She paused mid-slice, her eyes sharp as she glanced at me, like she expected me to already know. “Anything to get closer to the Soulless Man,duh.”
I shook my head, weakly, just as she pulled the rope away from my torso and tossed it away.
But it landed beneath me.
In the fire.
The sudden crackle beneath my back sent a jolt of horror through me. “Fuck!” I screamed, the heat of the steel doubling, burning deeper into my skin, searing it raw.
“Shit, shit,” she muttered, the fire cackling louder under me. “Fuck, my bad! Forgot there was fire under you for a second!” She cut through the remaining ropes faster, laughing because again, she got off on my misery.
“Girl,” I hissed, forcing myself to endure the blistering pain. I knew a part of her had done it intentionally, but I couldn’t even curse her for it; I needed her help more than my anger.
As she cut through the ropes at my calves, I rasped out, “What about Thrax? Where is he? How did you two find me?”
“Finding people is the easiest thing for Merton and me,” she said. “We found the Soulless Man, remember? And the book rat was predictable. We didn’t have to think too hard.”
“What about Thrax? Did you see him on your way?”
Amelia let out a long, quiet breath, and my heart clenched.
“When we regained consciousness and broke out of where we were, Merton and I went to your place first to see if you were alright but...”
“But what?” I forced myself to sit despite the jolt of pain that ripped through my spine at the action.
“He’s locked in.” She sliced through another rope, her voice flat but her eyes flicking to mine. “We couldn’t enter and he couldn’t come out. The windows were unbreakable and so was the front door. They must have sealed the whole house with some kind of spell. Even Merton didn’t recognise it, and we couldn’t break through or neutralise it. He is stuck inside.” She pulled the last rope off, tossing it to the floor. “Merton wanted to take his time breaking the spell, but the Soulless Man told us to go find and save you instead. He said he’s got it under control.”
I swallowed, her words like stones sliding down my throat. As she helped me down from the steel surface, her palm skimmed across my back where the skin was no doubt scorched and red from the flames.
“Take me to him,” I said. He would be worried sick. He could feel things that I felt, and the emotional pain and terror I’d gone through for the past minutes must have him worried. More than that, I wanted to collapse against him and have his body and arms around me. “I want to see him.”
Amelia nodded once, glancing over her shoulder at Merton who had just snapped someone’s neck, the sound echoing like a crack of thunder. I swallowed hard, scanning the unconscious men strewn across the ground.
Amelia stepped around the altar to meet her brother at the edge of the clearing, near the fire lantern, saying something I couldn’t hear. I followed, my pace uneven, each step a careful negotiation between pain and balance.
I heard a sound behind me. At first, I thought it was from the animals quietly scurrying in the grass. But then the presence felt heavier, creeping down my spine.
I didn’t pay it too much attention until they were breathing down my back.
I turned, eyes widening.
It was the man who had blindfolded me. The one who had pressed the knife to my chest. I just noticed that he was also the one who helped Winifred with his wheelchair that day.
He closed in with a stagger, a knife already buried in his own side, blood dripping from his mouth in thick ropes as he bared his teeth at me like an animal.
“Now and evermore.”
“SANORA, DUCK!”
But it was too late.
The ritual knife plunged into my stomach.
Deep.
At that same moment, another knife—a blur of silver—whipped past my head and buried itself in the man’s skull.
Liquid filled my throat instantly, hot and metallic, clogging my breath. I choked, coughing, blood spurting from my mouth as my hands went instinctively to the knife lodged in my stomach, crimson soaking through my shirt at a terrifying pace.
