I shouted and kicked his thigh as hard as I could. He didn’t budge.
A sword tip pierced my chest...throughmy assailant’s chest. He glanced down at it, gasping, the sack on his head drooping.
Renwell’s masked face appeared over his shoulder. He yanked the man off me and threw him against the wall, where he crumpled. Dead.
Renwell spun back to me. I flinched, lifting my sword.
He could kill me just as easily, and no one would know.
Renwell stiffened, then he slowly lifted his Wolf mask. His features were drawn tight, his eyes dark with rage.
“Did he hurt you?” he demanded in a hoarse whisper.
Confused, I shook my head. He told me not to talk.
Renwell lifted his gloved fingers and gently stroked the cheek of my mask.
My heart hammered. Why was he showing concern? This had to be a ruse. A trick to make me forgive him. He didn’t care for me.
“Didn’t I?”
I turned my face away. His fingers dropped.
“We’re done for the evening,” he said in a deeper voice, backing away and sliding his mask back into place. “I’ll take you toThe Silk Dancernow, if you wish.”
My brow furrowed. He was going to let me see Melaena even though I hadn’t won our game?
“I want to see his face first,” I said, gesturing to the dead man.
I waited for Renwell’s wrath, for his hand around my throat. But nothing.
He nodded.
I bent over the blood-soaked man and removed his hood. A stranger. Thin, dirty brown hair and a crooked nose. He had strange pink scars above and below his closed eyes.
Why had he targeted me?
“Come, Kiera.”
I left the man in the alley and followed Renwell toThe Silk Dancer.
He led me up the steps and held open the door for me. I balked for a moment. I hadn’t realized he meant for us to visitright now.
I would have to meet Melaena dressed as a Shadow-Wolf at Renwell’s side. Gods damn it, she’d probably think I’d surrendered my loyalty to him.
I slipped into the busy atrium of the club. An immediate hush fell over the crowd. Nobles wrapped in fine silks, velvet, and fursstared at us. Jewelry glittered at their necks and wrists like my sword glittered in its sheath.
A small girl nearby stared up at me with stark terror on her face.
That fear hurt worse than anything else had tonight. I must look like a monster to her.
Perhaps that was Renwell’s goal all along.
Renwell sauntered past the quivering nobles to the side corridor. The familiar crimson carpet and ornate doors soothed me the tiniest bit.
The door at the end of the hall burst open, and Melaena emerged, calling over her shoulder, “Ten minutes, ladies! Finish up!”
She caught sight of us and stopped, her plum-colored silk dress whirling about her. “What are you doing here? Renwell assured me?—”
