His gaze traveled from the dagger to her eyes and back again. “My darling girl. I do believe we have a bargain.”
Chapter forty-three
The agreement was struck.Lux would see Shaw freed once Morana was brought before the mayor in exchange. Then she was to gather her things, say her goodbyes, and move within the mansion, giving her brilliance over to the mayor to use at his will.
She never had any intention of following through on that final promise, of course.
Rescuing Morana, planting her before the mayor, and seeing Shaw walk from those poisoned walls, she would do. But she would never truly consent to becoming another’s plaything. Unfortunately, that left the problem of her likely murder once the mayor discovered he’d been cheated.
She’d think on that later.
Right now, she had to focus on escaping Ghadra’s walls without being seen.
She couldn’t go home. Riselda would demand to know where she’d been and why she didn’t heed her warning. And shecouldn’t go through the tunnels. For one, she wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t end up lost, and for the other, she hadn’t any desire to face the phantom in the dark again. Better to brave the trees.
A rotten hint still clung to the air as Lux passed through Ghadra, leaving it to rise behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder, toward the grey walls, and the mayor’s threat entered her head:Bring her back unharmed and whole, or my end is forfeit. The boy dies.
She only hoped now that the phantom had indeed left Morana’s body intact and that the bruise surely gracing her cheek would fade before the time of her father’s inspection. She yawned beneath the cool moonlight. These late-night excursions may be the death of her yet, long before the mayor ever got to her.
It wasn’t lost on her that several weeks ago she wouldn’t have dreamed of entering the wood, and now here she stood, for the third time, beneath their black boughs. Desperate times. It only irritated her further that her reason for venturing amongst the trees again was to rescue an ageless girl whom she didn’t even like, and maybe even hated.
For Shaw. He didn’t deserve his fate, and the quick reminder propelled her first steps into the dark soil.
A swift swirl of cold welcomed her return, and Lux cursed her loss of gloves and ruined cloak. She shouldn’t have returned Shaw’s coat. If she could do it all again, she would have kept her mouth shut about Morana and left her to the phantom. She could be happily plotting her escape from a lush bedroom right now while Shaw walked free. Maybe, someday, she would learn to think things through.
Something niggled at her insides.No. She couldn’t possibly feelsorryfor Morana. Could she? Lux huffed, rubbing her handsalong her sides. It returned the feeling to them somewhat but did nothing in drawing away the empathetic sensation.
Benevolence was not her nature. “Damn it all.” She didn’t even recognize herself any longer.
The moss squelched beneath her boots, and she curled her lip at the sound as it brought back memories of being doused head to heel. She hurried through the trees, and when she came to the slope that had made a fool of her once, she dug her dagger in deep and climbed. The wood didn’t speak to her, and as she clambered down the opposite side, no roots greeted her descent.
All in all, it was already going infinitely better than last time.
The eerie glow of the forest beckoned her forward, and if her fingers hadn’t felt as though they would fall off at any moment, she knew they’d be slick with sweat. For the cottage was near.
No light suffused the window, nothing but the pale glow of the trees. But Lux knew that nothing so simple meant the phantom wasn’t at home. Slipping from shadow to shadow, she drew near and hunched over, her body well beneath the window as she followed along the exterior. Perhaps the mayor’s daughter was already dead. At the least, she was drugged. The Morana of her childhood would have never made for a silent prisoner.
A spine-tingling howl rose up through the wood.
Though she would certainly take a dead body’s discovery as opposed tothat.Risking a quick glance through the windows, she picked out nothing of note. Another howl joined in horrifying harmony with its mate, and in that, the decision was made for her. Phantom or no, Lux opened the door and slipped inside.
Every muscle of her body tensed with the snicking of the door at her back. Her eyes roved the room, coming to rest upon the trap door. The rug lay askew across it, and a small seed of hope took root in that perhaps the phantom was gone and not hiding in the shadows after all. She stepped forward.
The floorboard creaked.
Lux jumped even as the sound came from her own two feet. She cursed her clumsiness. She didn’t often make such mistakes.
Still, the hooded wraith didn’t come.
With a relieved breath, Lux hurried toward the back of the cottage, where the bookshelf rose up first. She slowed. She hadn’t gotten a proper chance to comb through it for clues to the phantom’s identity, and now that she knew she was alone, aside from a sedated Morana somewhere, it drew her in.
Most were ancient. Most were thick. Most were covered in dust.
There was one that was none of these.
Lux pulled it from its perch and flipped open the cover. The subject was some variant of botany, but the topic didn’t hold her attention long. A yellowed piece of parchment, folded several times over, fluttered to the floor.
Setting the book down, she snatched it as it landed. Drawing as close to the glow of the trees as she dared, she unfolded the old paper with swift fingers.
