Felman spat in Sebastian’s face.
Sebastian leaned closer, holding Felman’s gaze. “You know what my father is capable of doing. There’s a reason he’s the collector for the most dangerous city in Balavata. What do you think he’d do to you if he wanted that list and you refused to give it to him?”
Felman blanched. Sebastian swallowed hard and forced himself to say with conviction, “Like father, like son. Give me the list.”
Felman’s eyes darted toward the right corner of the desk. Sebastian eased off the man’s neck but kept the mace handy as Felman doubled over, coughing and gasping for air.
Walking around to the far side of the desk, Sebastian tried the drawer. It was locked. “Open it.”
Felman’s hands shook as he fished a key out of his vest pocket and threw it toward Sebastian. The lock opened with a faint snick, and then Sebastian was holding a roll of parchment in his hands with the names, addresses, and debts owed of everyone who’d been foolish enough to do business with Teague. Sebastian glanced at the parchment to be sure Felman had given him the real thing. He was sure Teague’s soul debts weren’t on this list, but that didn’t matter. There were enough uncollected debts coming due to give Sebastian the leverage he needed to get close to the princess.
Taking a handful of coin from his boot, he tossed it onto the desk. “Take your family and get out of the city. Once Teague learns that you gave up the list, there won’t be anywhere in Kosim Thalas that is safe for you.”
Felman gave Sebastian a hard stare and said between coughs, “Your father would’ve killed me once he had what he wanted, not paid for my freedom. You said you were just like him.”
Sebastian pocketed the list, his scars burning as he forced his rage back under control and headed for the door. “I lied.”
Wishing he could leave the bitter residue of his actions behind as easily as Felman’s headquarters, Sebastian headed toward the first person on the list.
TWENTY-SEVEN
BY THE TIME Ari woke from her tea-induced sleep, the sunlight was disintegrating across the horizon in spools of crimson and gold, and the breeze that still rushed through her open window chased a chill across her skin. She’d been too exhausted and hurt when she’d arrived to pay attention to anything but the bed and, later, the chair and table where Maarit had given her tea. Blinking away the last bleary dregs of sleep, Ari craned her neck to look around the room.
The furnishings were plain—an armoire, a small sink with a hand pump, the bed, and the chair and table by the open window—but the rest of the room made up for it. The ceiling was painted to look like Ari was lying on her back in a forest, looking up at the sky through a lattice of tree branches. The sky on her ceiling matched the sky outside her window.
The walls looked like a collection of tree trunks lashed together with strips of leather. The texture of the bark—complete with whorls, twigs, and even a few spare leaves—made the trunks look real. A mirror hung over the sink, and a framed picture of a tall, thin man too impossibly beautiful and wild to be human adorned the wall beside the door.
Ari stretched carefully, expecting the bite of pain in her chest and in the lacerations on her arm, but there was nothing. Pressing her hands against her rib cage, she drew in a deep breath. No pain. She ran her fingers over the places where the beast had dug its talons into her, but her skin was smooth and unbroken.
Apparently the tea that Maarit had given her really did heal injuries as promised.
But it was still creepy to remember drinking something that smelled as wild and strange as Teague.
Her stomach growled, and a wave of dizziness hit. She hadn’t eaten since the previous afternoon. Her eyes were gritty from sleep and tears, and loneliness felt like a blanket made of stone pinning her to the bed.
She wanted to curl up beneath the covers and hide from Teague and Maarit.
From the truth that she was stranded in the home of a monster who would destroy everyone she loved if she couldn’t figure out how to stop him.
For one long moment, she gave in to the loneliness and let the ache of missing Thad, Cleo, and Sebastian fill her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She breathed in the pain, allowed it to linger for the space of a few heartbeats, and then gently pushed it to the back of her mind.
She couldn’t hide. If she didn’t find a way to stop Teague, he’d destroy Súndraille with violence, which would destroy Thad. And if he moved on to ruin other kingdoms as well, that would be on Ari’s shoulders. She had to get up despite the loneliness and grief that felt like they were woven into her very bones. Had to take the next step and then another step after that.
It was the only way she could try to undo the terrible bargain she’d made with Teague.
The first step she’d take would be to get herself something to eat. Once she’d restored her strength and cleared her head, she’d learn what she could about Teague’s routine and figure out where to start looking for the key to stopping him.
And, stars, she hoped there was a key to stopping him because the alternative was too horrifying to contemplate.
Frowning, she tossed off the covers and stood. The dusty wooden floor creaked, and something soft and damp swept over the bottoms of her feet—something that felt suspiciously like a tongue.
Ari shrieked and jumped onto the bed again, her heart pounding wildly as she stared at the floor.
It was empty of everything but the pair of sandals she’d been wearing the night before.
She huddled in the center of the bed for a moment longer, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Tentatively, she scooted to the edge of the bed and carefully touched one toe to the floor.
Nothing happened.
Maybe she was still suffering the aftereffects of the tea. She’d seen the walls breathing right before she fell asleep, so clearly ingesting fae magic caused hallucinations.
Telling herself this made sense, she slowly put both feet over the edge of the bed and stood.
The floor rippled with a soft shush that sounded like the whisper of the wind through a tree’s leaves and the same damp thing swept over her feet.
Ari leaped for the bed again, her body shuddering. She tucked her feet beneath her, wrapped her arms around her stomach, and rocked back and forth.
Maybe she was hallucinating. Maybe not. Regardless, she had no intention of getting out of bed until either the floor stopped doing whatever it was doing or Maarit came to check on her and explained what was going on.
She huddled on the bed, shivering in the damp sea breeze and staring at the motionless floor, until she gradually became aware of a whisper behind her.
Her heart thudded heavily against her ribs as she turned her head.
The wall was breathing.
In.
Out.
In.