The door swung in by his hand, and when Lux moved past him, he murmured, “May we both be fixed by tomorrow’s end.”
That stopped her. “It will be your first time undergoing it too?”
“No.” His eyes traced her face. “But I have faith it will be the time it succeeds in me.”
A pit formed in her gut over his words at the same moment a deep bell resounded.
“What timing,” he said.
“Where is it? That you assemble.” She did not look at him again, choosing instead to stare at her reflection.
“The sanctum. A holy place. We will show you soon.” A touch, featherlight, drew down her neck. “Now, get your rest.”
The mirror revealed him turning on his heel, and Lux made no further effort to move into the room. She waited, her pulse spiking, nails nearly puncturing her palms.
Because she’d been to the sanctum. Knew from the moment she entered it was not holy, but wrong. And any acts done within its confines must be why.
Stop. You’re to find lifeblood—or not—and that’s it,she told herself. There would be no single-handed dismantlement of azealot-fueled business. No convincing a shattered boy he was also being duped. If the vault was not in the underground labyrinth, then it must be in the sealed away tower. She would find it. She would avenge Ghadra’s dead. She would—
She peeked beyond the doorway in time to see Corvin pass the balcony and begin his descent downstairs. Lux shut the door and ran.
Fumbling with the key in her bodice, she ripped it over her head. The lock formed, steadily growing more distinct, but she had no more use for the crypt. The entombing would have been long over, and she’d a tower to find. She tossed the key into her pack. Had nearly drawn the strap over her shoulder—when Death tapped. She shrugged it away; she did not care. But then a woman screamed.
Lux spun to face her balcony. She’d left the outer door unlatched, and now it swung in on the wind. She could hear all the sounds of the sea. She crept toward the landing.
It had sounded far away, that cry, but if—
She jolted at a sudden shriek. It felt different from the first, more severe. Lux lunged onto the balcony and stood on her toes at its edge. She scanned the drenched rocks far below before instinct drew her to the right.
On a cliff stood a person. Whether in skirts or a robe, she couldn’t say, only that they wore white. And they were terribly close to the edge; closer than even she’d dared. Beneath the full moon’s light, someone stalked toward them.
Lux stared at the dire scene. Made her choice. She picked up her skirt and sprinted.
Prior to her dinner with Corvin, she’d tied Shaw’s knife to her outer thigh. It began to slip as she hurtled down the staircases. Lux gripped it along with her dress and used her opposite hand to propel her around the banisters.
She didn’t meet a single collector. She wasn’t sure what she would say if she did.
Lux shoved through the front doors and into the dark.
Gravel crunched beneath her boots, and she slowed only a little upon reaching the garden path. Another voice lifted on the air, more a shout than a shriek, and a word this time.
“Stop!”
“Don’t even think of it,” she spat at the parasitic stems. They swayed backward, scolded, and she resumed her fast pace. The air was cold; her dress whipped behind her. Lux felt her hair come completely undone. She arrived at the garden door and discovered it open.
I don’t even know them. What am I doing, risking everything on the cliffs?
But that shriek had sounded petrified.
She went through the door and slowed at the edge. Steps led downward to the cove, but if she walked carefully, she could follow a narrow path along the cliffside instead.
She wanted desperately to grip the fence for security, but the brambles had claimed that section.
“Please!” screamed a high voice. “Don’t come any closer!”
Don’t fall, don’t fall,Lux begged of her balance and hurried down the path as fast as she dared.
She noticed the white nightgown first, recognized its cut, and that led her to see the person grabbing hold of it. An attendant, or at least someone dressed in their uniform. The pair teetered on the cliff’s edge, so close Lux’s body pricked with fear.
