House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

Hadrian sat down first, holding his arms out so that he could cradle her in his lap. He put his arms around her, hugging her tight against his firm body. Both of them could barely breathe. Her body was catching up with her. Everything was shutting down.

“How’d you know this was here?” she whispered, her voice hoarse.

“Benefits of being a street rat,” he murmured. After a minute of her body shaking uncontrollably, he asked, “Do you have a smoke?”

She nodded. “But I can’t light the match.”

“Give it to me.”

She dug through her pockets, her hands shaking too bad that she couldn’t even reach them. Tears fell down her cheeks. Hadrian put his hands on hers to still her and then carefully looked for the smoke and matches she carried with her everywhere. He pulled one out, lit the cigarette, and put it to her lips.

She inhaled sweet loch. Her very life force. The shaking didn’t completely subside—some of it had to be shock—but it wasn’t as debilitating.

She took the cigarette out of her hands and pressed it to his lips. It was a testament to how terrified he was that he actually inhaled. Straitlaced Hadrian smoking loch.

After she finished the cigarette, she stubbed it out next to them and settled back into Hadrian’s arms. She turned her head to face him. “You saved my life.”

“We did it together,” he said, his voice raw.

Clover put her fingers to his lips to silence him. She could barely see the outline of his face, just a bit of blue hair and a sharp jawline and those big brown eyes. “Thank you.”

He pulled her hand away and crushed his mouth onto hers. The last hour vanished as he devoured her. She didn’t care if it was the terror still coursing through them. She needed him in that moment like her life depended on it. And there was no world where she would stop him.

34

The Martyr

ISA

Everything had gone to plan.

Isa smiled through her red mask as the world turned to utter chaos. Humans and half-Fae ran for their lives. Bodies littered the ground. Buildings were toppled. The Red Masks were on top of the world. They had won.

They’d waited it out until the protests got big enough that even the Society took notice. Attacking the small ones would have given them more notice than was necessary. But if they were going to actually become a threat, that was a different story.

And now, they were nothing.

This was Father’s great undoing. He had been misguided to ever let Basem Nix do as he pleased. It had set back their cause. But then Kerrigan had been named to the Society, the protests had started along with petitions to the government for humans to be treated as Fae were. It had turned the tide.

The Red Masks were innumerable. They would wash this city in blood before allowing the humans and half-Fae to take a place beside them. And it was all Father’s doing.

She’d seen Basem as a way out of the Red Masks. Away from her fanatical father, who had raised her but did not see her as anything but the assassin he had created. She’d wanted more. And now, standing on the battleground in the wake of their victory, she understood his vision. Why he had always treated her so. A part of her still wanted to escape, but how could she be anything but this? The only thing she knew how to do was be an assassin.

And tonight, she wanted to finish it.

She’d seen Kerrigan’s red hair in the crowd. Watched her now struggle with the prince who should have hated her. He should have been on their side. Not siding with some half-Fae.

She could complete her mission.

She could kill the girl.

Father had told her to abandon the task. It had been given to her by Basem, not Father. He didn’t approve of it.

The last thing he wanted was for Kerrigan to go from being a symbol to a martyr. There would be no turning back the wave of support then. Her death could mean the end of the Red Masks.

But still, she hated her. Hated the life she had and the prince and the role in the government. How could a half-Fae have it when she didn’t?

Isa defied orders and strode across the barricade line. She would end this here, today. Then, something happened. The prince grabbed her. His black magic swept around them, and they popped out of existence.

“No!” she screamed into the crowd.

Isa whipped around, looking for them. His magic wasn’t that strong. She’d gathered from her spying that he couldn’t travel much distance at once. Which meant they might still be within reach. She could still end this if she found them. And even better, he would be depleted of his reserves.

She turned back the way she’d come and watched the smoke reappear. They’d made it across the line and into safety. Or so they thought.