Page 64 of A Spell of Heart & Havoc

“Fuck! Fuck! That monster nearly blinded me,” she said, shocked tears racing down to mingle with her blood. Finding a cloth on a nearby table—that looked suspiciously like one of Dove’s silky robes—she pressed it on her face and moved as far away from the slitling as she could, swearing quietly against the wall.

My heart pounded, but I said as snidely as I could, “You’re lucky it wasn’t your throat.”

The slitling’s steely gaze swung to me, then Dove, making my breath stop for a long moment. But it merely assessed us and moved on to Stiv, flying the short distance to perch on top of an armchair near him. Sticking its leg out, the bird waited. After a nervous beat, the orc slowly took a piece of parchment from the pouch and stepped away. With a final piercing squawk, the slitling flew up and dove out of the window, back into the night.

“Horrible, horrible beast,” Dove said.

“What does it say?” I asked Stiv, trying to ignore Petra where she was now crouched by the wall in pain, trying to wrap the fabric around her face to cover the wound.

The orc rubbed a large hand over his head, sheathing his axe with a deep sigh.

“Rogue mission. Leave and return to guild for debrief. Immediately.”

His words fell into the thick air of the room. For a moment, the four of us stood still, the only sound from the mantel clock’s gentle ticking.

“I’m not leaving here without her,” Petra hissed to Stiv. “Let’s end this.”

Their attention swung to Dove. She glanced at me, fury at my betrayal written over every inch of her. I tried stepping toward her—she backed away, closer to the window. Even in danger, she wanted nothing to do with me now. Icy cold crept over my body.

“There’s no point in kidnapping me for ransom,” she said to Petra, her voice hollow. “My parents won’t have anything to pay it.”

Petra smiled chillingly. “Oh, we’re not ransoming you, Dovey dear. I know your precious secret. The jewels. Tonight—I could hear through the open bedroom window. I heard you telling the dwarf everything.” The thief’s chin jutted out at me. “Easy to get around this place without detection, if you know where to climb. She’s really not much of a good fake bodyguard, is she?”

My heart stopped.

No. No, no, no.

“Bringing you in should be enough to appease our guildmaster’s displeasure with me. More than enough. So don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

Dove, her eyes huge and pained, continued backing away from all of us. Petra and Stiv advanced.

She glanced behind herself at the open window, then at me, and I saw the moment she shuttered her heart against me and made a decision. Turning, she raced to the windowsill and jumped onto it.

Petra shrieked and darted after Dove, quick as a blink. I desperately lunged forward to cut her off, blades outstretched, but something yanked me back, hard.

Suddenly, Stiv’s thick arm gripped me. A sharp thud struck the back of my head, and everything darkened.

The last thing I saw before my vision faded to black was Petra yanking my love down from the window by her hair, shouts filling the air. Dove’s tear-streaked face.

Then nothing.

29

DOVE

I clutched the mug of calendula tea with both hands, willing them to stop shaking. Either from fatigue, fear, or fury, I couldn’t tell. But it wouldn’t do to show weakness of any kind in present company.

After taking another sweet, warming sip, I straightened my posture and looked back up at my captor. Solid golden eyes, unnerving in their impenetrability, gazed back at me again. I kept myself from flinching this time, just barely.

Zephyra li Novix crossed her lithe legs from behind the desk that separated us, trailing the sharp nails of one hand through her midnight-black hair absently. It felt as if she could eat me up in careful bites with her gaze, see deep into my mind. I’d encountered intimidating individuals before—certain matrons of the society set were not to be trifled with—but this tiefling guildmaster made them all look like declawed kittens. I would run, but there was nowhere to go. We sat in a large, bright room that seemed like her office, burly guards posted outside the door.

I was deep in the heart of the Takers Guild. A prisoner.

“So, little one,” Zephyra murmured in her throaty baritone. “What shall we do with you now?”

My pulse stammered, but I forced myself to hold her eye contact. “Um… release me?”

The guildmaster’s laughter rang out like rich, flowing silk. “I’m afraid not, my dove. Your particular gift makes you quite useful. And more importantly, keeping you is a deliciously perfect punishment for one of my more… hardheaded guild members.”