Page 277 of She Walks with Broken Things

“Stay here.”

Ghost stopped. “Nyssa.”

I turned. “If I’m allowed inside my own home, then I’m allowed inside the study.’

His jaw flexed. Own home. The words hurt. I pushed the door open. Nothing happened. No alarm. No men rushing toward me. No Alaric appearing from the shadows. Just the study, exactly as it’d always been.

Desk.

Books.

Chair.

Window.

The place I’d once watched Alaric work. The place we’d talked. Fought. The place Lily’s ribbon had waited. My gaze moved toward the desk. Gone now. Of course it was. Everything looked normal. That should’ve reassured me. It didn’t.

I stepped inside and closed the door. Ghost didn’t stop me. For several seconds, I stood there. Listening. Nothing. My phone felt heavy in my pocket. I didn’t take it out. I didn’t need to. I remembered every word. Beneath the study.

I looked down. Floorboards. Rug. Furniture.

Nothing.

“This is insane.”

My voice sounded too loud. I walked toward the desk. Checked beneath it.

Nothing.

The shelves.

Nothing.

I almost laughed. Of course there was nothing. I’d let him inside my head.

Again.

The Clove Man had asked a question and I’d turned it into an architecture. There was no secret room. No cellar. No hidden truth. Just me standing inside Alaric’s study while armed men guarded the doors because apparently none of us knew how to fucking live anymore.