Stay with me.
Not fall apart. Not drift. Not vanish inside what had almost happened.She clung to the order because there was nothing else tohold.
They reached the ballroom exit just as two of Leif’s security men rushed up from thehall. One look at Magnus’s arm, the open balcony doors behind them, and Elia’s white face was enough.
“Lock it down,” Magnus said. “No one leaves. No one touches the body below until Leif sees it.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Another guard spoke rapidly into his radio, and the entire machine of Severin response seemed to lurch into motion aroundthem.
Magnus kept moving.
He pushed through the front doors and into the cool night. The air hit Elia’s face like a slap, but the sharpness did nothing to clear the haze from her mind. Lights blazed across the circular drive. Staff froze at the entrance when they saw the blood. Somewhere far behind them another scream rose from the ballroom and cut off abruptly.
“Car,” Magnus barked.
One of the guards repeated it into his radio atonce.
Magnus was already pulling out his phone.He dialed before the sedan had even reached the steps.“Leif.”The name came out flat and lethal.A beat of listening.“Donati sent someone.”Another beat.“Yes,” Magnus said. “Balcony. He’s dead.”
His mouth flattened further at whatever Leif said in response.“No, I’m not staying. The building’s compromised.” He looked at Elia while he spoke, at her throat, at the place where the blade had been meant to go, and something in his face darkened even more. “Lock it down. Question everyone. And find out how the bastard gotthat close.”
He ended the call before Leif had fully finished speaking. Another number followed instantly. “Alaric.”
The sedan slid to a stop in front of them.“Donati tried to kill her,” Magnus said. “Leif already knows. I’m taking her home.” He listened, irritation flashing briefly through his expression. “No. Idon’t care what they claim this was. It was a hit.” Another pause. “Good. Then handle it.”He put the phoneaway.
Elia stared at him.Tried to kill her. Hearing him say it aloud drove the truth all the way through her. This had not been a random attack. Not a madman slipping past security for glory. Someone had sent a professional to a crowded gala to put a knife in her throat while she stood beside Magnus Severin.
He opened the rear door and guided her in.“Home,” he told the driver as he climbed in afterher.
The sedan pulled away smoothly.
Only then did the shaking begin.
Elia hadn’t realized how tightly she’d been holding herself together until the car merged into traffic and the immediate necessity of movement gave her body permission to react. Tremors slid through her arms and legs, fine and relentless. She clasped her hands together in her lap to stop them and failed.
Magnus noticed immediately.“Look at me.”
She did.
The cut looked worse in the confined light of the car than it had on the balcony. Blood still tracked down his arm, dark and bright at once,soaking the torn sleeve and slipping over the edge of his hand in steady drops. The sight tightened something deep inside.
“You’re still bleeding,” shesaid.
“It’ll hold.”
“No, it won’t.”
She leaned forward before he could stop her, reached into the torn inside of his jacket, found a handkerchief, and pressed it firmly to the wound. Magnus inhaled once, sharply, but didn’t pullaway.
The cloth turned red almost atonce.
Her throat burned.He’d put his body between hers and the knife without hesitation. If he hadn’t been so incredibly swift, if he had turned the wrong way, if he had misread the timing by even half a breath...
“He was aiming for my throat.”
“Yes.”No false reassurance. No lie to softenit.
