She dashed through the tunnel now. The lantern bumped against her hip every few steps, the result would surely be a purple bruise, yet she couldn’t keep from glancing over her shoulder. Something watched her in the blackness of the direction she’d run from. She’d bet her life on it.
Fine, maybe not her life. But she’d bet Shaw’s.
Why was there a trapdoor beneath her parents’ home to begin with? Had they used it? Like Riselda used hers? She couldn’t fathom her parents doing anything of the sort. They were content in this town. Content to do as was bid, to make the most of their small life and small family. It was Riselda. Riselda who’d always been larger than them all.
A gust of frigid air met the back of Lux’s neck. Though she felt fairly certain it was only her brain playing its tricks, she had to check to be sure. For the hundredth time, she glanced over her shoulder—
And smacked headlong into a ladder.
The lantern fell from her hands.
Once the echo of its shattering faded, all her senses allowed for was the stinging on her left side and the feel of rough wood beneath her fingers. Fine enough with her.
It meant she’d made it home.
The living room rugbecame a problem to push aside, what with Lux’s attempted effort at stealth. But move it, she did, until she peered from the crack in the floorboards, surveying the closest item in her line of sight:
Riselda’s bed.
It clearly hadn’t been slept in.
Pushing the trapdoor higher, Lux climbed out, hauling the remains of the lantern up behind her. Even with the fire entirely banked, the room felt like sinking into a hot bath, and she closed her eyes, indulging a moment.
But a moment was all she allowed. Who knew when Riselda would tire of her night with the mayor and return to her? Lux lowered the door, pushing the rug over it so as not even a corner was overturned.
On a relieved breath over making it home alive, she threw some kindling on the fire, her body chilling as it adjusted to the new temperature and greedily found it wanting. As the wood caught, beginning to crackle and spark, she stood.
Clothes. She needed real ones.
Striding to her bedroom, she stripped out of her dress, tossing it across her bed as she shivered. Pulling the doors of her wardrobe wide, she grabbed for anything and everything, wanting her skin covered from neck to toe. The usual ensemble would be enough, and she yanked up the hose so quickly she tore a hole down the length of the seam.
“Dratted, worthless…fabric!”
She hauled another pair from the back, pulling them on instead while glaring daggers at the ruined ones as if they’d torn themselves. A silver shimmer flickered in the corner of her eye, and it stilled her hands. The lifeblood.
“Lucena? Are you here?”
Lux toppled sideways at Riselda’s call. Tossing the destroyed hose in front of the tempting gleam, she pulled on a skirt, tightened her corset, and smoothed back knotted strands of hair.
“Yes.” Standing in her doorway, Lux watched her aunt circle the kitchen table. She still wore her silver dress, though the hem dripped, muddied and wet. The fangs were gone.
Riselda’s smile widened.
“Good. I’d nearly come to the assumption that you’d spent the night elsewhere.” Lux’s abdomen tightened. Riselda laughed. “But that would have been absurd. Even with that young man draped around you like a second skin.”
Her aunt’s true meaning settled over her, pricking her skin. Lux’s spine straightened. “I would never.”
Riselda’s lips pressed together, a smirk pulling at them. “All right, Lucena.”
Lux’s teeth sank into her inner lip, trying in vain to snag at the words pushing from them. “And what of you? The last I saw you were disappearing with our honored mayor. Was it secrets? Orservice?”
Useless. Her teeth were useless.
Riselda’s smile vanished, and her eyes hardened into crystal. Her aunt trailed fingertips along the wall as she followed the bones of the house toward her.
Lux didn’t move. And she told herself she wouldn’t even flinch should Riselda slap her for her questions.
Riselda glided before her. Though instead of reddening her cheek, she placed calloused palms on either side of Lux’s face,sending cool wisps flitting over her skin. Soft lips pressed to her brow.
