My shoulders caught on a wooden shutter which thumped back against the house. I spun around. My mind leaped back to the night of the storm—the night it all began.
Shutters flapped against the sidings, concealing the splintering of the door, the vibrations from the footfalls...
I froze.
A figure hovered in a sliver of light from the neighboring house, a scarf wrapped around his throat and lower face. His hair shined with a rich chestnut glow where it peeked out from under the hood of his cloak.
Not the Sheriff. The prince.
My heart pounded. This was it. A perfect opportunity. Feelings aside, there would be no witnesses. I could escape any number of ways through this rat maze of alleyways, but it still had to look like an accident. Otherwise, I’d have to kill him too, and that wasn’t my job.
My stomach turned as blood splattered over the kitchen floor, muted by the lashing rain...
Not now, not now. I forced myself back to reality, chest tight as a sickly swell of nausea climbed up my throat.
This was it. My best chance. I had to get out, leave this town to flee the memories. I lowered my hood and moved toward him. “I’m so glad I found you, my prince. It’s dark and creepy out here tonight. I was only out doing an errand for Lady Lilyanna and got turned around.” I stopped a few paces away.
He took a step forward, angling himself so I was pressed back against the wall. The light fell on his back, encasing his face in shadows.
“Where are your guards?” I asked.
My hand twitched toward my thigh. It was still bare. I grasped for the magic instead, priming it, pumping it into my fingertips, but it slunk deeper within me, further and further with each swipe of my will. My heart thudded. What was happening?
“Sometimes I like to shake them, experience a little freedom.” His voice was low, strained through the wool scarf. “They’ll be here any second, though.” He lowered the fabric and inhaled deeply. My skin chilled. “What shall we do to pass the time, Tam? It’s not often we’re both allowed this close to one another unprotected.”
He pressed forward, his chest now inches from mine. The brick wall snagged on my cloak and the distant smoke melted into the air, leaving only his form towering above me.
Movement from the far side of the alleyway caught my attention. A flash of light upon silver spurs. He had to see this, it was the temptation I needed. One of the two of them had to die.
I steeled myself, leaning closer to the prince. His lips parted, his breath warming the space between us. I reached again for the magic, but it stayed hidden, coiling deep inside me.
My breath hitched as he closed the gap. I should pull away, this was too close, too real, but my body was trapped, anesthetized, as he hovered so close I could almost taste him.
Panicked footsteps echoed down the alleyway, the distant clink of spurs fading as they grew louder. Two guards rounded the far corner and even from this distance I recognized Clement’s lithe form. The hold snapped, and I slipped away from the prince, tugging my hood back up.
I darted around the corner, hurrying back in the direction I’d come, wiping my mouth as I went. We’d come so close to kissing, I could still feel his breath condensed on my lips. Why had my magic failed me? I flung out a hand to steady myself on the wall as my head spun. I’d gone too far. I wasn’t in control, my head wasn’t in the game. That must be it because it had never happened before.
Mt stomach twisted as I remembered it was Clement who had almost caught us. Of all people, I did not want him to have seen. I forced my feet to move again. The alley spit back onto the main street, and I ran toward the castle, my cloak flapping around my legs. And oh, if Siobhan had seen me? I stumbled, slapping my thighs angrily to force the weakness out. Goddess above, she’d have flayed me alive and thrown me onto the bonfire.
The castle gates sprang into view, the sentinel gargoyle watching my every move as I darted underneath and toward the servant's entrance. I had to find the Sherriff. My magic would work on him. It had too. But the prince? I grasped at it again, trying to draw it back from the depths. It didn’t feel like it withdrew because my heart wasn’t in it or because I wasn’t concentrating. There was an uneasiness to it that curled ribbons of nausea through my stomach. It was like it was hiding.
Scared.
I walked through the castle unseeing, mildly surprised when I arrived at Lilyanna’s door without any detours. Matron whisked past me without so much as a goodnight. She'd kept the fire stoked, even more thoroughly than I usually did. The flames roared, consuming the entire hearth, and blackening the marble ledge above.
I settled down outside Lilyanna’s door and tugged my duvet down from the chaise. I stared into the fire until my eyes unfocused, the dancing figures blurring into a whirlwind. A shadow passed over the room, licking at my skin like silk, and I blinked when the familiar market scene from my childhood appeared.
Bales were piled around the edges, wisps of loose straw chased by the wind tumbled across the packed dirt floor. The stalls were bare, crushed against the edges of the square. The same people who attended week after week gathered around a central stage. The plinth was newly erected. The wood slats creaked in the breeze, the coils of rope hanging from the beam were pristine, the waxed edges shiny against the matt of the gray sky.
I froze at the back, my feet unwilling to get any closer. Despite the distance between me and the stage, I had a direct view like the crowd parted just for me.
Five people were herded toward the gallows bound by rope like a line of waddling ducklings. Each hesitant footfall was magnified by the silence, the crack of the stairs snapping through the thin air. Ropes came down and were tied securely at the nape of their necks. They all looked the same. Terrified.
“One of them is innocent,” Siobhan breathed.
Bile shot into my throat. “Then why aren’t you helping them?”
She patted my arm, sliding into position behind me. Her face lowered, and she pressed her warm cheek against my clammy one. “They haven’t asked my dear. Choose wisely, for if you get it right, you’ll be rewarded, and I’ll let the innocent one go.”
