Christie novel down onto a dead person’s chest, their eyes as dull and vacant as the eyes of the Guardian at my feet now.
Laurie’s arm moved, and I heard a clink against the tiles; he’d thrown a dagger next to the body. “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day,” he quipped, straightening his suit. “But give him a knife in the base of the skull, and he’ll never be hungry again.”
I sputtered. Blood flew off my lips with every exhale. “That doesn’t even make sense, you fucking—”
“Well, I couldn’t very well break his neck, now, could I?” Laurie’s tone was exasperated. He gestured impatiently at the dead guard’s pointed ears. “He would’ve just healed!”
“That’s not the issue—”
“Wait, are you honestly endangering our escape for a philosophy debate?”
“Stop interrupting me, damn it!”
“Holy shit,” someone said. Laurie and I turned at the same time. Lensa stood behind us, gripping her bright hair. Tufts of it stuck up between her fingers. “Please, don’t ever get married. You two would be a terrible couple.”
Gil moved past her and stopped when he reached my side. I was too furious to greet him. Laurie’s eyes had narrowed at his sister. “I think I’m offended,” he decided. “Fortuna, are you offended?”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake.” I stalked away from them both. I stormed back a moment later, realizing that Lensa hadn’t brought anyone else with her. “Wait, where is Finn?”