Page 29

She zoomed forward, lights bursting behind her eyes. Toven Hearst twirled his fingers and sent a cool breeze her way. She shivered and glared at him.

Mallow shoved them forward. Briony was in an itchy dress and Toven’s hand was pressed to her back as he twirled them around the Biltmore dance floor.

“No?” Toven said to her, lowering his eyes to hers, bringing their faces together. “You don’t know what I’m thinking now?”

Briony felt Mallow behind her, watching over her shoulder. Dancing with them.

Toven’s eyes glittered, and her breath caught. “I never know what you’re thinking.”

Mallow could hear her heartbeat, feel the shiver across her skin.

She ricocheted forward. Her back slammed against a stone wall in a dark abandoned hallway, and Toven’s hand was on her jaw, glaring down at her.

“Don’t speak on things you don’t understand,” he hissed.

“I know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Your brother will be a head on a spike one day, and your body will be dragged through the street once Mallow has her way.” His eyes glanced down. “And such a shame for such a fine body.”

She spat on his face. He glared at her in shock. And then a smile crept across his features, curving and unfurling. Briony’s breath was hot on his face, but his hand was cool against her cheek.

His body pressed up against her, pinning her in place. Her eyes widened to feel the long lines of him as he towered over her.

“If you insist on forgetting your manners, Rosewood, then maybe I’ll be tempted to forget mine,” he whispered against her mouth.

And with an abruptness that echoed of breathing air after drowning, she was alone in her mind. And Mallow was there with her in the grand hall, standing before her body as it hung limply in midair. She examined Briony through narrowed eyes, as if she’d presented an unexpected problem.

Briony’s head felt the absence of Mallow’s mind like a brain freeze, something chilling filling the plates of her skull.

Mallow released her magical hold on Briony’s body, and it crumpled to the ground, legs bending in odd directions. It hurt to keep her eyes open, but Briony stared up at Mallow, seeing a slow idea forming in her eyes, a realization.

She knew that Briony once had feelings for Toven Hearst.

“Oh dear.” Mallow tsked condescendingly. She smiled down at Briony, as if something grand had been given to her. But just as suddenly, her face fell, and she turned to Toven. Her hand shot out.

Briony heard Toven gasp, and his body lurched forward like a puppet on a string. His jaw stretched into Mallow’s waiting hand. His legs struggled to find footing.

Mallow turned her black eyes on Toven’s, and suddenly it was very quiet while Mallow searched Toven’s memories and thoughts in a similar way.

Searched his thoughts for her . Briony was sure of it.

A drop of sweat rolled down Toven’s temple as Mallow performed a thorough examination.

Briony didn’t know how long she had been examined, but this felt longer.

Toven grunted, breath shallow.

And then after what must have been ten minutes, Mallow released him, dropping him to the floor next to Briony. Toven caught himself on his knees and stared up at Mallow.

Mallow smiled. Pleased.

She turned her gaze back onto Briony’s weak body. And she chuckled. Briony flinched as the sound of it bounced around the hall.

Briony had—at one time— yearned for the man who would hold her captive and drain her of her magic every day for the rest of her life.

A familiar boiling in her gut rose up and choked her—the same feeling she used to have in school whenever she’d have to tear her eyes off him.

It was disgusting really. To want someone who thought so little of you.

A thought drifted through Briony’s consciousness as it barely held together: If she had any doubts about how Toven felt about her, at least Mallow had given her reason to squash them. He didn’t feel anything for her. If he had, Mallow surely would have found it.

Briony squeezed her eyes closed.

“Have fun with her, Toven,” Mallow said. Briony could hear the smile in her voice. “I look forward to how powerful you’ll become once bonded to her.”

A shaking voice to her left whispered, “As do I, Mistress.”

“Southern Camly,” Mallow said triumphantly, reminding Briony that she’d given up more than just her own secrets that night. “Thank you, Briony. That will be all.”

Toven bowed to Mallow and yanked Briony up by her elbow, dragging her along behind him.

After they passed the guards at the doors, they cleared the stairs built into the side of the mountain. A sharp tug through a portal sent them back to the grass inside the gates of Hearst Hall.

With Toven’s hand over the tattoo, she felt the thrum of warmth as she was presumably locked in again. She kept her eyes on the ground as if Mallow were still there, bearing down on her. And maybe she was—inside her mind. Crawling and feeding on her. Perhaps she’d never leave.

Toven’s hand didn’t release her arm. His gray eyes searched hers, frantic movements across her face. “What did she find?”

She shook her head. “Nothing of consequence.”

“Whatever it is, she thinks I’m complicit,” he said.

The wind wove through them, casting his cloak in twisting patterns and dancing along her bare shoulders.

Maybe she could tell him. It was nothing really. I had feelings for you. It would be simple, and there would be no weight to it any longer. She could shrug and laugh.

But she was standing in nothing but a nightgown in front of a man whose power over her would go unchecked.

Briony shivered against the wind. She tugged her arm away from him.

“She looked into your head and found you innocent, Toven. So there’s nothing to tell.” She turned hard eyes on the silhouette of Hearst Hall down the long drive. “I’m cold, and I’m tired. My body aches and now my head is on fire. And my cheek hurts for some unknown reason—”

“I warned you not to speak to her—”

“And I’m starving—”

“Once a spoiled brat, always a spoiled—”

“Just let me go to bed,” she begged.

Briony had no idea where the groundskeeper’s cottage was, but she marched through the grass to the right. He’d said it was close to where she had injured herself.

“Rosewood. This way.”

She looked back and found him standing on the pathway leading to the grand castle.

“It’s time you were shown to where you’ll be staying.”

He gestured for her to follow him down the drive to Hearst Hall.