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“I. Am. Aware.”
Nadia smiles slowly. “Now you are.”
Maura insists on my going first into the wardrobe. I don’t think she trusts Nadia not to slam the door shut and whisk me away. I won’t pretend I don’t enjoy her jealousy, just a little bit. Or at least I would if we weren’t in fear of our lives. Or, rather, my life. The hunter isn’t after Maura. He’s after me. She could wash her hands of this whole mess right now and leave me to figure it out for myself.
She won’t.
I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I can’t believe things are unchanged after what happened last night. She held me like she loved me. She touched me in a way that didn’t feel like goodbye but more like a promise of the future.
A future with us together.
Maybe I’m naive to believe that, but I can’t shake it. And so I climb through the wardrobe and into the darkness.
15
MAURA
“The Siren’s Call is on the other side of the square. It’s the biggest building.” Nadia huffs out a breath. “Now go.”
“Thank you.” After that, there’s nothing left to say. I go.
I wrestle my way through the wardrobe and into the narrow gap at the back. The stairway is broad enough that I don’t have to angle my body to avoid my scabbard scraping on the wall. I can hear Juliette a few steps down, her breathing choppy.
It’s only then that I remember she doesn’t like tight, closed spaces.
I hurry down the last few steps between us and feel for her hand. “It’s okay.” The words are barely a whisper. I am very aware that we can hear faint voices through the wall on our right. Which means they can hear us, too. “I’ve got you.”
She doesn’t respond with words. Instead, she clamps her hand around mine and holds tight. We inch carefully down the stairs. Even though the Cwn Annwn is supposedly gone, the air of danger has tightened around me. We have to get off this fucking island, and we have to do it right now.
It takes a small eternity to make it to the ground level. I pull Juliette close. “Let me go first.” She huffs in exasperation but nods, edging to the side so I can slip past.
As promised, the door leads out the back of the brothel. There are a few buildings back here, but the forest creeps in close enough that no one should be able to see us. I still hold my breath and wait several beats, half sure that we’re about to step into an ambush. I know it doesn’t make sense. If Eloise wanted to hand us over, she would have done it already.
Unless she didn’t want a mess in her precious brothel.
I draw one of my medium-sized knives on instinct. It’s small enough that I can conceal it within my duster but plenty large enough to carve our way through anyone who gets between us and our escape.
“Maura?”
I shake myself. “I think we’re good. Come on.”
It would be preferable to take cover in the trees, but I haven’t forgotten the warning about portals. I’m not even sure what portals look like on this island, so I can’t guarantee that we wouldn’t fall into one if we crossed the tree line. The messiness of the situation only gets worse as time goes on. I haven’t even begun to consider how we get to the dock and row out toward the ship without anyone seeing us. There has to be a way, but without that spell to exit Atlantis safely, it’s a lost cause.
What I need is Daichi. I didn’t see him in The Bawdy Banquet last night, but admittedly I was more focused on getting to Juliette before she disappeared with Nadia than I was about searching in the room for my navigator. Now it’s too late.
The buildings are situated close together, but they aren’t fully connected, so I can see down the narrow alley to the square. From how loud things were last night, I half expected to see people passed out in the dirt this afternoon, but it looks just the same as it did when we arrived. People move to and fro, some quickly and intent on their destination, and some leisurely as if they have all the time in the world. Unfortunately, there are not enough people to constitute a crowd that we could hide in.
“We’ll go along the back of the buildings and come around the other side.” I squeeze Juliette’s hand. “It will be okay.”
“You keep saying that. Are you trying to calm me or yourself?” Juliette smiles, and it strikes me that she is the one actually reassuring me. I should remind her exactly what danger she’s in, but I appreciate the reassurance.
“Maybe a bit of both.” There’s no time left for talking, so I lead the way down the back of the buildings. Every step, I expect that crimson-cloaked bastard to pop out and threaten us. Somehow, making it to the end of the buildings is almost worse. My tension is so thick, I could cut it with my sword. I hesitate. I don’t want to let Juliette out of my sight, but if he knows what she looks like, it’s not safe for her to wander about where anyone can see her.
