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“There was no way in hell I’d let you owe those twisted fucks another debt. This one’s mine. We’ll get Christy back together. Got it?”
“Got it,” Kate nods, then accepting Beast’s hug murmurs, “Hold on Christy, we’re coming.”
* * *
“Kate!”I shout, sitting bolt upright in bed. My skin is covered in sweat, my heart pounding loudly in my chest as I blink back the vision and try to reorient myself in the room. It’s dark outside. A full moon sits like a pendant in the night sky flooding our room with silvery moonlight. Konrad is long gone and Thirteen stirs, reaching for me, her cool fingers wrapping around my arm.
Nightmare?her expression seems to say.
“A bad dream,” I lie, getting out of bed and padding over to the window. “Just a bad dream.”
Pressing my forehead against the cool glass I blink back the tears, remembering how Kate had looked, going over in my mind what the vision had shown me.
“It’s been a month,”she’d said, which means this vision takes place almost two weeks in the future. Two weeks where anything could happen...“She could already be dead.”
“Oh God,” I mutter, closing my eyes against the tears, and trying not to focus on the fact that Beast could be right and I might only have days left to live, hours even.
Behind me I hear Thirteen moving about. She clicks on the gas burner, striking a match. The familiar sounds of her brewing some tea does nothing to help soothe my racing thoughts.
“It’s about time you told Ford about his sister, don’t you think?”
Ford? I have abrother? Kate has kept him from me… Why?
Pressing my palm against the windowpane, I swallow hard. What other secrets has she been keeping from me? “Damn it, Kate!” I whisper.
Thirteen presses her fingers against my shoulder, making me jump, the after effects of my vision making me feel even more on edge than I already am. She hands me a mug of chamomile tea and I take it from her automatically. I feel like a robot. My body is moving as it should be but everything else feels disconnected.
Drink, she urges, pressing her fingertips against my hand holding the mug.
I take a sip, drinking but not tasting.
Tipping her head to the side, Thirteen’s eyes scan my face. She’s worried about me, I can see that plain as day, but I don’t feel like having a conversation with her. Not right now. Not whilst I have all these thoughts in my head and pain in my heart.
Turning my attention back to the view before me, I allow my thoughts to roam. Who is Arden Dálaigh, and theDeana-Dhe? Why is Beast so worried about them helping Kate to find me? And what debt are they talking about?
“Arden, we’re coming with you to the Ball.”
The Ball.Fuck!
Kate and Beast are coming to the Ball. That’s their way in, but I know The Masks, this is their domain, they’ll kill them both the second they step foot in the castle.
“I need to get out of here!” I say, frustrated tears prickling my eyes, but even as I say the words I know it’s useless to try and run without a plan.
I need a way out. I need help.
I could wait for my sister and Beast to turn up and hope we’d all survive, or I could take matters into my own hands. I saw the fear on Beast’s face, he’s not a man who scares easily, so whatever is going on with these mysterious Deana-Dhe, it can’t be good. Beast said that he didn’t want Kate to owe them another debt, so he’s taken it on himself. He doesn’t have to do that, but he’s going to, for Kate, for me. They’re putting themselves in danger and I can’t let either of them owe anyone a debt. Kate can’t leave Iris. Ihaveto get out of here.
I have to.
But the vision was in the future which means I haven’t managed to escape… or I’m dead… or I’m on my way back to her and she doesn’t know it yet. I’m hoping for the latter, because the other two options are inconceivable to me.
“You know I won’t stay here, don’t you?” I say, my breath fogging up the windowpane.
Thirteen sighs, and even though I don’t turn to face her, I know she’s nodding her head.
“My sister is looking for me. Her name is Grim and she’s a very dangerous woman. She won’t rest until she finds me, and when she does, Thirteen, she’ll kill The Masks, maybe even die trying. Ihaveto leave before that happens. She’s a mother. I have a niece. I can’t be responsible for making her an orphan. I won’t.”
Thirteen grips my arm, forcing me to face her.No, she protests, shaking her head.
