Page 83 of Serpent and Shadow

Asecond hand clamped over my mouth before I could scream.

Then a larger body shoved itself into the alcove with me, and pressed me hard into the wall. I looked up. My eyes widened as glowing gold-green eyes stared into mine.

“What in the fucking gods is wrong with you?” he demanded harshly.

My breath stopped.

“Is your mind broken?” he spat. “Have those Golden Sun wankers dosed you with some kind of suicide curse?”

My heart jerked violently in my chest. It hurt so badly I couldn’t think, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. I stared up at him, at those familiar gold eyes I barely recognized, and felt like I’d been ripped open from the inside.

Bones.

For that long-feeling silence, all I could do was stare at him.

He wasn’t naked, filthy, chained to a wall, or alone inside an underground dungeon. He wasn’t being branded with a hot iron. He wasn’t bleeding. He didn’t look broken, or lost.

He also wouldn’t quite look at me.

Leached of feeling, even of recognition, his eyes stared coldly at the stone wall to the right of my face.

He wore one of his expensive suits, gold cufflinks, his usual rings. His hair appeared to be slightly damp, like he’d taken a shower not so long ago, or a bath. He held me firmly to the wall, his hands clenched brutally. He’d changed their positions at some point, and now gripped me by the shoulder and part of my neck, his other hand still over my mouth.

Briefly, for the barest breath, I saw what might’ve been conflict in his eyes, right before his gaze flattened even more.

“What is wrong with you?” he hissed again. “Wasn’t my threatening to kill you enough?”

I didn’t think about it, really.

I kneed him, hard, in the crotch.

He stood too close to maneuver entirely out of the way, although he managed to block me partly with one leg. He still let out a pained gasp. More to the point, he released my mouth long enough for me to suck in a full breath.

By the time I’d let it out, he had a dagger to my throat, his mouth by my ear.

“Make one fucking sound, I’ll kill us both,” he hissed.

I went totally still.

Somehow, that time, I believed him.

He still held my throat, but not as tightly. His other hand gripped the knife.

He’d stopped breathing, and I found myself holding my own breath. I heard what he must’ve picked up on before I got all the way there. Footsteps, coming down the corridor, loud enough that they seemed to echo through my ears.

I soundlessly mouthed the incantation Alaric had given me for the talisman, and nearly let out a squeak when Bones disappeared in front of me. His fingers tightened on my throat, and I felt the blade nick my skin and looked down. Both of us were invisible now. I wondered if he even knew he’d cut me.

Take the blade off my throat before you kill me, I snapped in his mind.

The cold metal instantly left my skin, but not before he managed to nick me again. I could feel his fingers still wrapped around my throat, and now they were feeling around. I felt the instant he accidentally touched the cut, and likely some of my blood, and flinched. He tensed, and I felt him breathing harder where he held me.

He still didn’t make a sound.

We both just stood there as the sound of footsteps continued to come closer. I could tell they were walking the same direction the first group had, towards the main receiving hall, and the southern wing of the castle. Whoever it was, they were alone, and they walked much more quickly than the first group had.

Despite the lack of carpet on the long, tile hall, their footsteps remained shockingly quiet, almost like they were walking barefoot on the marble.

“Where are you, runt?” a voice asked coldly.