Page 90 of Monsters Carve Thrones

I waited until I heard the click of the door behind her and the soft stomp of her boots receding. Alone again, but not really. For the first time in what felt like forever, I wasn’t entirely alone.

I stepped out of the shower and faced the fogged mirror. I wiped a hand across the glass and saw myself. Purple bruisesbloomed across my neck and collarbone like wilted flowers. A faint cut on my lip. Hollow eyes.

But beneath it all… there was a simmering blaze.

I stared at my reflection, eyes flicking down to the sharp corner of the mirror where the edge had started to crack. I could break it. Take a shard. Hide it.

I could kill the guard.

But… I’d never make it far. The others would swarm before I could even breathe in my freedom.

***

The next morning, I heard the door open quieter than usual. The house felt still, like it also feared the demon that stalked its halls.

Olesya’s figure slipped in carefully. She didn’t even glance at the guard who had been posted outside earlier. They never paid her much attention. She was invisible to them–just a housekeeper. Nothing to worry about.

But today, she was everything.

She moved straight to the bed, where I was sitting cross-legged in one of Waylon’s oversized T-shirts, the bruises on my thighs aching with every shift of my weight. My wrists, still sore from the cuffs, rested gently in my lap. He’d allowed them a little break this morning when he realized they were bleeding.

“He’s gone?” I whispered.

She nodded. “Left an hour ago. Meeting. Guards are all down at the perimeter today.”

Perfect.

I leaned in, voice low, words trembling with urgency. “This is going to take some trust.”

Her lips tightened, but she nodded slowly. “Go on.”

I reached under the mattress and pulled out the pen I’d hidden. “This,” I whispered, holding it between two fingers, “isn’t much. But I’m confident I can sink it into a guard’s neck if I surprise him.”

She inhaled sharply but didn’t protest. Just stared at the object like it might burst into flames.

“I’m fast,” I continued. “I’ve been watching. Timing their routines. But I’ll need help. Distraction. Delay. Something. Just a few seconds to give me the edge.”

Olesya looked toward the window as if she were calculating every risk. “That could get us both killed, girl.”

“I know.”

“But so could staying here.”

“I know that, too.”

A moment passed between us, heavy with both shared dread and courage.

“When?” she asked finally.

“Next week,” I said. “Waylon has those business meetings, right? Ones that pull more security to the estate perimeter?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “Two meetings back-to-back. On ThursdayandFriday.”

“Then that’s it.” My voice felt stronger. “Friday. Send one guard in at a time. Quietly. I’ll kill each of them and take their guns.”

She hesitated. “You little thing against a guard?”

“I can do it, Olesya,” I murmured. “I was trained by the best.”