Page 58 of Dark Flame

Just in case he will be, and before I question my sanity a moment longer, I toss the tied-together sheets out the window, watching them fall the length of the castle’s siding. It stops about a dozen feet from the ground.

Grasping my end, I sit on the edge of the window and carefully inch myself out, twisting until my feet are on stone and I’m somehow successfully propelling myself down.

This is actually working.By some miracle, the chair hasn’t moved, everything seems to be going as planned. I begin to slide down faster, spurred on by freedom beingsoclose. Just a few dozen more feet to go.

Halfway down, the sheet slides me a few inches farther down.

“Shit.” My gaze darts above me, spotting the chair now on the edge of the window and not where it should be.

Gotta hurry before this gets bad.

My hands move faster, but my jerky movements cause the chair to inch closer to the sill.

“Fuck.”

Suddenly my grip is useless as it all comes crashing toward me, chair included.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

The ground rushes toward me, my arms scrambling to retain a pointless grip on the sheet.

This is where I die. Goddess, save me.

Clenching, I brace for the impact, trying to angle my body in a way that’ll be the least painful. Back or feet, I haven’t decided yet, but I have mere milliseconds before it’s too late and?—

The air freezes. The chair hovers above me, the sheet suspended midair.

I’m the only thing still moving, but now at a much slower rate. My back meets the grass, and I scramble out of the way of the suspended items right before everything unfreezes and comes crashing down, landing around me, my clothing and Gram’s grimoire scattering.

“Thank you, Goddess,” I breathe, pushing to my feet.

I scan the castle’s side, all the way up to the window I managed to escape from. It worked. Itactuallyworked. A bubble of laughter explodes from my chest, the mingling of pleasure and excitement that I’m free is overwhelming.

Free as long as I can get the hell away from here.

“See ya, Alec Dormer. It’s been fun.”

I turn and take off down the grassy field, not sure where I am or how close I am to civilization. I might be running towards nothing or everything. I might be running for a while before finding humans. But I’ll keep going, running as long as he’s hunting me.

By the time I reach the edge of the treeline and immerse myself in the forest, the sun is lowering. There’s only hours until nighttime.

That’s when Alec will come.

Twenty-Three

ALEC

I didn’t meanto rest, considering it was only the other night I had. Clearly, dealing with Sinclair’s antics is exhausting enough it drove me to.

When I get up, I grab the shoebox of lies that’ll hopefully spark something so big in her, it’ll be a few flames. With it, I head towards her room, sending a rapid knock against the door, disbelieving my own actions. Although I have no qualms about seeing her undressed, we have bigger things to deal with than arguing.

After a moment, there’s still no answer.

“Sinclair, I was warning, not asking.”

I slip the key into the door at the precise second my senses pick up on two things: the whoosh of wind and the slightly faded scent of my witch.

I’m inside instantly, the box dropping to the ground in my rush towards the destroyed window.