“You do that.” I ushered her toward the bedchamber.
She sniffed at the note before pressing it to her breast. Before I closed the door, she whispered, “You’ll be out here though, won’t you?” The paper slowly shredded under her nails despite the smile she plastered onto her face. I knew she wanted to glance at the ceiling, and it took every ounce of strength in her body not too.
“Yes, Your Ladyship, I’ll be sleeping right here.”
From my position on the floor, my ear pressed against the small gap under her door, I knew that even despite my assurances, it would take her hours to finally succumb to sleep. Every rustle of the silk sheets, every spasm of her body as she jolted awake on the cusp of dreaming, speared through me like I was her.
I’d only known her for a few days, but I’d never spent so much time with a single person before. One that wasn’t Siobhan anyway, but even she would disappear when she’d had her fill of me. It had to be the castle. There was an energy, a presence churning in the air that I couldn’t quite place, and my need to protect Lilyanna from it was overshadowing my real duty.
A dull moon climbed in the sky outside, muting the stained-glass window so only jagged shards of gray and black could be seen. The castle seemed to be asleep. The air was heavy, the silence thick, but a shiver trembled down my spine like someone had dragged their nails across my flesh.
The second my eyes closed, a giggle erupted from above me. I lurched up and tiny feet scrambled away, small motes of dust falling from the ceiling. A rat? A child?
My heart pounded in my ears. I ran my hand down my thigh checking for the dagger secured under my nightgown. I removed a carving knife I’d taken from the dinner table as an added precaution from under my pillow and crept toward the hearth.
The fire had completely extinguished even though I knew I stoked it before laying down to sleep. The embers were hot, the air shimmering above them, but no smoke filled my nostrils. A black ash handprint with splayed fingers was clearly visible on the white marble, as if someone had been reaching out of the fire.
I stared at it; my body frozen. Lilyanna’s bed creaked from the adjoining room, rousing me from my thoughts.
Of course nothing had reached out of the fire, I’d been here the whole time. It had probably been there all day. I needed to sleep, not toss and turn at every imagined sound, frying my nerves. Fires popped all the time, didn’t they? The ash must be from that—like a cloudburst upon the floor.
I scrubbed the stain away and relit the fire with kindling. Once it roared, I stepped back and surveyed the room. The dust had stopped falling from the ceiling, the air warming again, but a sliver of light cut across the clouded marble from the door that led down to my room.
It creaked open as I nudged it with my shoulder, the carving knife held before me. Each step of the metal staircase groaned beneath my weight, shifting as I descended. The fire flickered in the small hearth. I hadn’t tended it since arriving, as I’d been sleeping upstairs, but despite this, it never faded. Unlike the one in Lilyanna’s room. My bed was still made, the floor freshly swept, untouched as a vault.
Except the door at the end stood ajar.
This was ridiculous. Maybe this was why Siobhan had given this bounty to me. If everyone else turned tail at the slightest sign of the supernatural, I’d be employed for the rest of my mortal life.
My bare feet were silent on the cold floor. I edged the door open and slipped into the corridor. The light from the small fire in my room licked up the walls, illuminating the hewn stone. The shadows at the edges of my vision transformed into gaping mouths and sinewy limbs, slowly creeping toward me. I forced them away, swinging my gaze back and forth to oust them as they reached...
There was nothing there. I should return to bed, barricade the door. Maybe it had swung open in a draft?
I grasped the door handle ready to flee back inside, but another giggle bubbled down the corridor. It echoed, ricocheting off the stone.
It wasn’t inside the walls this time.
I let out a breath and raised my knife, following the shaking tip down the corridor. Not trusting myself to navigate the turns back to my room, I chased after the fading laughter.
The air chilled as I walked as if I had plunged into icy water. My heart trilled, my chest constricting further with every shallow breath. The smooth stone beneath my feet morphed into wooden slats, the deep-set eyes of the wood following me as I walked.
A creak whispered behind me, and I froze. Turning slowly, the shadows parted to reveal an empty corridor that sloped gently upward. Was I underground?
I crept toward a circular hole in the wall where a ray of moonlight squeezed itself through. I pressed my face against the rough stone, a gust of dank night air puffing against my eyeball. Lone footsteps were approaching, their heels level with the peephole. With every step, a silver spur jangled softly on the person’s boots. The sound pierced through me, excitement merging with the dormant magic in my veins. It was him. I knew it. The Sheriff.
The one that got away.
Bounty hunters were allowed one failure, and he was mine. Another failure, and the deal I was forced into would be revoked with punishment meted down the line from the Collectors to myself. A fact Siobhan loved to remind me of.
I tapped the stone with my nail, fixated on his spurs. If he was here, I would find him. But where would he go? I’d heard no reports of a sighting in almost a year, but it wouldn’t be long before the town criers would be screeching his appearance up and down the streets if he were discovered. Then all the bounty hunters in the land would descend to claim my victory.
The clink of the spurs faded into the night. I knew him. I’d studied him, hunted him, chased him all over this Goddess forsaken land. He would go to the seediest inn he could find, hole up for a few days while he worked a mark before vanishing again. According to Clement, that place was the Diamond Nightingale.
This time, I would do things differently. I would become his mark. He would come to me. But first, I had to make him want me, make him think that I was valuable and that he’d lucked out.
I had to go now. If I could tag him and seed the trackers under his skin, he’d never be able to escape. The Collectors would pursue him through any realm and find him in even the most remote locales. Then I’d be square again with Siobhan. Better than that, I’d have an advantage. She would actually owe me. I’d have caught the mark no one else could.
A thrill of excitement raised the hairs on my bare arms. Luck like this never befell me. I could quit this awful castle, barter for an extended time off, leave the prince, Lilyanna, and Clement with his stupid three-foot rule...
