“I got lost in your home,” I lied, letting my voice tremble as I stepped back, shrinking into the oversized dress. “I thoughtthe brunnie was chasing me.” My fingers tightened nervously around the messenger bag’s strap, and I darted a frightened glance toward the empty chamber as if I might bolt.
Jett paced back and forth, a dagger in hand. There was a deadly grace to his movements, like a serpent readying to strike. His lips curled into an amused smirk as he studied my face. “You might have fooled Penn with her tales of you breaking and crying in the tower…”
A memory tugged at me of Graysen saying something similar a few nights back.
Penn?
What had she been telling the brothers? Had she tried to protect me?
“But you don’t need to pretend with me. In fact, I’d prefer it if you didn’t.” Jett carried on, flipping the dagger into the air to catch it by the tip and balance the point on a finger. “Besides, I think the brunnie’s given you away.”
I’d known it was a risk, unleashing the brunnie. I’d hoped they’d chalk it up to reckless desperation. But Jett had always been obvious in his loathing of me at every House Gathering. He was irrational, a wild card, and hostile. Especially after threatening to decapitate Sage and nail my wraith-wolf’s head to his bedroom door.
Anger trembled beneath my skin like the first warning of an earthquake.
If he touched a single wisp of Sage’s fur …
I threw off the disguise of fright like a cloak, snapped my figure straight, and matched his smirk with one of my own. “You don’t smell so good, Jett,” and I spat his name like filth. The foul stench of brunnie-claiming still dusted his armor.
“Better,” he grinned slyly. He flipped the dagger up. The dark blade sliced through shadows before he snatched it out of the air,then pointed the sharp tip at me. “What sneaky little plan are you up to now, rat?”
RAT?!
My nostrils flared. The name pissed me off, and his smile grew wider at my reaction. “Looking for a weapon? Or an escape tunnel,rat?”
A pulse of doubt jolted low in my gut.
Jett’s smile turned sinister, a perverse glee glinting in his eyes. He spoke softly, each word slow and deliberate. “Why do you think we’ve left the library abandoned?”
I startled. Dread carved a hole inside my chest.
I’d thought it had remained empty because everyone was so busy with their duty to Upper House Novak and readying our world for the Witches Ball. The Crowthers, I’d assumed, either hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care about my time spent in the library.
He cocked his head, mock sympathy tugging at his mouth. “Did you really think that part of the Keep would be left vacant so much? By everyone? Including our staff?”
I had. I loved my library back home, but it was for my family’s use only. We didn’t share the space with servants.
He took a step forward, and I retreated a step back. “Our staff can come and go from the library as they please. It’s not set aside for only my family. They can use it as much as they like, and they do, often.” The amusement warming his tone chilled my blood. “From what I hear, my brothers have enjoyed you rummaging around like aratseeking an escape tunnel.”
An unbidden gasp escaped my throat.
Oh my gods, I had no idea they were aware of what I’d been up to.
He tapped the flat side of his dagger on my shoulder, and I flinched. “We’ve even placed bets on whether or not you’ll find it.”
Hurt burned the back of my throat, and I squeezed my eyes shut briefly. It was a raw reminder of the time his brothers had placed a bet on whether Graysen would bed me. A bet Graysen had been furious to learn about. A bet, alie, he’d then used to push me away with because he couldn’t risk getting close to me, letting me in. If he had feelings for me, he wouldn’t be able to go through with his family’s expectations.
But he’d proven that he could.
“That’s what I’d be doing in your shoes…” his gaze flicked to my bare feet, his nose crinkling in distaste, “or lack of them.” Dark eyes regarded me shrewdly. “I’ll give you this, Wychthorn. Yes, there’s an escape tunnel hidden inside the library. If you find it, it’ll take you below the Keep, right under our lands, and lead you completely off the estate.” White teeth gleamed as his lips parted in an empty smile. “You’ll never find it.” He tapped the sharp tip of the dagger against my collar. “You’ll never escape us.”
Rage ripped through my veins, heat surging hard beneath my skin. I angled the edge of my hand against the flat of his dagger and shoved it aside. I took a step forward. We were chest to chest. Toe to toe. Jett wasn’t as tall as Graysen, yet I still craned my neck back. “When I get this off,” I snarled, flicking the collar with a finger. “I’ll burn you all. Right to the bone until you’re nothing but cinder. You and your House will be nothing, forgotten in time, struck from our history.”
Jett threw his head back and laughed, his whole body shuddering. The obnoxious sound filled the corridor, and it fired my wrath even further. He was the first Crowther I was going to reduce to ash the moment I had my wyrm back.
His laughter faded to bursts of snickers before silence finally descended. He ran his hand over his mouth before propping it on a lean hip. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Even if you managed to get your collar removed, your wyrm won’t be of any use to you.” Hetook a leggy stride back and shoved his dagger into its sheath. “Zrenyth’s power nullifies the wyrm, and the residual effect will have your beast incapacitated for ages. It won’t be strong enough to puff out a single breath of wyrmfire. Not for weeks and weeks and weeks.”
The ground felt as if it had upended itself around me. I swayed, pitching slightly from side to side as if the solid stone beneath me had turned into an ocean wave. Dizziness turned the edges of my mind black.
