“Long live Duke Laurent,” he muttered again, a dark grin lighting his face. With a painful slowness, his eyes left Julien’s body, rising until they met our horrified gaze. “Now,” he mused, settling his attention on Alex. “What to do about you?”
I sprang into action, grabbing at the handles of Alex’s chair. There was no time for words, no time to beg for mercy. We needed to leave. Now.
“The lock! The lock!” Alex cried as I pushed him across the study. I barely paused as he flipped it to its side and flung open the door.
“We need to get to the lift. We need to get to a carriage,” I sobbed, racing us down the hall. Everything about me felt so small. My lungs had collapsed in on themselves, unable to draw enough breath. Black spots danced in the corners of my vision. “Help!” I called, my voice weak. This hallway had been full of footmen. Where were they now? “We need help!”
“Why isn’t he following us?” Alex demanded, his head wrenched back, looking over his shoulder. “What is he doing?”
At the chair’s front, one of the smaller wheels wobbled, its caster spinning loose, and I struggled to keep Alex from careening into the windows. “It doesn’t matter. We have to get to the lift.”
“Oh, little brother,” a voice sang out. Viktor’s words echoed down the hallway, unseen. “You can run but you can’t hide.”
“Frederick!” I shouted. “We need help…. We need…Help!”
“Frederick! Johann!” Alex tried. “Anyone!”
Viktor’s laughter followed after us.
“Where is everyone?”
Alex shook his head mutely.
We turned left, fleeing down the short hall as fast as I could push the shaking wheelchair. My arms ached, muscles burning. When we reached the lift, I wanted to burst into tears. It was parked on the first level.
I slammed the button to start its ascent.
Nothing happened.
I struck it again.
Everything stayed still.
The lift remained motionless.
No steam grumbled up through the pipes. From deeper in the house, I could hear the slow, methodical click of Viktor’s shoes along the wooden floorboards.
“The latch,” Alex said hoarsely, realizing the problem. “Whoever used it last didn’t flip the latch.”
“Alexander…,” Viktor called. “Come out, come out wherever you are…”
He paled visibly.
“You need to hide,” I whispered. “By the time I get downstairs and the lift makes its way up, he’ll be here. It’ll be too late. Find someplace safe to hide. I’ll send up the lift and try to draw him elsewhere. Listen for the lift.”
Alex shook his head. “I can’t let you take that risk. I needto—”
I grabbed him with a sudden fierceness, fingers trembling as I pressed a kiss to his lips. “I need you to stay safe. For me. For us. I love you, Alex.Hurry.”
His face muddled with contradicting emotions but then he pushed away, disappearing down the nearest corridor.
“Alex, the lift is jammed,” I said, raising my voice, making it impossible for Viktor not to hear me. “We’ll have to take the back stairwell instead.”
I raced away in the direction opposite Alex, making my progress as loud as possible. I needed Viktor to know exactly where I was.
I did find a little staircase, eventually. It was steep and narrow, coiling round and round, built to take up the smallest amount of space within the manor, not intended for a swift descent.
Halfway down the rickety thing, I tripped, smashing theback of my calves along the iron treads and landing hard against the railing. My head struck the curved metal and for a horrible second, I could picture the bolts giving way, plummeting down, as I crashed into a broken heap upon the landing.
