Page 7

Cat

T he garden in front of Darkmore was made up of pretty lawns and low-slung hedges, but this sprawling garden behind the manor was like a sculpture park, made ominous by the heavy clouds and charcoal sky above us.

Topiaries were everywhere. They lined the winding path into the long grasses, standing like sentries along the back of the house.

They were dotted around the flower beds and stood among the vegetable patches like scarecrows, some posed with their arms out to ward off the birds.

The bushes had been sculpted into people in so many different types—tall and short, stork-like and curvaceous, graceful and caught in the act of tumbling over.

Each one was a work of art, so detailed I knew a master gardener must be responsible.

Cruelty probably had them locked up somewhere, threatening to kill their family unless they cut up more trees into art.

“Where’s the surprise?” I asked hesitantly, eyeing the spaces between topiaries for creatures leaping out to attack me, or maybe there’d be another emotionally torturous present like the tulip.

Maybe she’d haunt me with the voices of my mates and call it a gift to hear them speak again.

God, I’d do anything to hear them again.

What did it mean for the domain to fall, for the gates to vanish?

I didn’t believe a single thing Cruelty said, except when she said it started falling when I rejected Tor and Miz.

For some reason, I believed that. I’d sown seeds of weakness that night, distraught by Byron’s death.

The gate collapsing was my fault. So how did I fix it?

Cruelty wouldn’t give me a straight answer, but that wouldn’t stop me pushing. Later. Right now, I was more concerned her little surprise might bite my head off.

The goddess skipped onto a paved square and spun in a circle, her arms out, lace dress twirling. “Look at all this space. Acres and acres!”

Uh. Had she got me the deed to the house or…

“Lots of space for shifting,” she added with a wink, her hood fluttering as she continued to pirouette, spinning around and around like a jewellery box ballerina.

I was surprised she didn’t hum a creepy, off-key tune to complete the illusion.

Thunder rumbled in the distance through, suitably ominous.

A shiver went down my spine. I rubbed my arms to chase away the chill, wishing I’d taken Cruelty up on borrowing a coat.

I didn’t want anything that belonged to her, but catching a cold or hypothermia would hardly help me get back to the domain and my husbands.

“Shifting,” I echoed, looking from the madwoman to the garden around us and the acres of grassy land beyond that.

It all sloped down towards the edge of a cliff, which dropped dramatically towards what sounded like water—rough, violent water by the noise of the crashing waves.

“You want me to shift into my jaguar? Why?”

“Why?” Cruelty echoed with a laugh that seemed to crackle through the air, or maybe that was the lightning building.

“To help you, silly. You can’t become a fearsome jaguar warrioress if you never practise.

” She waited until I looked at her to clap her hands together and say, “We’re going to train together! ”

“I…” Dread mounted, crushing my chest.

“I know you don’t like your jaguar very much, which I think is foolish, but it was never meant to be a curse. It was always a gift of strength and power. If you hadn’t absorbed that serum, you’d have no magic at all, no jaguar. But with it you’re deadly . Just like me.”

The warmth of her smile was more genuine that anything Nightmare had pretended.

I tried so damn hard to force my lips into a smile, but I was nowhere near as good a liar as the goddess of nightmares.

At least Cruelty wasn’t training me up to use as a weapon.

This was about her loneliness, and wanting a friend.

“No need for jitters,” she said, coming closer and taking my hands before I could even think to evade her touch. I forced myself to hold on.

Friendly, be friendly. Be the best friend she’s ever had, and then stab her so hard in the back that she’ll never walk again.

Just like she did by pretending to be Honey when my best friend was already dead. Grief grabbed my throat and choked off my air supply. I was holding hands with her killer.

“Deep breath in,” Cruelty urged, “and you’ll be just fine. My mother used to tell me that. Well, before my father crushed her skull against the garden wall.”

My mouth dropped open, horror piercing my chest. Sympathy crept in without my permission.

But I knew what it was like to see someone you loved die.

I watched Byron fall and could do nothing, utterly powerless as his life drained.

Because of her, a hissing voice insisted.

But it was too easy to blame that on Nightmare’s own will and wickedness.

Honey’s death, though? That was all Cruelty.

I pulled my sweaty hands from her grip and forced a deep breath.

“I can’t shift. I only managed to do it when I was furious or under threat.

That’s not an invitation to attack me,” I added quickly, putting another step between us, walking backwards onto the paved square, the bricks grey and weather-worn under my shoes.

“Silly Kitty,” Cruelty giggled, shaking her head. “I would never attack you. Best friends don’t attack each other; that’s bad manners.”

“Agreed.” I swallowed, looking at all the acres of land, at the back of the manor.

The kitchen window looked out on the gallery of deep green topiaries, their figures all different shapes, sizes, and body types.

Strangely, having those figures watching over us made me feel less alone.

I knew they were plants, but at least there’d be witnesses if Cruelty lost her temper and ended me here.

“Are you sure you don’t have an antidote?

” I asked, repeating the question for the third time.

“Poppy had some in her shack laboratory.”

Cruelty rolled her eyes. “You don’t need an antidote. You need to master your jaguar form, then you won’t be a silly mindless beast ever again. You won’t have to be afraid of killing everyone. Although, to be frank, I don’t understand why you’d be afraid of that anyway. Killing is fun.”

“You’re Cruelty; of course you think killing is fun.”

She snorted, a big grin creasing her eyes, stretching her mouth. God, she was easy to please. It was kinda sad. “Of course I do. Well, what are you waiting for, Kitty? Shift.” She took a few steps back to give me space

“I told you, I can’t do it on command.” Even so, I reached inside for that snarling beast of claws and fur and fangs, imagining diving into a deep pool from a great height.

Come on, this was easy when I wanted Poppy to leave my husbands alone. It was easy when Nightmare threatened my men. But now that I stood in the middle of the garden, only Cruelty to witness my shift, I couldn’t do it. No magic swept over me. No rush of ferocity as my animal took hold.

I threw my hands up. “I don’t know how.”

Cruelty tapped her bottom lip, pondering me, then her eyes lit up. “Ooh, I know! Why don’t I tell you about the man I found trying to break into the manor last night?”

“Uh.” I gave her a strange look, wanting to shift now more than ever. It would be nice to be insulated from her by claws and fur. “Okay.”

“He’s one of the ones Nightmare’s little curse bound you to,” she said coyly, giving me a sly grin. “Your bonded one. A husband, you might say.”

Every drop of blood in my body ran cold. I thought of Tor in my dreams, so close I could feel his arms around me. “Who?” I demanded.

She batted a hand at me. “I can’t tell you that. You have to guess. But there’s a catch. Or rather, a game.”

“I hate games.”

She rolled her eyes like I was being absurd.

“Everyone likes games. I’ve got your pretty bonded one ensconced in a secret part of the manor where you’ll never find him, but this Saturday I’m hosting a masquerade ball.

I thought it’d be fun to hold it at Ford School of Medicine.

Isn’t that genius?” Her laughter clashed with the low, ominous groan of thunder, closer than before.

“I do have to pat myself on the back for ingenuity. I can’t wait to explore the school where it all happened! ”

I gave her a look of horror.

“Everyone will be masked, including us—I got us matching masks and dresses—so it won’t be easy to find your husband. But if you find him, you can keep him.”

Blood pounded loud between my ears, as vicious as the storm rolling in. “And if I don’t?”

“Then I keep him. Or kill him, I suppose. I have no use for a man.”

That did it. Rage detonated through me like the cloud of an atom bomb, rousing my jaguar. I landed on four paws on the square, and flexed my claws against the grey slabs. Run, I warned, and launched at her.

Cruelty took off running with a giggle, like this was all a game.

Everyone will be masked, but if you find him, you can keep him.