Page 309

Then my light steadied. A beam, just a structural beam catching the edge of something brighter beyond it. Shadow moved behind it. I stopped breathing. A man stepped forward. One step. Then another.

Dark coat.

Hands loose at his sides.

No weapon.

He didn’t need one… did he?

He moved into the weak spill of light. My gaze lifted and stopped.

Jesus…

The whistle.

I understood.

Not damaged breathing and not congestion and no wet woollen scarf covering half of his face. Not this time. No. This time he let me see. There was nothing at the center of his face to shape the air. No nose. Just darkness where one should’ve been. Two open cavities disappearing into shadow.

My stomach convulsed. He inhaled and that whistle came again.

Wet.

Soft.

Familiar.

I knew that sound better than I knew his face.

He stopped several feet away. Neither of us moved. Then⁠—

“You came.”

His voice.

God.

That voice.

Calm.

Almost fucking… amused.

Never breathless.

Never angry as though anger had no place inside him. No. He liked annihilation instead.

He was exactly as I remembered.

My hand tightened around The Phantom.

“I said I would.”

Something moved at the corner of his mouth. Not quite a smile.

“No.” His head tilted. “You didn’t.”

Cold moved across my skin. He was right. I hated that too.