Ronin took them, his face a mask of panic. Why did he care so much if something happened to her? And why did just asking herself that question terrify her? She needed to shut it down.
“Mireille, I’m supposed to protect?—”
“Oh, please. Don’t pull that macho bullshit on me. I’m not some fragile little female who needs a big strong male to do her dirty work. I’ve been working for the IA, by myself, forcenturies.If you can’t handle a little danger, just go back down to the party. Maybe start another fight with Kosera if you need to feed your ego.”
Hurt scurried across his face, swiftly replaced by indignant anger, and she knew her blow had landed. Thank the High Gods. Better that than to have him looking at her with such care and concern.
But he crowded in closer, his jaw clenched, cradling her heels in one enormous hand. “I am not going to let you?—”
“Letme?”
“—do this. I don’t care if you think you’re in charge?—”
“ThinkI’m in charge?”
“—there’s got to be another way to get into that room. If you’d just give me a minute to…”
He muttered a low curse, reaching for her as she climbed onto the ledge and swung out into the open air.
This was a terrible fucking idea.
Her wolf’s bellow was drowned out by the roaring wind.
Mireille’s ice-blue dress billowed around her legs and her hair whipped into her eyes. Her arms trembled and her calves burned as she fought to maintain her hold in the pockmarks, digging her claws in so forcefully she was worried they might crack.
That open window had looked far closer from inside the turret. And the window she’d climbed through looked equally far away.
No turning back now.
She wrenched her left claws from the wall, and the wind tugged at her arm with such force that she nearly lost her balance.
Be careful!her wolf yipped.You need to?—
If you keep screaming at me, I’m going to lose my concentration.
Her wolf growled low, but shut her yap.
Mireille tossed her hair out of her face, her stomach roiling, then dug her claws into the next pockmark.
She picked her way slowly across the wall, cursing herself for her overconfidence. What had she been trying to prove? There were a thousand other ways she could think of, even at this very moment, to try to get into that room. She’d grasped at the first option she’d landed on, like an overeager rookie.
She blamed Ronin.
He was messing with her instincts, turning her usual careful planning upside down. And now she was hanging off the side ofa building in the middle of the night with her panties visible to anyone who might decide to exit the main house.
She smothered her frustration. Now was not the time to indulge it. She needed tofocus. Needed to find her next foothold.
The wind picked up again, a fierce, soul-freezing torrent that had her pressing so firmly against the wall that she almost tried to grip it with her teeth.
Her frozen arms quaked, her feet cramping, and despite being only several feet from the open window, she wasn’t confident she had the strength to reach it.
The wind died, praise Anaemos, and Mireille took a deep breath.
I know I told you to shut up, but I’m going to need to use your strength for this last push.
Oh?her wolf crooned.Andwhyshould I help you after you scolded me, huh?
Because if you don’t, we’re both going to be pancakes.
