“I’m afraid it’s a necessity. Unless you want my brother to discover me here plotting with you.”
“Kellan?”
She nods, yanking her wrist away. “City guard will be here in less than two minutes, so I need to get out the back door now and head home—where he thinks I am.”
“You’ve been drinking quite a lot. At least let me walk you?—”
Harlow is already across the bar, heads turning as she covers up that sinful dress with her cloak, and she’s swallowed into the shadowed hallway at the back of the bar.
12
HARLOW
South Hold should be silent at this hour. I’ve snuck back inside in the dead of night so many times, knowing exactly where the guards are posted and which hinges creak.
But the halls aren’t dark and silent. I freeze inside the kitchen door and strain to hear. Somewhere in the depths of the house, someone is screaming.
I take the back servant staircase two steps at a time, pausing on the landing.
Another shout rings out, a bit closer this time. I continue up and a stair creaks under my foot.
I bite back a curse, pause, and listen to see if a guard will notice. No one comes looking.
The shouting echoes down the hallway, becoming louder and more insistent.
I lean out of the stairwell, peering down the hall. There’s not a guard in sight. The hair on the back of my neck rises. There should be rotations of them. Normally, I wait in this stairwell until the patrol goes by, and then I have three minutes to get down the long corridor to my room. I count my breaths, waiting for guards to appear, but none do.
Another pained scream rings out. It’s coming from the family wing.
With one last glance toward the other stairwell, I dart down the hall.
I slip into my room like a wraith and shrug off my cloak, hanging it on the hook inside my closet. I peel off my dress, pull on a silk nightdress, and wrap myself in my robe. Creeping back to the door, I crack it open and strain to listen.
In the silence, I slip into the hall and pause, hand on my doorknob, waiting for someone to admonish me, but the hall is still empty and no scolding arrives.
My muscles are coiled, unsure whether to flee the house or continue down the hall and see what the commotion is. Every instinct tells me to mind my business, to stay here in my room and lock the doors.
But secrets are currency in this family. If I see something I shouldn’t, I could use it as a bargaining chip.
I gather my courage and start down the hall.
The only people who still live in the family wing of the house are my parents, me, and my oldest brother, Able, and his family. The rest of my siblings reside in the other gatehouses around the city.
I pass Aidia’s old room, beside mine. Then, Kellan’s childhood bedroom across the hall, and on and on until I come to the source of the commotion: Able’s room.
“You should be in bed.”
I jump at Gaven’s whisper so close to my ear.
“Bleeding woods, Gaven! I’m going to put a bell on you, I swear to the Divine,” I gasp, clutching my chest. “It’s not as if I could sleep through this.”
“Especially since you were out and about,” he says, his dark eyes narrowed on me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was getting some tea in the kitchen when the commotion started.” I peek through the cracked bedroom door. “Do you know what’s hap?—”
“You can’t escape them! They’ll make you one of them!” Able’s voice is so shrill and panicked.
I shove into his bedroom.
