Page 57 of The Unseen Hour (The Unseen Hour Duology #1)

S creaming voices, and then the sound of the door slamming shut, told me I was safe. No one had come after me once I was outside the church.

It appeared no one wanted to risk their lives, not even for the rewards rescuing a Hipnosi might bring.

Particularly if that Hipnosi had gone stark, raving mad, in the eyes of the locals.

I didn’t blame them in the slightest. I knew how I must have looked.

After this night, there would be all sorts of rumors about the Hipnosi daughter who’d returned during the most cursed time of the year, besmirching a church and fighting the good-hearted townspeople with her possessed birds.

I laughed, looking up at the still-dark sky. Orion and I needn’t have worried about what my reception would be. My reputation was already in tatters, and I’d only been back a few minutes.

I didn’t care in the slightest.

I ran through the streets, screaming for him.

“Orion! Orion!”

I didn’t see him, of course. I still had some distance to go to reach the cemetery, but I also didn’t see any Shades. I didn’t feel any, either. The fog that filled the streets during the Unseen Hour was dissipating—another sign that we had been successful.

Ahead of me, the gates to the town were open wide. I had no idea whether the watch had fled or the Shades had sung them out before I’d succeeded.

I reached the town wall, running so fast I practically sprinted past the stables where the city watch kept their mounts.

A familiar whinny brought me to a stop.

“Pellix,” I breathed. It was impossible, but there was the grullo stallion, in the end stall.

Pellix snorted, stomping a foot like he always did when he was trying to get my attention and go out for a ride.

Had the watch found him and kept him after I’d disappeared? Did my family not know where he was? Or had they given Pellix to the watch, in hopes his speed would aid in looking for me? Or, even worse, could they not bear the sight of him after I disappeared?

Whatever the reason was, luck was on my side.

“Pellix, I have missed you,” I whispered as I approached the stallion. He pushed his head forward, and I stroked his face.

“I’m so sorry. I promise you a real apology later, but I need you now. Are you ready for a ride?”

Pellix whinnied, stomping his hoof decisively.

I unlatched the gate holding him in. Pellix went still as I stood at his side, and with a grunt I heaved myself up. My chest rested against his back. Another grunt, and another strained heave, and I swung my leg up and over.

“I promise you I will give you endless treats and adventures after this. Orion and I won’t leave you.”

I had no reins to rely on, and instead I fisted my hands in Pellix’s mane, trying not to pull. I leaned forward.

“We have to make it to the ruins. He has to be there.”

I gave a gentle nudge with my heels, and that was all the stallion needed. Pellix was off like a shot, running across the cobblestones and through the gates. I looked overhead and saw the tree hoppers soaring above us and keeping pace.

“Orion!” I screamed as Pellix sped over the hills, toward the ruined church and its cemetery.

Without reins, I didn’t have the same control, but I gently tugged Pellix’s mane to the right, and he cantered to the structure when we got close.

When I saw a figure standing in the cemetery, I slowed Pellix to a walk, leapt off him and landed in the dirt. I stumbled to one knee, and a hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me up.

“Ry! Ry, I’m so glad you’re?—”

I pulled back when watery green eyes met mine instead of stormy blue and grey.

“Bellamy!” I said, too shocked to think of what else to do but greet him.

Bellamy gave me a simpering smile, and a small bow.

“Celia, darling. I was so relieved to hear you were safe. I’ve spent this past year worrying myself sick, and your family has as well. They’ll be so happy that you’re back.”

Pellix whinnied, and I tried to move over to him. Bellamy tugged on my arm, and Pellix stamped the ground. I heard caws overhead.

“What are you doing here? Why would you be at the ruins, on this night of all nights?” I demanded, keeping myself close to the stallion. Bellamy gave Pellix a scrutinizing look.

“The risk was worth it. Your stallion was found near here after the last hour, and I saw bootprints at the ruins. When the past year of searching turned up nothing, I thought I’d try the location you disappeared, on the anniversary of when you went missing.”

The answer technically made sense, but suspicion ate at me.

No one went outside during the hour on purpose.

Well, except for me and my father. But we’d both done it for love. Me, because I loved him, and him, because he loved his family.

Bellamy might have proposed, but I was under no illusion that whatever he felt toward me was love. He didn’t even really know me.

“I appreciate the gesture, Lord Bonds, but as you can see I’m just fine. And I need to find someone else who is supposed to be at these ruins. A man, tall, with brown hair. He has grey eyes. Have you seen him?”

The Marquess snorted, giving me a disapproving look.

“Meeting a man in the middle of the night, unchaperoned? Really, Celia, what have you been doing this past year? It’s a wonder you’ve managed to avoid a public scandal so long, if this is how you’ve been behaving. What will your brothers think?”

I still couldn’t see Orion, and I had not come this far to be judged by the Marquess, of all people.

“Listen here, Bellamy! I really don’t have time for this nonsen?—”

“Celia.” Bellamy glared, but then plastered a smile back on his face.

“You’re merely traumatized. Who knows what you’ve endured while you’ve been away.

I’m sure you’re anxious to get to your family, darling, and into more suitable clothes.

My carriage is right over here. If you’ll just come this way. ”

He grabbed onto my arm again, trying to lead me away from the church. I yanked it back, scowling. Pellix nipped at Bellamy, who barely pulled his own arm away in time.

“Really, Celia, this is ridiculous! There’s no point in fighting me! I have your family’s backing, and I am your fiancé! You will obey me.”

“No! I need to find Orion! Toss off!” I threw my arms out and shoved him.

Bellamy stumbled back, mouth hanging open.

“Ry! Ry! Where are you?” I was growing frantic. What if he had gone back to the Ether? I needed Death. I needed a way back to him.

I entered the ruins themselves, continuing to shout. Bellamy was on my heels, and Pellix whinnied from outside the structure. I heard flapping, uncertain whether the birds had remained with the horse or followed me into the dark church.

“Celia, do you hear yourself? Wandering around in men’s clothes, yelling for some man! You sound hysterical. We need to get you home before anyone else witnesses this … scene.”

“I’m not making a scene! Bellamy, this is important! I?—”

“Not another word!” he yelled, then cleared his throat. “Dear. Come now, let’s get you home.” He wrapped an arm around my torso and hauled me across the stones. I saw a carriage waiting across the cemetery. I struggled against him.

“Bellamy, you're not listening!”

“Cursed gods! You’re being so difficult! One would think you had run off with some man on purpose!”

I dropped to my knees, and he stumbled, releasing me as I became dead weight. Flustered, he barely managed to right himself.

“I did choose another man on purpose! I will never marry you, Bellamy Bonds! The fact that you decided we were engaged without ever asking me convinced me of that before I even met Orion! But now he is my home, and you will not keep me from him. I’ve been living with him for a year, and you can’t undo that.

Your wishes and my brother’s orders will make no difference in the matter. ”

I stood and stamped my foot. His face turned red, and he was waving his arms.

“You insolent, crazed harlot! You belong to me! And that is what will not change. The fact that you’ve given yourself over to some other man just shows me that you’re not worthy of the respect of a wedding ceremony before I take what I’m owed.”

Bellamy lunged at me, pinning my arms and shoving me against a crumbling stone wall.

“Let’s see if this changes your mind,” he told me before shoving his lips on mine.

He pushed his body against me, and I was horrified to feel that he was hard, aroused by the assault.

My arms were trapped, but I could still fight. I brought my knee up to his crotch, and he wheezed, dropping my arms and clutching his trousers.

“You wretched cu?—”

I slapped the Marquess clean across his face and reached for the knife at my side. I leaned over him, yanking him up by his hair and placing the blade at his throat.

“If you don’t leave these ruins right now, I will leave you bleeding on the church floor,” I threatened.

I threw him aside, running farther into the ruins.

“Orion!”

“Celia!” Bellamy called, voice hoarse.

Then, I heard the clacking of beaks and Bellamy yelling at the birds.

They could handle the Marquess for the moment.

After I clambered over a pile of rotting beams, I stepped onto a square area that looked as though it had been recently swept. It shook beneath me. I screamed, stumbling back.

It was a cellar entrance, built directly into the floor of the church. A muffled voice came from behind it .

“Starlight!”

“Ry!” Relief flooded through me.

He wasn’t in the Ether. I still had him.

I knelt down and spotted the lock that had evidently been slid into place. “I’ll get you out. Wait a moment!”

It was half-rotted and didn’t want to budge, but I managed. I tugged the bolt back, and it slid with a squeal. Several times, I checked behind me, dagger sitting at my side and ready, but Bellamy didn’t reappear. Maybe, between my self-defense and the tree hoppers, he’d given up.

I tugged open the door at the same time Orion pushed. He clambered out from the cellar.

“Starlight!” He embraced me. “Thank all the gods. I knew you’d succeeded. I was waiting here, but then?—”

A shot sounded outside, followed by a loud whinny.

“Pellix!”

I charged through the wreckage, Orion on my heels, swearing to bury my ex-fiancé under the church if a single hair on Pellix’s mane was harmed.

“Bellamy Bonds, you rat!” I screeched as I flew out of the ruin, running toward his carriage.

I heard a snort and saw Pellix trotting beyond the graves. There was no visible blood. All five tree hoppers circled above him.

“Oh, thank all the gods!”

Bellamy stood beside his carriage, gun still in hand. I snarled at him like the wild woman he thought I’d become.

“How dare you shoot at my horse, or my birds! And if I hear you’re the one responsible for imprisoning my fiancé?—”

“Fiancé?” That snapped him out of it.

“Yes. I am re-engaged.”

He sneered.

“I was right. You are a whore.”

Orion lunged past me faster than a shot. His fist connected with Bellamy’s jaw. The Marquess fell in an awkward heap, and the gun went flying.

Bellamy rubbed his cheek, his eyes watering. He glowered at Orion.

“You have no right! She belongs to me.”

Orion stepped over the Marquess, and I thought he might hit him again. Instead, he leaned forward, his expression as cold as the Ether.

“She belongs to herself you utter waste. Insult her again, and I’ll make use of the graves in this cemetery.”

My heart skipped. It was possible I ought to examine why Orion’s threats against the Marquess made me even more attracted to him, but I didn’t get the opportunity.

Bellamy shrieked, diving behind one of his carriage wheels. Orion was impressive, but I was surprised the Marquess had been cowed so easily.

It was only then that I noticed the fog spilling over the church grounds. Orion ran to me, shielding me from what was coming.

A figure I’d only seen from a distance was landing amid the graves. Feathered wings beat the sky, and this time, he didn’t get rid of them when he hit the ground.

Charon pulled back his hood, his steely grey eyes landing on the two of us.

He pointed an accusatory finger, and his voice echoed across the grounds.

“You did this.”

And I had no doubt we were going to pay.