Page 138 of Ballad of Nightmares

“No, love—“

Lightning struck in the distance, the thunder rumbling in its wake, and Ana pivoted.

“—You’ll be well on your way to the Spine before then.”

Ana’s insides froze as Jay emerged into the light, a loose rope around his slim shoulder, the stick end of a shovel in the other. Ana’s thighs tightened in a ready stance.

“Jay?” Ana’s gaze narrowed at him. At Jay. At her employer. At someone she thought was a friend. “What are you—“

“I really don’t have time for this,” he said, pulling the rope off his shoulder. “Bit a of a time crunch, you see.”

But Ana’s jaw was shaking. Her gaze darted to the door twenty yards back, looking for any route to it, keeping one eye on Jay the whole time. “You’ve been sending the assassins after me,” she said. “That’s the reason you let me stay upstairs. The reason you hired me. Why you kept watching me. So you could have me murdered.”

Jay sighed, his lips twitching. “Keep your enemies close, love.”

Ana ran.

She had no idea where she was going, just that no one would hear her, and she needed to somehow circle back to make it into the castle again. Thorns ripped through her arms and her hair, catching those curls every now and then and making her stumble. She made it all the way to an arbor of vine roses that crawled up and over, leaving little light to come in through the slats, and she turned to see if Jay was anywhere behind her.

Fucking…Jay.

Ana cursed the night she first spoke to him, cursed the day she went into his fucking gallery thinking he was a simple-minded fool who would pay her no attention. Cursed the day she’d thought him like her; someone seeking freedom from the other realms.

A rope threw around her throat.

Ana grabbed for it, kicked as Jay pulled her, tugging that thick rope tighter and tighter. She struggled, knocking into the arbor, scratching her face, but to no avail. It was so tight that she started to feel the darkness knocking in on her. And just as she felt her knees weakening, she thrust those garden shears back and into his thigh.

The rope was released, and Ana fell flat to the wet ground. Dirt buried beneath her fingertips as she coughed and coughed, trying to regain her breath. She needed to get up. She needed to get running.

Jay cursed behind her, but she knew that he was gaining his footing quicker than she was. Dizziness slammed into her as she pushed to her feet and staggered. Her hands grabbed the arbor, thorns pricking into her, and she let out a shriek but kept going. Gripping those thin white boards over and over, forcing her legs to work. She had to move. She had to run.

With a scream, she pushed out of the arbor, and just as her stumbling feet steadied, something struck the back of her head.

Ana crashed into the mud with the first drops of rain in the returning storm, and blackness swarmed around her.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

“EVERYONE IS AT the tower,” Millie announced.

She’d been on the phone since they’d made it up the stairs. Sam had sat behind his desk, staring at the blank screen and going over each council member in his head, trying to figure out which one of them was the spy responsible for this.

Firemoor had sent him a video directly—or General Prei had. Sam had watched it twice before throwing his own computer into the wall. Rolfe had gone downstairs and brought back food, telling Sam to sit the fuck down and eat something before he went completely feral.

Sam didn’t argue, and he’d cleaned up his own mess before Millie had a chance to see it.

He stood from his chair as Millie closed the door, stretching his limbs to the dark sky, power rushing through his restless muscles. And as his eyes rolled from their scarlet blur, he looked to Rolfe.

“Do you mind checking on my Queen and getting her settled while we do this?” Sam asked him.

Rolfe smirked and rose to his feet. “Shall I give her the real Shadowmyer welcome?” he asked, baring his teeth.

Sam looked to Millie, who was grinning at him. “Maybe a bit,” she said. “Scare her a little.”

“Good luck with that,” Sam muttered. “Fear makes her a bit… insatiable.”

Rolfe’s smile widened beneath his thick mustache. “This is going to be fun.”

The grand television flickered on to the boardroom just as Sam cloaked himself in shadows, Rolfe left, and Milliscent sat on the front of the desk.