Gynith takes me to Alistair’s office, and to my surprise, the things that were displayed there when I first came are no longer around. It’s nothing more than a bare room now, and I think it’s because of the inspection. Alistair most likely hid everything, because they would surely draw suspicion.
And he’s not alone in the room.
“Hey, Lora,” Jossie greets me blandly, sitting on the floor in the corner, her arm draped around a big bag. “Where have you been hiding?”
I don’t answer, mainly because Alistair is looking at me. “Did I do something wrong?”
Alistair and Jossie exchange glances, and he bursts out laughing. Usually she joins him, but tonight she looks somber. A little annoyed too.
“Well, I brought you here because of this.” He gets the bag from Jossie, opens it, and lifts one of its contents: a strip of shimmery red fabric. “Your dresses for the mission.”
“Our prostitute attire,” Jossie says dryly, flashing him a pointed look. “Fo
"Is everyone ready?" Alistair's voice is ringing across the field. Tonight is the night of the mission, and every single one of the members of the group, including those who aren't included in the quest, are gathered here to listen. Those of us who will join are all dressed up, with weapons hidden in unconventional places, standing before Alistair and taking in all the things he's pointing out at the map of the fortuneteller's shop called Kismet's Wheel. "Women, Briar will take you in and present you to Ylendez, the fortuneteller and the owner of the place," he announces. "Ylendez will take you in and immediately make you work. You will be facing the customers of the brothel. Since I will go there first, I will be there waiting for you. And after Briar collects the fees for your services, he will be joining us shortly." He points at a big square space in the blueprint of the shop, but my gaze is fixed on him.
I try to pry the man's hand off my wrist, but he holds on. In fact, his grip only gets tighter as he pulls me through the door and leads me to another narrow hallway.There are a series of doors on one side, and I know immediately even without looking that these are the rooms for the clients and the prostitutes they chose.The man opens the first door he sees and shoves me inside, where I stumble on my feet and nearly fall face first on the floor. I fumble around and feel the mattress before he turns on the lights and closes the door behind him."Take off your dress," he orders as soon as I get to my feet. He takes a chair beside the bed and watches me intently. "Slowly."With shaking hands, I lift my hands to the straps of my dress. His gaze is lustful, pinned on me as though I am already undressed.Should I really do this? Do I really have no choice?I swallow hard. I just have to play for time. I don't know if anyone is coming to save me
Alistair and I exchange looks. This is the first time I see genuine, chilling dread in his eyes, much more intense than that time we saw the guards in the marketplace, and in turn it makes my heart go crazy with fear.Knowing that people are after us is scary, but not knowing what gave our whole operation away is what makes me want to cower in the corner.The footsteps grow louder, closer. Alistair grabs my hand and steers me along the hall, kicking open the first door we see and rushing inside. There’s a window in this room, and it seems that it’s exactly the thing he’s looking for, because he immediately jumps on the bed and pries the window open before turning back to me.“Come on,” he urges, beckoning at the window. “Let’s go.”My panic reaches its peak. “What?”“Let’s jump through the window.” He pulls me on top of the bed with ease. “Come on.”I h
My instincts kick in. The moment Alistair takes a step forward, I swerve to the right, hoping to avoid his direct attack. Unfortunately, his reflexes are much sharper, much more accurate than mine. He changes direction seamlessly, meeting me perfectly halfway as I try to get away from him.Now he’s directly in front of me, and I have nowhere to go.“Alistair, calm down,” I say breathlessly. “Please.”He swings his right hand, which is now a fully fledged paw tipped with sharp, pointed nails. This move would have reduced my face into bacon strips, but I manage to duck at the last moment. His paw hits the tree and slashes four deep lines on the bark. The impact is so strong that some of the smaller twigs fall off, causing a shower of leaves and little shrapnel to fall on us like a cascade of rain.I take this as my chance to go around and hide behind a tree, but his heightened senses allow him to track me down. Just as I stay f
Alistair used to run with a pack. He used to have his own family, his real family, yet all he wanted was to give humanity a fair chance to be truly prosperous, for no one to be left behind.Yet the Palace Guards, led by my very own Father and Uncle, attacked them for absolutely no reason. Now alone, Alistair created a group for himself and is vowing to do whatever he can to make his vision a reality.And now here I am, the heir to the throne, working alongside the one who wants to bring down the entire system.The sheer shock of this realization pulls me out of the vision in one go. All sorts of thoughts are swimming inside my head, sometimes making sense but most of the time jumbled. I’m teetering over the edge, rendering me almost sick as the momentary darkness settles in again. Just when I start to think I’ll throw up, I find myself back in the clearing with Alistair in front of me, slowly turning back to his human form before my eyes.He b
"I didn't do anything," I say immediately, which makes Jossie's expression darken even more. "We were just—""Gynith, Briar, please look after Alistair and make sure he doesn't bleed too much in preparation of our journey back to the camp," she commands without looking at them. "Come with me, Lora."She grabs my wrist and leads me to the side of the clearing. Her gaze is so sharp that I just want to cower, to cover my eyes so I won't see her anymore. But of course, she makes it impossible for me not to see. She stands before me, squaring her shoulders as though preparing for a fight."Jossie, I'm so sorry." I bite my lip. "I didn't know it would happen. We were just talking before I went and looked for you and—""Did you find the scroll?" she asks, her tone fairly calm. When I nod, she sighs. "Did it turn out to be fake?"I nod again. "He got mad."“I figured.” She massages her temples. “What did you do?”
I don’t know what came over me. I don’t know what compelled me to kiss Alistair just like that. What I know is that it’s a bad idea that would probably backfire later, but right now I can’t stop. I can’t pull away. The gravitational pull that he has on me is undeniable. The moment my lips touch his, a war in my head begins.But the battle ends right away once he starts kissing me back.The world vanishes, gets reduced into this tiny space between us, right down to the movement of our lips and the warmth of our breaths. I can smell him, the sweet scent of something I can't quite put my finger on. I graze the back of his neck with my palm, my fingers digging into his hair, and he reaches out to cup my face, his thumb resting on my cheekbones. His touch is light, as gentle as the wind and as soft as the traces of water teasing the soil.The flutters in my stomach turn into a full fledged buzz, like a thousand fireflies lighting me up f
The Demika Circus disguise is on. The carriage with its colorful banner is the first in the long lines of small carriages pulled by our strong horses. We’re on the fast track towards Gailis, and even though the journey is long, our crew is pumped with energy.It didn’t take any hard convincing to leave immediately. The moment Briar shared the news, Alistair was on the move, instructing everyone to pack up faster and load the carriages.“About eight miles, and we’ll finally be in Gailis,” Alistair announces, sitting in front of the carriage and steering the horses. He glances at all of us who are inside, flashing a smile. “You guys excited? Because I know I am.”“I would be more excited if we’re on steady ground,” Gynith says, sulking in the corner hugging her knees. Jossie told me that she tends to be sick whenever they’re traveling, and right now her face is in an awful shade of green. “I f