Page 101 of Monsters Carve Thrones

I glanced behind me. Olesya had ducked into the small library, just like I told her to after I finished the guards. She had done her part. She’d risked everything. Now, the rest was on me.

I crept toward the edge of the hallway, ears straining. I could hear the front door slam open. Then, heavy and urgent footsteps. They were shouting over each other, filing out the door in a hurry.

What the hell?

Confused, I turned toward Waylon’s office and found it empty. Papers were scattered, and there was glass shattered on the floor. I took a step back–

And he was there.

Right behind me.

Before I could react, his hand slammed into my shoulder, spinning me around. His face was red with fury, eyes gleaming with betrayal. “Youlittle bitch.” The blow came fast. A hard crack across my face that sent me stumbling into the wall. My gun slipped from my fingers and clattered to the floor. “You killed my men!” he roared.

I turned just as he rushed me. He tackled me into a side table, splintering it. I clawed and kicked, my elbow catching him in the jaw. He growled and shoved me back into the wall.

“I’ll make you regret this,” he spat. “I’ll make you fuckingsuffer.This time, the housekeeper won’t be there tobring you back from the fucking dead!”

I drove my knee up into his ribs. He grunted and staggered. I dove for the gun, but he kicked it away. My fingers found a shard of glass instead, and I raked it across his arm.

Blood burst from the wound. He screamed, slapping the glass from my hand, but I didn’t stop. I punched, bit, and clawed. I did anything to keep him off me.

He slammed me into the ground. Stars burst behind my eyes from the impact, and breath whooshed out of my lungs. I rolled, grabbed a fallen lamp, and cracked it across his skull.

He groaned and slumped back just as I heard voices approaching.Fuck.

I didn’t wait.I ran.

My legs carried me on pure instinct. I tore down the hall, blood dripping from my face, arms aching, ribs screaming with every breath. I didn’t look back–I didn’t have to. I could feel Waylon behind me, dragging himself up, snarling like a wounded animal. But I was faster. I had to be. I rounded a corner and stopped dead.

Shit.

Three guards stood at the other end of the hallway, guns raised, eyes going wide with recognition.

“There she is!” one barked. Gunfire exploded, splitting my ears. I ducked, heart lurching, as bullets shredded the wall behind me. I turned and sprinted blindly down an unfamiliar corridor, adrenaline pounding through me.

I didn’t know where I was going, but I just needed tomove.I turned left, then right, slamming shoulder-first into a heavy steel door that creaked open under my weight. I stumbled inside and froze.

No.

The room was cold and gray. Bare walls. Chains bolted to the floor. The place they threw me when I first arrived. The fuckingcell.

I spun to leave and came face to face with two guards, guns drawn, faces twisted in fury and something far worse.

“Well, well,” one of them sneered. “Cornered, are we?”

“Put the gun down,” the other growled, stepping inside. “Now.”

I didn’t lower it.I couldn’t.Not when I was so goddamn close. My hands were shaking so hard that I thought I might drop it, but I kept it aimed and kept my finger ready. My heart hammered against my ribs painfully.

“We could lock the door…” one said, his greedy eyes sweeping over me.

But the taller one glanced toward the hall. “We don’t have time for this shit. There’s a raid–”

“What?” I blurted, confused.

They ignored me. The shorter one smirked, licking his lips. “We’ll tell Waylon you didn’t cooperate. That we didn’t have a choice.” The way they looked at me made bile rise in my throat.

No.No.