“Can’t we just talk about this?” I asked, wincing as yet more stuff joined the mess on the floor. “You don’t have to get crazy.”
They ignored me.
Kicking aside the mess, they scanned the chaos for another vial like the one Lucien had given me. When they found nothing, they took their destruction into the kitchen.
The cutlery drawer was flung aside, the pantry ransacked, and fridge left open.
Bottles clattered, glasses shattered. At least they didn’t ruin any wine—seeing as I’d already drunk the meagre supplies that’d arrived a few days earlier.
The soft hiss of fabric shredded as Lydia attacked my wardrobe.
“Will you stop?” I crossed my arms, ordering my legs to stay stable even as a migraine slowly built behind my eyes. “You can clearly see I don’t have anything.”
“That’s going to be a problem if it’s true,” Evelyn muttered as she ripped out a cushion’s stuffing and shook the case. “You better hope we find something.”
“Last chance, little whore.” Lydia smirked like a deranged villain. “Where are you hiding it?”
“I told you; I’m not hiding anything. I honestly don’t have any more.” Forcing my tongue to work, I rushed, “I’m not one of you, remember? I’m not here to do whatever it is that you are. I’m not lying or trying to win over you. All I want to do is rest and stay out of trouble until I can somehow find a way home.”
“We can send you home.” Lydia grinned. “Today if you don’t behave.”
I gulped.
Out the corner of my eye, a black shadow appeared in the courtyard. Through the open door, Whisper froze. One paw above the earth as if he was about to take another step, his golden eyes meeting mine.
Neither girl saw him behind them.
His teeth flashed as he lowered himself into a pounce.
I shuddered at the thought of watching these women be torn apart.
I wouldn’t be able to stay living in this pavilion if everything was covered in gristle and blood.
I shook my head subtly, hoping he’d get the message. Don’t.
I hoped he’d sense my inner voice and saved the massacre for when Lydia and Evelyn had left. If I was honest, I was surprised they were still alive after Lucien’s systematic deletion of all the assassins in Cinderkeep. They were probably the last ones alive, and despite my dislike of them, I’d known them long enough to actually care if they got dismembered.
“You should go,” I whispered to the two wannabe thieves. “Before it’s too late.”
Evelyn gawked at me. “Did you just threaten us?”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“Fuck it,” Lydia cut in. “It’s not here.” Balling her hands, she stalked toward me. “Maybe you’re hiding it on your body, huh?”
Whisper’s haunches bristled. He took a silent step forward, the girls oblivious as his lips peeled back, revealing dangerously sharp teeth.
He took another step.
I shook my head. Leave. I tried to shoo him with silent commands. Go back to Lucien. I can handle this.
My head throbbed, contradicting me.
Okay, so maybe I couldn’t handle it, but I didn’t want Whisper to get hurt. Laura had managed to cut him, and she was as skilled as me when it came to fighting. Evelyn and Lydia had been trained by whoever threw them in here. They had weapons.
Lydia snapped her fingers at Evelyn. “Hold her down. I’ll search her myself.”
Whisper’s ears flattened as both girls crowded me, pushing me back down onto the bed.
I lost sight of him.
Panic that he’d pounce had me falling sideways, looking past them.
My eyes met the panther’s. We shared a look. And instead of him charging in and drenching my place in blood, he snapped his teeth, spun around, and took off like a streak of midnight.
“Maybe we should open you up?” Evelyn smirked. “See if you’re hiding it inside you.”
My gaze snapped to hers. “What?”
“Maybe you swallowed it.” She smiled, yanking out a dagger from her legging’s waistband. “Should we find out?”
A chill shot down my spine. “You’re insane.”
“And you’re dead,” she whispered.
Lydia leaped on the bed behind me. Her nails scored crescent moons into my wrists as she yanked me down and pinned my arms above my head, digging her knee into the sensitive part where my shoulder met neck.
Discomfort flared, hot and debilitating.
“Let me go.” I bucked and wriggled but Lydia ground her knee into my shoulder, making me cry out.
Evelyn landed on top of me, locking my hips beneath her spread legs, her left hand pressing against my sternum, grinding my raindrop pendant against me.
She brought up the dagger with her right.
“I don’t think you’re in the position to tell us what to do, do you?” She grinned and pressed the sharp knife against my throat. “Last chance. Where’s another bottle of Ashfall blood?”
“I told you!” I cringed away from her blade, cursing myself for being so pathetically weak. “He hasn’t given me another one! That other one wasn’t even planned. He just—”
“If that’s true, what do we need you for then?” Evelyn smirked, tracing the metal tip along my cheekbone. “Better to get rid of you so someone else—someone better—can serve in his bed.”
“For the last time, I’m not sleeping with him!”
“There’s only one way to make sure.” She smiled and pressed the dagger against my very breakable skin. It split with a sharp sting, the tickle of blood rolling hotly down my neck.
“Wait!”
Lydia’s fingers clamped harder as I struggled. “Just let it happen,” she cooed. “Fighting will only make it hurt worse.”
“Oh, I think a bit of pain would be good after she’s wasted so much of our time, don’t you?” Evelyn snapped. Rearing upright, she removed the dagger from my throat and grinned. “You really shouldn’t have gotten in our way, you know.”
And then she hit me.
Hard.
A ruthless punch to my face.
Stars exploded. Coppery blood bloomed in my mouth.
“That’s for wasting our time,” Evelyn spat as she pulled back.
She hit me again, this time in my stomach.
I tried to curl in and protect myself, but Lydia kept me trapped.
“That’s for thinking you’re better than us.”
She hit me again, right on my breast.
I groaned as pain exploded.
“And that’s for refusing to give us what we want.”
Every punch compounded in my skull as fireworks shot up my spine and gathered in the base of my skull. The migraine that’d been simmering since they’d arrived ignited, hijacking all my senses with shooting, searing misery.
I squirmed, wishing I could claw and bite and win—but that nasty dagger pressed against my throat again.
Panting, I did my best to look through the haze and beg. “Please...y-you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to kill me.”
“Yeah, we do.” Evelyn leaned close, her eyes full of evil satisfaction. “You’re lucky we kept you alive this long.”
Lydia’s fingernails gouged into my wrists, jerking my arms so hard they threatened to pop out of their sockets. “Do it.”
I fought.
My panic set off a tumble of dominos in my brain, shutting down my senses, making me blind and deaf and petrified.
Evelyn raised the knife, aiming for my heart.
She brought it down—