Page 116 of Exquisite Monster

“Fine,” Isaelle said. “I’ll come back with the captain of the guard. We’ll see what you have to see then.”

“Wait—” He extended a hand, and I moved. I grabbed his hand and pulled, lifting the dart to his throat. “If you’re wise, you will not tell anyone we were here when you wake.”

His skin gave beneath the dart, and I shuddered. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but I still felt the blood of the soldier I killed while I fought with Gleym.

I pushed him away so he didn’t take me down with him. Isaelle was already unlocking the door, but I couldn’t stop staring at the man. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead.

Closing my eyes, I hardened myself. He wasn’t dead, but I couldn’t grieve if he had to be. We were trying to save everything, and because of that, we could not save everyone.

Footsteps echoed, and I whirled to find Dalas there. Grinning. “That was fun. It’s been far too long.”

“Quickly,” Isaelle called.

“Varí. The light.”

A glass vial slid into my hand. I stroked his head in thanks and hurled the contents onto the floor. The glow illuminated the dark space, bouncing back off every surface like tiny stars.

We ignored the pedestals with statues and what looked like several ornate crowns and pieces of jewelry. There were other things too, but Isaelle strode straight to the back of the vault where there was a long table like an altar. Shards of metallic stone lay on the surface, spread out evenly. Some were as large as my arm and some as small as a coin.

“Not as many as I thought there’d be,” I said.

“It’s only half,” she reminded me.

“Right.”

Dalas stared at us from where he’d stayed near the door. “Do we just…”

Isaelle took the satchel she wore and started putting the pieces inside. We’d all agreed not to use my bag in case any of the potionsshattered.Varícould keep things organized, but I still didn’t want to take the risk.

We lifted the last piece into the bag together. The material was dense and heavy. The last thing we needed to do was drop it and shatter it more.

“I should have known. I thought you looked familiar.”

My stomach dropped. One of the guards from the outer door held Dalas, a knife to his throat. I watched him swallow before he spoke. “If you know who I am, then you know you should remove your blade at once.”

“I know who you are, and therefore I think my king would thank me for killing a foreign royal from stealing from him. You think those of us who guard this place don’t know what we protect?”

“But his daughter would not thank you,” Isaelle said, stepping up beside me.

There was only one guard here. Where was the other one? If one had gotten free then the other couldn’t be far behind. Isaelle seemed to have the same thought. “Let him go, and we’ll lock you inside. You will be discovered quickly. I’m sure more guards are on their way?”

“All of them.”

Dalas struggled, but the guard held fast. His struggles gave me one advantage. I could see the guard’s throat.

I swallowed, my stomach bottoming out. Despite accepting the reality, this was the moment I had dreaded. This man was not attacking me. He was not a threat to my life. There was nowhere I could hit him with a dart laced withdormeoand not also hit Dalas. There was no way for us to carry the prince out of here, so I couldn’t hit him.

The only place I could reasonably hit the guard was directly in the throat. Which would kill him no matter what potion the dart was coated in.

I chose this. I claimed this. Butstars, I didn’t want to kill this man.

“What will allow you to let us go unharmed?”

He focused on me, and blinked, like he hadn’t truly noticed me. Suddenly, he stiffened. “You. You were the one in Caelora. The one who sided with the dragons.”

Disgust suddenly painted his features as he looked between the royals. Fuck.

I closed my eyes and fought the terror of what I already knew was true and had accepted. But the final step was harder than I imagined.