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C at walked right past me without a second glance, which was pretty damn annoying.

But given my whole body was covered in dried plaster, my skin a sickly shade of alabaster, and a delicate gold mask covered my face, I wouldn’t hold it against her.

Cruelty had taken great pleasure in snapping the elastic against the back of my head, which shouldn’t have hurt, but apparently even being a statue didn’t spare me any pain.

Typical.

I tugged on my magic, trying to coax out another wisp of a shadow so I could see my porcelain fingers.

The scant bit of magic I already had hold of allowed me to make out the corridor in dim, shadowy impressions in my head, but I needed more.

If I was going to get out of this damn plaster, I needed more magic.

I needed a whole swarm of darkness, not a mere trickle.

Well, two trickles. It took me long, long minutes to summon the second, and Cat had already walked past me in a fucking devastating dress.

The new shadow spawned just in time to give me a clear impression of her body in a dress the shade of true midnight, her white and pink hair unbound and falling over her shoulders.

When she walked past, I had my shadows trail her and swore so viciously inside my head I was surprised the force of it didn’t shatter the statue I’d been trapped in.

Honestly, I was surprised my boner didn’t at least crack the plaster.

The dress she wore was backless, but a golden spine clung to her bare skin. Deadly and sharp and so goddamn beautiful. She looked like a queen. Like a death goddess.

Focus, I snapped at myself when she’d been gone for minutes and I was still thinking about the fit of the fabric to her hips, that golden spine enticing my fingertips to trace her bare skin. Get it together.

I rallied my second shadow until I could assess my fingers. I was still bleeding. With any luck the other gods would use it to track me. Tor was a tracking prodigy; if anyone could find Cat and I, it was him.

Every last hope I had now was pinned on that gruff, tattooed smartass.

And that was depressing.