Two girls. Two secrets.
Only one can survive.
Years before Nelle Wychthorn plans her escape, Tabitha Catt may unearth something in a Horned God's lair that is the key to freedom.
Desperate to save her beloved aunt from a dark curse, Tabitha is out t...
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I watched the Horned God talking to Romain as they walked side by side, and perhaps Master Sirro was giving his farewell because they parted ways. He inclined his head before he turned away and strode along the pebbled path which would take him close to where I stood beneath the boughs of a tree growing within clusters of bushy flaxes.
Master Sirro continued to skirt around the mansion as if heading to the front entrance, where no doubt, his car and driver awaited him.
I slowly edged back to shrink further into the foliage, hoping the long waxy leaves of the flax would hide me.
Master Sirro was tall, but he wasn't broad and built like Varen. He was more streamlined. He looked just as refreshed as I'd seen him last night, though a little more disheveled but just as charming. The first rays of morning began to peak over the horizon in soft buttery colors as he strolled closer and closer and closer.
My rapid heartbeat thundered in my ears. I desperately tried to breathe quietly but it sounded like a rasping saw.
I prayed to Skalki that he wouldn't sense me.
But he had...he had sensed me when he'd first arrived at the Servants' Dance. He'd stopped walking as if there was something he was uneasy about but couldn't trace.
The dark magic that resided inside me pricked its ears and grew curious, as if like sang to like. Its senses started to swirl out and head straight toward the Horned God, and in terror, I barked at it to—hide, hide, hide!
With a reluctant huff, it obeyed, withdrew its senses, and buried itself deep down inside me.
The sound of footsteps crunching through small stones...stopped.
Master Sirro came to an abrupt halt. His Familiar too.
All the fine hair on my body rose.
My breath clenched tight in my throat.
The Horned God slowly angled his head to the side, thick eyebrows nudging together, body locked and rigid as if all his senses were feeling something out.
Suddenly—
Dark power exploded—
A nightmare of roiling silvery strands blew upward and outward, wavering through the air like thick plumes of smoke.
I almost shrieked in fright. My entire being went into shock as if I'd plunged through a thin layer of ice into heart-stopping frigid water. The hand holding the hot mug trembled and hot coffee splashed across my fingers and ran down my palm.
Master Sirro swiveled around in one fast, purposeful direction. He faced me dead-on. His golden eyes darkened to a rusty bronze and fixed on me like the deadly edge of a blade.
