“No. For other reasons.” He didn’t elaborate, and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to.
“Are there other ways for you to get home?” It felt absurd to talk about the whole magical-other-world thing as if it were real, but I couldn’t help myself.
Every glimmer of sadness or emptiness I’d seen in him before that moment paled in comparison to the sheer hopelessness I saw in his eyes then, and even his rich voice was flat and hollow when he said, simply, “No.”
There was so much pain in that word that it made my body ache. Even though I’d just met this man, even though he was basically a stranger and possibly crazy and a little too forgiving of his brothers, I longed to wrap my arms around him and hold him close and assure him that everything was going to be all right, that I’d find a way to fix this.
But I didn’t.
He yanked the door open before I could offer any sort of response, and I was assaulted by the lights and the sounds and the smells of the masquerade. The time for talking was past.
It’s time to get the hell out of here.
I cast a final glance at Octavian, who made one last attempt at one of those charming smiles before shutting the door behind me and leaving me to navigate my own way through the party. My heart gave one final twinge of regret for his pain, but my decision had been made.
And I didn’t waste any time. I slipped along the edge of the room, skirting the throngs of people mingling and chattering. The smells rising from the buffet were tempting, but even though the thought of stuffing my purse full of food on the way out was amusing, I didn’t dare linger. Promising myself that I’d stop at a drive-thru on the way home, I darted straight for the exit.
And ran right into one of the servers holding a tray full of Nectar.
We fell together into a giant heap, and the goblets flew everywhere, spilling the sweet, sticky drink across my dress and skin. After recovering from the initial shock of the fall, I uttered my apologies to the poor girl and scrambled to my feet, aware that our little mishap had been loud enough to attract the attention of those nearby. Pale gold and pink droplets of Nectar rained from my skin as I reached down to help the girl stand, trying to ignore the stares and laughter from around us.
And then my skin began toshiver.
It was the same thing I’d been feeling all night. But either the effect was heightened when being literally drenched in otherworldly liquor or the effects of everything had compounded over the course of the evening, because the sensation went from odd-but-pleasant tomy-arms-are-covered-in-fire-antsin a matter of seconds. This was worse than the itchiness I‘d felt down in the brothers’ lair. This was almost unbearable.
I clamped my lips shut, biting back a scream as I sprinted through the room, not caring who I shoved out of my way. By the time I reached the entry hall there were tears leaking down my cheeks, and even those burned. My entire face felt like it was on fire from my cheeks to my hairline.
The mask.
I stumbled out the front door and onto the steps, scrabbling for the ribbon that tied around the back of my head. My foot missed the second-to-last step from the bottom and I tumbled forward, falling onto my hands and knees. The mask fell off my face, fluttering to the ground in a swirl of delicate metallic lace, but my face continued to prickle and burn.
“Miss? Miss, are you all right?”
There was someone coming down the stairs—a man—and when he reached me he grabbed me gently by the arm.
His touch sent another ripple of scorching pain across my skin, and I screamed, unable to hold it back anymore. He released me, and I think he shouted something, but I couldn’t make out the words through the flood of pain.
Everything burned. It rippled across my skin in waves, dancing like needles up my arms and across my scalp and down my spine. I couldn’t tell whether the pain was coming from the outside in or the inside out. It felt like my skin was alive and trying to peel itself off of me…and then it felt like there was no skin at all, like there was nothing to protect my nerves from the endless invisible attacks.
There were other voices around me then, other people reaching for me. I cringed away from every touch. I was probably screaming, and crying, but I’d lost the ability to think or understand anything but the overpowering pain.
Suddenly there was a familiar voice in my ear, deep and rumbling and steady as a mountain.
“It’s all right,” Octavian murmured. “We’re trying to help you.”
I felt myself being lifted off the ground, and I writhed and cried out against the pain, until it all became too much and darkness closed in around me.
10
Awakening
WhenIwoke,thefirst thing I noticed was the cheerful birdsong just outside. Slowly, I sat up, blinking against the sunlight streaming in through the window.
Then the events of the masquerade came rushing back to me, and I stiffened with panic. I was in a strange bed, in a strange room, and I still wasn’t exactly sure what had happened to me.
“It’s all right,” came a deep, rumbling voice beside me. “You’re safe now.”
I hadn’t even noticed Octavian beside the bed, but there he was, his big, muscular form stuffed into a fancy armchair that must have been stronger than it looked. He reached out, putting a large hand on my arm in a comforting gesture, and I instinctively winced, bracing myself for the pain.
