When he looked at me, I saw that only ice remained. The look in his eyes was positively glacial. He lifted his cowl, cloaking his face in darkness.
“Let’s go,” he said, more to Sourial than to me. “I’ll send someone to clean up the bodies.”
Ah. There was the man who thought he’d make me his wife.
33
Lila
It was nearly nine. Samael had left me alone in his room, with nothing but books and silence. He hadn’t said a word on our march back to the castle along the dark river walk. When we returned, he’d asked two soldiers to escort me up to this library room.
I’d found an entrance to the secret passage in the wall, behind a tapestry. And now, I would sneak into the Tower of Bones to wave to Finn.
I dropped down quietly into the grass beneath the armory window. Maybe I wasn’t as strong as Samael or Sourial, but I was bloody good at creeping around in the dark.
I scanned the courtyard closely for movements. The landscape around me was quiet as a grave. It seemed the soldiers were generally either one of two places: in their barracks, or out stalking the streets of Dovren.
Inside the stairwell, I pressed my ear to the stone, listening for any sounds of footfalls in the tower, any faint vibrations. I heard nothing. So I lit my candle, and started climbing the stairs. One story after another, winding up to the top, spiraling around.
Did Samael regret slaughtering the Free Men tonight? It hadn’t been part of his plan, and maybe put his informant at risk. Getting information about the meetings of the Free Men would only be more difficult in the future.
Before I crossed out into the hallway on the top floor, I blew out my candle. I didn’t want anyone spotting it outside.
Then, I peered around the corner, searching for signs of movement. No one else was up here. Not a heartbeat, not a breath.
I tiptoed into the hallway. I didn't stop to look at the room where my sister had once lived, where she probably died. I didn't want to think about the blood on the glass. The charm lost among the floorboards. So I pushed those thoughts away, and I kept creeping along in the dark hall, until I got to the door that led out onto the crumbling spike of bridge.
Slowly, I inched it open. When I slipped outside, the cool night air rushed over me, exhilarating. I stepped out onto the broken bridge that jutted out so high over the river.
The wind whipped over me, and I smiled, feeling oddly at home on the desolate shard of rock. But I didn’t see Finn. What the hell, Finn?
I’d give him only a minute or two, and then I would head back. I didn’t know what Samael would do if he found me missing, and I didn’t really want to find out. There were only so many times I could use my “passed out drunk between the wall and the mattress” routine.
Wrapping my arms around myself, I looked out over the dark water. It wasn't often in the city of Dovren that you could get a clear sky like this, a perfect vault of stars. I almost felt a certain magic beaming into me from the moon and stars.
But as I stared up at the night sky, my body started to tense, because I felt a subtle, nearly imperceptible vibration in the stones beneath my feet. Movement somewhere in the tower.
I closed my eyes. Raven King, keep me safe.
I’d been so careful. So quiet sneaking in, and I'd made sure no one was around whatsoever. I’d made sure my candle was out.
I reached for the holster at my thigh, and pulled the dagger.
I held my breath as I heard the creaking of a door inside.
Bollocks.
I was basically trapped out here on a crumbling stone promontory, high above the river.
Samael had said the soldiers’ bones were completely shattered when they fell, bodies smashing hard against the water. It no longer felt quite as comforting up here.
The sound of footsteps in the hallway told me I wouldn't be getting out of here unnoticed.
The door of the bridge opened, and three soldiers stood in the entryway. “Lila!” One of them shouted.
My stomach dropped. How the fuck did he know my real name?
The soldier drew his sword, but I lunged closer, closing the distance so he couldn’t use it effectively. I slashed for his face. He dodged back, nearly toppling off the bridge, arms windmilling.
I lunged again, this time slamming the blade up between his ribs, pulling it back out fast before I lost my balance. The wind rushed over us, whipping at my hair. Lucky for me, the narrowness of the bridge meant I only had to fight one at a time.
The soldier clutched his chest where I’d stabbed him, and he toppled off the bridge, his scream ripping through the night silence, growing quieter as he fell.
But already, there were four more coming for me. I was outnumbered, and in a terrible position. Fear crackled along my nerve endings. I could read the pure hatred in their Clovian eyes.
“Your kind should be exterminated,” one of them shouted. “Wiped off the earth like the vermin you are. Lila.”
My real name again. I’d been discovered.
My lip curled, and I widened my stance, ready to take on the next one. Somehow I felt like the night air was giving me strength, imbuing my muscles with speed. The bridge was only about two feet across at this point, and I had to be very careful I didn’t lose my balance. But even though I was outnumbered, I could take each of them one at a time if I really focused.
The next soldier was also trying to use his sword, but again I made sure he was in too close. “Bitch!” he shouted at me. “Your kind make me sick, you—”
My blade was in his throat immediately, cutting off the rest of his diatribe.
I shoved him off the bridge, already thrusting for the next soldier. The backward slash of my blade cut his throat open, and blood arced through the air. Something had snapped in me, like a darkness unfurling in my veins, filling me with rage.
Two soldiers left. The first swung for me, and I leapt back, my heart skipping a beat as I did. I was nearly at the edge of the crumbling bridge now. But before he could bring his sword back for a second swing, I leapt forward, moving up from a low angle. I brought the dagger up hard under his chin, piercing his jaw. Then I ripped it out again.
Losing his balance, he tried to grab on to me as he started to teeter off the broken edge of the bridge, fingers digging into my sides, but I brought my elbow down hard into his eye socket, stunning him.
He let go, plummeting, and his shrieks carved through the sky. Whirling, I turned to face the last one. I felt like the night was cloaking me with power, and a cold and repressed anger made me glad they’d come for me. Because I wanted to kill them. What if I liked the screams of my enemies?
Four down, one to go.
But the sound of my name being screamed from below turned my head, because it was a voice I recognized, and he sounded panicked.
“Lila!”
“Finn?”
That was all it took for me to lose focus. I'd dropped my gaze from the soldier and now the tip of his sword was pointed at my throat.
I’d lost.
From the other end of the sword, I stared into the blue eyes of the Clovian.
“Little bird, you are a traitor," he snapped. "You are a double-dealing whore.”
He jabbed the edge of his sword at my throat, the tip nearly breaking the skin. I was shaking with fury now, and I wanted to stab him in the eye.