Surely, it could all wait for morning?
The apparition clicked its nails on the wall and said,“Look, look who is here. He will die because of us, little beast. Slow. Painful. Irreversible. We cannot wait to watch.”
Lux startled and didn’t think before she hissed, “I would die myself before that!”
She realized her mistake at once. Shaw’s grip changed to her shoulders until he could take a single step back. He stared down at her.
“Lux,” he began, and she couldn’t help the wince. “Who are you speaking to?”
“Oh,” she said. “Didn’t they tell you? I’ve gone mad.”
Chapter thirty-four
Thestorywouldnotbe stoppered now. The tale of her descent into madness poured out of her. She thought she might have been ashamed to share it, mortified by the weakness, but Shaw’s earnest gaze brimmed with compassion and concern. Shewantedhim to know.
At its end, she felt entirely wrung out again. Emptied of any energy she’d regained from Shaw having broken into her bedroom. For he had broken in. He’d picked the lock.
“Nothing about this sounds right.”
“Of course it doesn’t sound right,” she huffed. “What madness would?” Lux rubbed at her temples to ward off the headache she could feel brewing. She hadn’t realized how brutal the tension in her body had grown until she’d been mended by Artemis’s injection. But already it returned.
They sat together on a thick rug before the hearth—her bedchamber only possessed a single armchair—and Lux couldn’thelp from leaning her weight against Shaw while they spoke. His arm draped over her shoulder, keeping her close.
It felt very much like…
Home.
“These collectors—Lux, they’re the buyers. We discovered a bill of sale, between the mayor and some “Society of Saints”. They’d labeled the product as ‘Time’ and the amount paid was beyond any amount of money I’ll ever see, except it hadn’t been fulfilled. Then the invitation arrived. The Tamishes weren’t surprised. Morana said her uncle attended every year—until he was swallowed by a tree—but she swears she doesn’t know more. Only that it was business dealings. And it was, I suppose. Just the worst sort.”
Lux shoved upright, though she immediately lamented the loss of Shaw’s arm. “But why? They’re already cursed to never age.”
Except somewhere between her question and Shaw’s exclaim of disbelief, she thought of Mistress Lefroy. The woman she’d revived had known the collectors by name, had been intimate enough to be carted off for an entombing. To a sanctum below stairs and one of those shrouded beds. She had been labeled an investor.
And what greater thing to spend one’s life’s earnings on than a second lifetime.
Lux splayed her hands over her cheeks. “Devil’stits.”
But it seemed Shaw hadn’t yet recovered from what she’d said. “Curses are nightmare tales. Blood brilliances. I didn’t think they existed.”
“Maybe they don’t. I certainly don’t know real from fake anymore.” She stared blearily into the fire. “This madness… Of course it would find me.”
Shaw’s fingers slipped through hers, dragging her hand from her cheek until it was tucked within his. “Tell me something.”
Lux drew a deep breath and sighed with all her pent-up weariness. “What would you like to know?”
Her chest hitched when he didn’t immediately speak, guiding the back of her hand to his mouth, instead. Rather than kiss it as she expected, he spoke against her skin. His breath warmed her through.
“Tell me why you are always so quick to believe you are broken.”
“I—”
Except there were no more words after that.
Why did she?
Well…of course she would believe it. The label felt like slipping on her well-worn corset. She’d spent most of her life broken. It was the easiest thing to take up the mantle again once more.
“Because I’ve been before,” she finally managed. “It’s who I am, Shaw.”
