Page 156 of Of Masks and Fury

She burst through a door leading to the servants’ wing. A maid carrying linens screamed and dropped her load as the woman shoved past. The sheets billowed across the floor.

I leaped over them, not breaking stride. Isi stayed with me, her breathing controlled despite the pace. My fierce Minx, matching me step for step even in pursuit of someone who could kill us both.

Our companions dove at her, raking claws down her spine. She shrieked and whipped magic their way, sending them reeling.

The woman rounded another corner. She looked back. She was older than I’d expected, her features angular and sharp. Definitely not anyone from my court. I knew every face in this palace, every servant and advisor and guard.

This was a stranger. An intruder who may have been able to get past my wards with some sort of magic. She could’ve heard everything we’d discussed.

Fury burned through me. This was my castle. And someone had walked through it freely, gathering intelligence to use against us.

Against Isi.

I pushed harder, my legs burning with the effort. The woman hit the exterior door with both hands, magic exploding outward to blow it off its hinges. Sunlight flooded the dim corridor as she sprinted into the courtyard.

We followed. Morning light made me squint after the torch-lit corridors. The woman was already halfway across the open space, heading for the back lawn and the forest beyond.

If she fled into those trees, it would be harder to follow her.

I reached for my magic, pulling it up from the well inside me. The power surged hot and ready, eager for release. I shaped it into a binding spell, something to slow her down without killing her.

I needed answers more than I needed her dead.

The spell shot from my hands, golden light streaking across the courtyard. It wrapped around her ankles as she reached the lawn.

She went down hard, rolling with the impact, followed by Pherin and Gavelle, who plucked at her clothing and tried to claw at her face.

Instead of staying down, the woman twisted and slammed her palms against the grass. Magic erupted from the earth itself, shattering my binding and sending our companions spiraling away.

What in all the fates?

She scrambled to her feet and kept running. Soil clung to her clothes, grass stains marking where she’d fallen. Streaks of blood from Gavelle and Pherin’s attacks drizzled across the fabric.

Isi pulled ahead of me, her legs pumping as she closed the distance.

The forest loomed closer.

Gavelle and Pherin shifted, galloping after her in firecat form.

“Isi, fall back,” I called. This woman could have more magic waiting. She could have traps set in those trees.

“Not a chance.” Isi didn’t even look back.

She was just as stubborn as I was protective.

The woman’s hand shot out again, fingers splayed. The air between us shimmered with gathering power.

I threw myself forward, tackling Isi around the waist. We hit the grass as power screamed overhead, close enough that the heat of it singed my hair.

Pherin and Gavelle leaped up, shifting mid-air into bird form, flying high enough to avoid impact.

I rolled us both, putting my body between her and the threat.

The woman had gained some distance. She was going to make it to the trees.

I pulled Isi to her feet, and we sprinted after her. My lungs burned. Sweat ran down my back beneath my tunic. But I didn’t stop.

This woman may know everything. I would cut out my own heart before I let her report what she may have heard to whoever she was working with.