I could see Lady Korva’s office from here. It was high in the air, and had dozens of windows. They were locked from the inside. We wouldn’t be getting in that way, not unless we broke them.
“So let me get this straight,” Theo said. “You want us to create a distraction, while you and the girls walk right into the Zlodia mansion and find… whatever it is you’re looking for?”
“That’s the plan,” I said. I was shocked we’d managed to rope goody-two-shoes Theo into helping us. But all it took was a little begging from Odette, and he’d caved like a house of cards.
“I am very good at creating distractions,” Stefan said, and his grin widened. He playfully elbowed Delmare.
“Shut up,” she growled. “Can we get moving? I’m freezing my tits off out here.”
“Right. Let’s go.” Me and the girls went one way, while Theo, Alexei and Stefan went the other. When we were directly planted behind the back entrance of the house, we huddled together and waited.
There was a loudboom, followed by the sound of an explosion. Glass went flying everywhere as the greenhouse on the other side of the estate exploded into flames. I could barely see the outline of a dragon hovering above, black scales blending in with pitch night.
I rolled my eyes. Stefan certainly couldn’t be trusted to be subtle.
Servants and guards came running out of the estate in droves. Theo and Alexei, who were both in their animal forms, hovered at the edge of the burning greenhouse. The guards went to give chase, and the two of them flew off into the forest. The servants massed around the greenhouse and quickly got to work on trying to put the fire out.
“Move.” I ran out of the bushes and to the back door. It was locked, but when I rammed myself against it, the door gave way. The girls followed me inside, and we pressed ourselves to the walls as we crept through the shadows, ascending the stairs.
There were giggles behind us from Odette, as well as loud swear words from Delmare every time she accidentally ran into or broke something. So much for not leaving any traces behind that we were here. I should’ve just done this myself. In, out, done. It would’ve taken me no more than a few minutes. The girls were quickly proving to me they had no experience doing special-ops. Even worse, I had to leave most of my gear in the hideout so I didn’t incriminate myself, so we were doing a lot of this the old-fashioned way.
A sudden light came on in front of us as we were climbing the staircase to the third floor, and I flung out my arm to stop the girls from going forward. “What’s this?” I heard Lord Zlodia’s sleepy voice ringing throughout the hall above.
“A fire, sir, in the greenhouse,” a servant replied. “It’s been taken care of. Everything is under control. Go back to sleep.”
Lord Zlodia mumbled, but the light turned off and we heard no more from him. The servant above blazed past us— we all held our breath as he passed on the other side of the staircase. I was sure we’d been seen, but it was dark, and the servant was in such a hurry he didn’t even notice us glued to the wall. We all breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he was gone.
“Hey, Ethan? What’s the penalty for breaking and entering in Malovia?” Emma whispered.
“Into a lord’s house, on royal grounds? You don’t want to know,” I told her.
We reached the third floor. There were so many doors— I wasn’t sure which one led to Korva’s office, until Emma strode down the hallway and guessed by peeking her head inside the first door she opened.
“It’s clear,” she called. We picked up the pace. Emma opened the door and revealed Korva’s office. We hurried inside, and I locked the door behind us.
Korva’s office was huge and expansive. Dozens of bookcases lined the walls, packed with hundreds of books. A large oak desk with a high-backed chair sat in the middle. The floor was crowded with alchemist vials and various objects useful for enchanting. Cauldrons, jars of ingredients, and strange artifacts littered the ornate rugs. A stuffed raven sat on a perch in the corner. It seemed to watch us with a creepy stare.
It looked more like a library than an office. By the Seven Gods, there was a lot of crap in here. It could take hours to go through. We didn’t have that kind of time. I was glad we’d brought five people to search.
“Start looking,” I said. We scrambled to comb through the stuff. I gently sorted through the items, starting with the books that looked like they’d been read recently. “Try not to make it look like anything’s been—”
There was the crashing sound of a vial behind me. Odette stood above a smashed collection of glass, raising her hands in an apology.
I sucked in an irritated breath. “Touched.”
Fifteen minutes passed. We went through as much as we could, but everything we came across was either mundane or unimportant. Maybe we’d been wrong and Lady Korva had nothing to do with the attacks. If that was true, we needed to get out of here. Before we got caught.
“Hey, guys. Look at this.” Emma stood behind the oak desk. “I found it in a secret compartment underneath the drawer.”
In her hands was a necklace. The chain was made of black lace, an obsidian medallion in an oval shape dangling from it. She held it out to us, and I took a step back.
That medallion seemed like it was sucking me in. A rotten feeling emanated from it, twisting my innards and siphoning all the air out of the room. It was like I could hear an eerie chant humming from the object— something grotesque and foreboding. Emma took a step forward, and I cringed. I wanted her to get that necklace the hell away from me.
Kiara put a hand to her throat. “That’s Unseelie magic,” she whispered.
“Put it back,” Odette hissed, clinging to Delmare.
Emma ignored her. She held it up to me to see. “Will this be enough to prove Korva’s a murderer?”
