His voice changed around the word. She didn’t imagine it. The pitch of it caused her eyes to narrow at his form. “You’ll not seek him out. He has nothing to do with any of this.”
“Protective of him, are you? It must have gone well.”
Bitterness? From her kidnapper?Let him think whatever he likes.So long as he left Mr. Lofte alone. Alora couldn’t imagine facing down his aunt should anything happen to him because of her.
“Where have you brought me?”
“Somewhere safe. As I said.”
She’d argued with him well over half their journey. Berated, rather. At least at first. For him to put her down, to tell her what he planned. To give her back the light he’d broken. But he’d ignored every demand, scoffed at every threat. He’d told her he wouldn’t hurt her. That he was only taking her somewhere secret. Somewhere safe. And she’d believed him. Just as she believed him now.
What a fool she was, to believe someone she didn’t trust.
There were two windows, each blocked by heavy, black curtains. No fireplace warmed the space. Instead, there were lamps, two of which were lit upon the end tables that bracketed the sofa. She didn’t recognize any of it.
“At least tell me we’re still in Enver.”
“Considering I cannot manipulate time and space, yes. We’re not so far from your home.”
“How would you know where my home is?” At first, she frowned up at him, where he draped a blanket over her legs, propping her swollen ankle onto a pillow. Then her expression melted into one of realization. “You’ve been there. It was you who brought my cloak back.”
The Urchin’s fingers stilled where they cupped her heel. “Your Opulence cloak was missing?”
“Yes. I’d left it behind. In the Room of—”
“Love?”
If his hand weren’t so tender on her skin, she might have leapt back at the danger in his voice. As it was, she merely stiffened. And nodded.
The Urchin replaced her heel with care, but Alora could see the shift in his form. How every muscle beneath his dark clothing seemed to vibrate with tension.
“If you didn’t return it—” she began and faltered.
“I did not.”
A stone settled in her stomach. “William?”
“Most likely.”
She thought she’d feel terror. That William would have not only tricked her back at Opulence but now sought her out. Knew where she lived, and where she slept. But she didn’t. Instead, white fury seared through her. “How dare he!”
She could feel the Urchin’s attention on her face, on her fingers gripping the sofa beneath her until they blanched.How dare he.Imaginings coursed through her. Of the punishments she wished to exact. Appendages she yearned to remove.
“I should have choked the light from him.”
Alora stuttered over her thinking. Slowly, she surfaced from her many inspirations, enough that she watched the Urchin move to another lamp and snap the matchstick before it reached its destination. He tossed it away with a growl.
Another strike. Another broken match.
“Maybe you should leave it,” Alora suggested.
“Leave it? I can’tleaveit. William has always toyed with boundaries, crossed several, but he has dropped over the edge with this. Merridon will hear of it, and he will intervene. You won’t be punished; I won’t allow it. You will finish your project, quick as you can, and leave Opulence be.”
“I meant the match.”
“What?”
Her eyes widened at his full attention, body turned toward her, towering above. “I meant to leave the match. There’s enough lamplight.”
