“Open in the name of the king!”
Inside, a chair scraped across the floor and I heard Ambrose’s thin voice cry out. The door splintered inward a heartbeat later, the crash echoing up the narrow street as the Nightsworn surged inside.
I flattened myself against the roof tiles as two scouts broke off from the group and began scanning the surrounding buildings. One of them lifted their lantern, casting golden light up the walls. My pulse hammered against my ribs and I ducked my head. If they looked two feet higher, they would find me. Below, another crash shook the safehouse and glass shattered. Someone screamed, but the sound was cut short a second later. Was it Ambrose? Had he been killed?
The lantern beam slid closer and my heart nearly leapt out of my throat. So much for delivering the pixie blood. No wonder I’d felt like something was wrong. The Nightsworn hadn’t been completing their normal patrols; they’d all been lying in wait. Had they been tipped off I was coming, or was it merely coincidence they’d chosen tonight to raid?
I slid backward down the roof, careful not to dislodge the loose tiles, then dropped silently into the alley behind the building. The moment my boots hit the ground, I ran.
Behind me, the invasion raged on and the air filled with sounds of shouting, swords splintering wood, and the crashing of some of Ambrose’s vases of flowers, but it started to fade as I slipped into the maze of dark streets. Footsteps came from behind me and I increased my pace, sprinting away as fast as possible, then ran smack into someone turning a corner right in front of me.
It was Lochlan.
“Hurry,” I choked out. “The Nightsworn. They’re coming. They were raiding the Syndicate.”
Lochlan immediately ran with me down an alley and across the village square. “What were you doing near the Syndicate? Don’t you know the type of people who work there?” I paused to look up and down a few different alleys and saw understanding dawn in his eyes. “You’ve been working for them all along, haven’t you? That’s how you learned to fight so well.”
I didn’t answer. When Lochlan tried to tug me down one of the alleys, I resisted. “They know that route too well,” I told him, and turned to duck under a low-hanging canopy. “This way’s better.”
Lochlan followed me as I took him through my blessedly familiar escape route.
“How did you get mixed up with them?” he asked.
“When you get desperate, you’re willing to take any work, and they pay well,” I told him with the flicker of a grin. “There’s no—” I broke off, listening hard, and could still make out the sounds of the Nightsworn tramping through town. I crouched down and wormed my way into a door leading to an aqueduct maintenance tunnel. “Follow me.”
“I alreadywasfollowing you,” Lochlan hissed, trying to crouch down as well, but his lanky form was harder to fold up and he struggled to squeeze through the narrow opening.
I paused to turn and yank him through, then hurried along the path until a bit of moonlight spilled into the tunnel. An iron grate hanging heavy with moss shielded us from the view of any Nightsworn searching the alleyways but still provided a way to observe.
“Wait,” I whispered to Lochlan, throwing out a hand to stop him. I leaned up against the grate, squinting through the darkness to make sure none of the Nightsworn stopped near the tunnel’s entrance. The grate almost felt like a cell door, but it was liberating to be on this side. Here, no one would find us.
Lochlan’s body heat warmed me, and I felt him brush against my side as he bent to peer through the mossy grate as well. “How long do we need to stay here?” Lochlan breathed in my ear. “I think there might be rats.”
I turned to him and found us nearly nose to nose. “At least an hour,” I whispered back. “And there’s no thinking needed—Iknowthere are rats here. Many of them.”
“I don’t like rats,” Lochlan breathed. He raised his hand to finger the blonde strands that had come loose from my cap, then slowly traced my jawline with his thumb. “You may need to cut your hair soon. You’ve started looking much more like a woman, even when you’re Gil.”
I froze, eyes wide. This wasn’t the time for Lochlan to notice me. It was the middle of the night, we’d been running from guards, I was exhausted and sweaty, and there were rips in my clothing.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. His gaze dragged up the curve of my neck to settle on my mouth. Almost by magic, his other hand crept to my waist.
I became fully rooted to the spot, incapable of moving or thinking. This wasn’t the time. This was what happened late at night when minds weren’t fully in control. My brain had jammed but, most unusually, I didn’t feel the overpowering need to pull away when he touched me.
He moved in a step closer.
“Lochlan,” I whispered, trying to ignore the way I could feel each of his fingers flexing around my waist, “how did you find me? I thought you were sleeping back at the cottage.”
“I saw you sneak out and followed,” he answered, his gaze never swaying from my mouth, then he lowered his voice. “After what happened last time, I wanted to make sure you were safe.” He paused, still moving his hand along my waist, then added, “Iknow you don’t like being touched, so if you tell me to stop, I will.”
I swallowed. This took a whole new kind of courage, and it was a sort I wasn’t sure I possessed.
A lantern glowed as one of the Nightsworn passed by on the other side of the grate, still searching for any of the Syndicate’s bounty hunters. I should be watching for the guards. I should be plotting a foolproof escape. I should be doing a thousand other things, but each of those suddenly seemed less important, far less important than staying here with Lochlan.
I had hesitated for too long. Lochlan began to let go, but I caught his hands.
“Don’t stop,” I murmured.
He inhaled and redoubled his grip on me. “I won’t hurt you,” he said. “I promise.” He leaned in toward me. “I really like you, Jillian.”
