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Those creatures killed my parents. They took my family away from me. The only reason they didn’t kill me as well was because of Lord. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was all part of some wicked plan from the goddess, if I wasn’t meant to live this fate so that I, too, could protect people from those killers.

But darkness crept closer to Midgrave every day. Soon, it would take over.

Lord only wanted to prepare me. He wanted to keep me alive long enough to save Midgrave, to save myself.

“Forget it,” Rummy mumbled, shaking her head when I didn’t respond. “You’re going to need this tonight.” She reached into the cloth satchel beside her and pulled out a silver flask, twisting the top open and taking a long pull of whatever was inside.

I sat up as she passed the flask to me, hissing as she swallowed the liquid.

Strangely, I found peace in these encounters with Rummy. “Thank you,” I murmured. Even in the dark night, I caught a glimpse of her smile. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

I put the flask to my lips and drank, letting the liquid burn my throat and stomach. I didn’t cough, didn’t grimace. The burn was a pleasant distraction.

Rummy laughed. “You’d have to take your whippings without our liquid friend, for one,” she said.

“I take it back,” I mused. “Youarecruel.” I passed the flask back to her. “And who knows? Maybe Lord is feeling particularly kind this evening.”

Her smile slowly disappeared, all hints of amusement swiftly wiped from her face. “Yeah,” she said, her snarky tone replaced with a genuine one, “maybe.”

Chapter

Two

My senses were comfortably dulled by the time Rummy slipped from the roof, disappearing into the night and leaving me alone.

Without her presence, my mind wandered. Lord usually came home later in the evening, well past midnight. Maybe something would keep him busy tonight. Maybe he would wait until tomorrow to reprimand me for my mistake during the fight.

Or, if I were lucky, perhaps he would come home and send me on a mission instead, teaching me a different lesson by putting me in the face of danger.

It had been weeks since he sent me on a mission, and my hands shook with the need for another fight.

A real one this time. A true fight. With one ofthem, the monsters that lingered in the depths of the shadows.

I shook my head.Stop thinking that way, Huntyr.If Lord punishes you, you’ll take it.Tomorrow will come, and it will be done. You’ll be a better Phantom because of it.

I slipped my body back through the broken window and wandered down the stone steps until I reached the bottom floor.

Home.

I ignored the sinking feeling in my stomach, ignored the way every instinct in my body told me not to go inside the small room I called my home. That was natural. I had to get over that fear of pain.

With a deep breath, I pushed the wooden door open and stepped inside.

Aside from my half-rotted mattress on a cot near the wall and chair in the corner, the room remained empty. It wasn’t much, and I never cared for many material things, but it was home. This space wasmine, and that was enough.

Not this time, though. This time, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, a lantern lit up the back corner of the room.

Shit.

Lord was already home.

I closed the door behind me with a slow certainty and stopped, standing and waiting.

“Lord,” I greeted, swallowing over the newfound lump in my throat.

He sat in the chair beside the lantern, his legs stretched out before him and his arms draped over the sides. His short hair, always perfectly greased back, shined in the dim lighting. Not a single piece ever strayed from its position. Not a single piece of black clothing wrinkled, not a single speck of dirt on those slacks.

Always perfect. Always the master.