“There is nowhere to go,” she whispered back and turned to look back at the book. The page swam before her eyes and she hated that the surge of fear had tears collecting in her eyes. “Did you get the ritual?”
“Fuck the ritual—run.”
That told her all she needed to know. Ariadne shifted the book to one hand, grasped the page and a dozen after, and carefully tore them free of the spine. If she needed to run or fight, she could not protect the book, too.
“The balcony,” Ariadne said at the sound of wood splintering, and she dropped the book on the floor. “We can jump from the balcony.”
As though of one mind, Camilla and Revelie nodded and started for the outside doors. Ariadne followed, folding the pages and shoving them down the front of her dress. She should have asked Revelie to add pockets to the damn skirt, but had not considered the need for them. Then again, anything would have been better than trying to hide paper in her bosom.
“Are they coming?” Camilla asked, looking back as she fumbled with the latch, her hands shaking.
“Yes,” came Madan’s response, no doubt having heard the question through Ariadne’s connection to Almandine. “Azriel’s on his way.”
Relief did not last long.
Wood splintering, Loren shoved through the broken doors to the library, his face pulled into a vicious snarl. Eyes of ice pierced her with such hatred, she was certain that if he did not kill her outright in that moment, he would ensure for her a life of absolute misery. His hair, so perfectly slicked back from his face at the ceremony and reception, now fell half in his face, the silver of it shining in the candlelight of the library.
At Loren’s back, Nikolai followed, his sword drawn and eyes wide in shock at the sight of the three of them. He stopped short, looking around the room as though for an adversary he could not find.
“Why did you lock the door,my pet?” Loren spat the words, his attention flickering from the stack of books to the one she had deposited, still open to a page of dhemonic runes. He stooped to pick it up and scan the page before holding it out. “Keeping secrets?”
Blood drained from Ariadne’s face in a rush, and she hissed to her friends, “Go!”
Loren took a calculated step forward. “Jump from the balcony? My soldiers will just hunt you down and drag you back here before you can get off the grounds.”
Grappling for something—anything—to distract him, Ariadne took a step forward. “Loren, this is not what it looks like.”
“No?” He shook the book. “So finding my wife reading bedtime stories from dhemons on our wedding night is not what it looks like?”
The absolute fool had not even read the notes written in common. Perhaps the book would survive him after all. But he looked down at it, the pages flopping to where she had so crudely severed paper from spine, and drew a finger down the frayed edges that remained. Again, his mouth twisted, this time into a vicious grin.
“What are you hiding,Wife?” Loren raised his gaze slowly, and it felt like a punch to the gut when it landed on her. Another step forward.
Ariadne lurched back involuntarily and breathed, “Nothing.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
In a flash of gold and ebony, Camilla and Revelie stepped forward to create that wall between them once more. Ariadne’s heart stuttered at the sudden movement, then cracked at the way Revelie’s shoulders shook from the effort of standing before the man who had made her life a living hell for the last several weeks.
Amusement glittered in Loren’s eyes. “Your new watchdogs are not nearly as frightening as the one that abandoned you.”
Biting her tongue, Ariadne glared back from over her friends’ shoulders. She would not let him get a rise out of her. Not when the one he thoughtabandonedher was on his way.
“Step aside.” His order, directed at Camilla and Revelie, was sharp and final.
Camilla stood straighter and stepped forward. “Fuck you.”
Crack!
Everything happened so fast. One moment, her friend stood proudly in front of the King of Valenul. The next, Loren struck. The back of his ring-laden hand connected with Camilla’s face so hard, she crashed to the floor in a spray of blood. For what felt like an eternity, yet could only have been a heartbeat of time, Ariadne stared in shock.
Revelie’s shriek yanked her back into reality. She dove for Camilla, turning her friend over to reveal a bruise already blooming across her cheek.
A strong hand closed around Ariadne’s forearm, pulling her forward. Her heart flew into her throat, and she yanked back, ripping herself free of Loren’s grip and fumbling behind her back for the balcony lock. The space between them shrank as he surged forward to slam his free palm on the door to hold it closed.
“You belong tome,” he snarled and threw the book aside, where it skittered into a lit grate, the old and dry pages catching fire. Ariadne watched in horror as the answers to so many questions went up in flames, then turned back to the King, his face mere inches from hers. “And I will make you watch as I erase those monsters from this land.”
In an instant, Kall’s training returned. Ariadne ducked under his outstretched arm and ran for the door. When Loren wrapped an arm around her waist, hauling her back, she screamed in a mixture of fear and frustration. She writhed in his hold, the panic overwhelming any logical thought.
