Nothing in the world was free. Audrey looked at the harness.
“Look, it’s not that bad.” Cerise grinned at her. “I enjoy it. As long as we follow the orders and deliver the results, they treat us like heroes. Come on, it’s time to get dressed.”
* * *
HALF an hour later, a guard knocked on her door. The auction was about to begin. She and Cerise followed William and the guard through the hallway to a large room Audrey promptly dubbed “Blue Hall.”
The Blue Hall had five exits, the one through which they had entered and two in each of the side walls. All the walls were painted a bright, happy blue. Two guards decorated each entrance, looking like they meant business. Two additional guards stood at the end of the room, where an auctioneer’s block rose, facing rows of white chairs upholstered with blue, with an aisle between them. A throne-like chair stood to the block’s left, facing the audience. No doubt that was where Morell would sit. As they were led to their seats, Audrey craned her neck and spotted the boys in the third row, watched over by Gaston in black leather, with the kind of scowl that made people cringe. Farther toward the auctioneer’s podium, Kaldar was talking to Morell. They seemed relaxed, their postures telegraphing calm nerves. Morell was smiling. The robber baron seemed to genuinely like Kaldar.
Like him or not, Morell would kill Kaldar all the same. She’d counted twelve guards in the Blue Hall alone. She wasn’t the only one looking, either. All around her, bodyguards scanned the room, ushering their employers to their seats.
Cerise took her seat—the third chair in the row. Audrey paused, expecting William to follow, but he shook his head. “Get in.”
“But shouldn’t you sit together?”
“You’ll sit between us,” William said. “We can better protect you that way.”
Audrey sat next to Cerise. Kaldar’s cousin squeezed her hand, and whispered, “Stay close to me.”
A moment later, Francis landed in the chair in front of Cerise, turned, and hit her with a melodramatic stare.
Helena d’Amry strode through the door. Tall, elegant, she seemed to project aristocratic haughtiness and refinement. People moved out of her way. Men bowed. Women gave her the evil eye and shriveled the moment her slit-pupiled eyes glanced at them.
The tattooed man who’d thrown Gnome’s head at Audrey followed Helena, barely a step behind. Sebastian, Audrey remembered. Fear squirmed through her in a cold, nauseating wave. She tensed and forced herself to look past him at the rest of Helena’s crew. Four more people rounded out Helena’s party: a bald man, hard and sharp, naked to the waist and carrying a sword; a large woman with a mane of red hair, who could probably pick up any person in the room and hurl them into a wall; a cloaked figure who could be either female or male; and another man who moved with a jerky gait. He looked hungry, and he surveyed the people in front of him like they were meat.
Helena walked by her and slowed. Bright emerald eyes took her measure. The stare promised death. Audrey stared back.
The blueblood bitch arched her eyebrows and moved on, and Audrey found herself face-to-face with Sebastian. She looked into his eyes and saw a completely different kind of threat. He inclined his head in a mocking bow and kissed the air.
It took everything she had to keep her expression calm.
The man smiled, showing her a mouthful of fangs, and followed Helena like a loyal dog. They sat two rows ahead. The bald man took a chair behind them.
Audrey took a deep breath, forced a smile, and tried to pretend she was safe and carefree.
“IS there a particular item your mistress is interested in?” Morell asked.
Kaldar smiled. “The painting, Nature’s Cathedral.” He’d taken a good look at it in the vault while Audrey had tinkered with the box. He saw her now, sitting next to Cerise. William and Cerise would look after her. He had to look after the boys. As long as all of them minded their p’s and q’s, they would get out of here alive.
“Ah! One of Francis’s pieces. I believe I could make your life significantly easier—”
A commotion broke out at the door. A moment later, the veekings parted, and a man in a complicated pleated tunic and a pleated kilt that marked him as West Egyptian marched into the room. Muscular, he moved like a panther, stalking and graceful. A gold band sat on his short black hair, encircling his forehead, bright against skin the color of hazelnut. His face, all sharp angles and hard lines, radiated arrogance, and his eyes, completely black, promised no quarter. His tunic and his kilt were of deep emerald green.
Behind him five men moved into the room. Dressed in black, of identical height, all dark, all athletic, all with an obvious military bearing. The man in green clapped, and the five warriors snapped into a half-moon formation behind him.
Green, gold, and black. Bast colors.
The butler banged a staff at the door. “Prince Abubakar of West Egypt.”
The Claws of Bast. Fucking shit.
How did they even find them?
A servant ran up to Morell’s side and handed him an invitation. Morell glanced at it. “I see Jennifer Lowe won’t be attending, either. Apparently, she surrendered her invitation to the prince. His lips curved in a smile. “I seem to be in the company of all sorts of new friends. How interesting. I do hope we will all get along.”
AUDREY fanned herself with the booklet listing the items for auction. They had been in the Blue Hall for over an hour. Francis’s painting came and went. Kaldar and Cerise had gotten into a serious bidding war over it for appearance’s sake. Kaldar won, and now Cerise pretended to pout. Morell gazed on all of it from his throne, enjoying every second.
“Lot twenty-seven,” the thin woman who served as the auctioneer announced. “The Bracelets of Kul.”
A guard brought out the familiar wooden box.
“Bidding will start at . . .”
“Ten thousand Gaulish crowns,” Helena d’Amry announced.
“Fifteen thousand,” Prince Abubakar called out.
Audrey clutched her booklet. She’d pegged him for a Claw as soon as he walked through the door. The Egyptians had made the damn things. If he won the auction, he would know immediately that the bracelets were counterfeit.
Heads turned.
“Fifteen thousand once,” the auctioneer began.
“Twenty,” Helena said.
“Thirty,” the Egyptian answered.
“Thirty-five.”
“Fifty.”
“Fifty-five.”
“Sixty.”
“Sixty-five.”
“Eighty thousand,” the Egyptian announced.
Helena paused. “Eighty-five.”
“A hundred.”
Helena bowed her head. “We accept defeat.”
In the row in front, Kaldar leaned toward the boys. Audrey grasped Cerise’s hand tightly.
“Sold, to Prince Abubakar!”
Cerise reached into her wide cream skirt. Next to her, William leaned back, half turned in his seat.
The Egyptian motioned with his hand. The Claw of Bast sitting closest to the aisle rose, held out a leather bag, and emptied its contents on the floor. Slender gold bars scattered onto the blue carpet. Ten ten-thousand bricks of gold.
Jesus.
“I will take the item now!” Prince Abubakar declared.
The auctioneer glanced at Morell.
Say no, Audrey willed silently. Say no.
Morell nodded.
“As Your Highness wishes.”
The guard carried the box down the aisle.
The Claw of Bast picked up the box, turned, bowing, and delivered it to Abubakar. The prince rose and picked up one of the bracelets. “It’s a forgery!”
“I assure you the item is genuine,” Morell said. “It’s been tested.”
The prince hurled the bracelet at Morell. The baron snapped it out of the air. His eyes widened.
“It’s a fake!” Abubakar roared.
The Claws of Bast surged to their feet.
T
he prince pointed at Helena. “You! It was you!”
Helena grinned, displaying even, sharp teeth. “Be careful, sirrah.” Around her, the Hounds rose. The red mane on the tall woman rose like the hackles of a pissed-off dog.
People shifted away from them.
“Calm down,” Morell roared. “Stay in your seats, please.”
The prince clenched his fist.
“There is—”
In the aisle, the Claw of Bast jerked. His clothing tore open in a blur, and an enormous black panther leaped across the rows of seats and knocked the redheaded woman off her feet.
“—no need to panic!”
The panther’s massive mouth grasped the woman’s neck. Blood gushed, and her head drooped, limp.
People fled. Bodyguards screamed, pushing their charges out the door.
The Claws of Bast surged forward.
Helena’s eyes spilled white lightning.
Sebastian lunged at the panther. A curved knife flashed. Blood sprayed.
William jumped to his feet, reached over the row of chairs, and yanked Francis out of his seat like he was a child. Audrey shot out of her chair. William plowed into the aisle, knocking people out of the way, dragging Francis. Audrey dashed after him.
Helena’s hair stirred, as if caught by a phantom wind. The floor underneath them shuddered. White lightning whipped from her in three spinning balls. The Claws of Bast dodged. One of them ran straight into William. The Egyptian hissed like a mad cat. William opened his mouth and snarled, a raw primal lupine promise of violence and blood. The Claw jerked back, surprised. William half dragged, half carried, Francis out the side door.
Audrey caught a glimpse of Jack’s reddish hair and saw Kaldar—he was pushing the boys out through an entrance to the left.
“Keep moving,” Cerise barked behind her.
A hand shoved her out into a hallway.
“What are you doing?” Francis cried out. “Let go!”
“Shut up!” William strode down the hallway, pulling him along effortlessly. “This way. The outside scents are stronger here.”
They turned the corner.
“I’ve had enough of your brutality!” Francis dug his heels in. William didn’t even notice.
Behind them, a door burst open. Guards spilled into the hallway.
Another door blocked their exit.
“I demand you let me go!”
William dropped him and hammered a kick into the door. It held.
“Reinforced,” William said.
“Let me!” Audrey pushed forward to the door. Her magic streamed from her. She felt the lock—a complex key tumbler . . . and two bars across the door, one at the top, one at the bottom. Two heavy bars. Damn it. “I’ll need a few seconds.”
The guards sighted them.
William whirled, metal spikes in his hands. He tossed two to Cerise and thrust two into the wall to the left, one high, one at the ground.
“Wait, we can explain!” Francis said. “We’re guests!”
Cerise jabbed her spikes into the right wall at the same heights as William’s.
“They don’t care,” William told him.
The guards opened fire. A hail of charged bullets filled the hallway. The spikes flashed. A pale shield of blue magic flared between them, searing the bullets in mid-flight.
The key tumbler clicked open. Her magic focused on the top bar, trying to slide it back. Audrey strained. The bar rattled in its cradle. Heavy. Move. Move.
“How are you doing, Audrey?” Cerise asked.
“Need . . . a few . . . seconds . . .”
The guards abandoned their guns. The veekings trotted forward, blades out.
“Honey?” William asked.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Cerise stepped forward, past the spikes.
“Lady Candra! Where are you going?” Francis lunged after her.
William gripped his shoulder and shoved him back. “Stay back, you fool.”
The top bar slid back. Audrey exhaled and pushed her magic down, to the bottom. It grasped the bottom bar, tugging. It felt like she was trying to lift a car.
Cerise reached into her skirt and withdrew a slender blade.
The veekings pondered her for a moment—she looked absurd in her beautiful beige gown—and resumed their assault.
Cerise leaned forward. The pointed shoe on her right foot rubbed the ground.
“Help her!” Francis gripped William’s arm. “If you don’t, at least let me!”
A spark of white light slid along the edge of the blade.
The first veeking was a mere five feet away.
Cerise struck.
She moved so fast, she blurred. Cut, cut, cut, and Cerise halted, like a dancer in mid-move, her sword dripping blood.
The front four veekings didn’t scream. They just fell. The one on the left lingered. His head slid off the stump of his neck and tumbled to the floor. His body dropped to its knees.
The guards halted. Francis closed his mouth with a click.
“Audrey?” Cerise asked without turning.
“One lock left.”
The remaining veekings charged. Cerise cut, fast, precise, silent.
The bar slid back. Audrey gasped and bent in half, pain blossoming in the pit of her stomach. Too much magic, too fast. By the time she managed to straighten up again, the bodies of the veekings filled the hallway. Cerise wiped her blade on the skirt of her gown.
William yanked the door open, grabbed Francis with one hand and Audrey with the other, and pulled them through. They marched onto the castle ramparts into the sunshine. Cerise walked behind them, her face tranquil and slightly sad, as if she had just spent a day in prayer.
William leaned his head back and howled. The long high-pitched note of his wolf song rolled through the castle, eerie in the daylight.
A door burst open in the tower to the right, and Kaldar, Gaston, and the boys tumbled out into the sunlight onto a small balcony. Jack’s hands and face were bloody, and he was grinning like a maniac. George’s rapier dripped with red, as did Kaldar’s sword. He saw them and saluted, a big grin on his face.
William yanked off his jacket. A harness was strapped around his chest and waist.
“What is this?” Francis finally found his voice. “Who are you people?”
Cerise shrugged off her dress, revealing a tight black suit and the emergency harness she wore underneath. Audrey pulled off her own gown. At the other balcony, Kaldar, Gaston, and the kids shed their clothes.
William pulled his jacket apart, yanking another harness out of the lining, and slapped it on Francis, hooking it to his own with a short rope.
“Audrey, you’re with me.” Cerise motioned to her, attached the short rope to her harness, and checked her buckles and straps.
Shouts came from inside the castle.
Gaston jumped off the balcony. Twin streams of blue unfolded from his harness, snapping into fabric wings. Behind him Jack followed, tethered to Gaston with a short rope. They glided down to the trees.
William kissed Cerise, grasped Francis, hurled him over the parapet, and jumped after him. The young man screamed. The two men plunged down, then their wings opened.
Cerise held out her hand. “Come on. We’ll do it together.”
Kaldar screamed out a warning.
Audrey turned. A huge clawed shape fell at them from the sky. Audrey caught a flash of furry hide, massive claws, a dark cavernous mouth on the serpentine neck, and a single rider on the beast’s back.
Cerise spun, but it was too late. The creature’s claws smashed into Kaldar’s cousin. The impact knocked her off the wall. For a moment, Audrey saw Cerise falling as if in slow motion, her dark hair flaring about her, her mouth open in surprise and anger, and then she vanished behind the parapet. The world snapped back to its normal pace. The rope attaching Audrey to Cerise yanked and pulled Audrey toward the edge after Cerise. Before she could escape, the rider dropped off the beast, severing the rope with a cut of h
is knife.
Sebastian.
Audrey backed away from the edge. He came toward her, his eyes fixed on her face with predatory glee. Helena emerged from the door leading back into the castle. Blood stained her uniform.
On the other balcony, Kaldar cut the rope between him and George and pushed the boy into the open air.
“Go!” Audrey screamed at him. “Go!”
She sprinted to the edge. Helena and Sebastian dashed to intercept.
The railing loomed before her. Almost safe.
Helena’s kick smashed into her. The impact spun her around, and Audrey crashed to the stone floor. A hand grasped her neck. Sebastian yanked her up.
Her throat closed, blocked by pain.
Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Audrey tried to kick, but her feet found only air.
The world swam.
“A trade,” she heard Helena’s cold voice saying. “Your life for hers.”
No, she wanted to yell, but her throat refused to obey. No, you idiot!
Through the watery haze in her eyes she saw Kaldar a few feet away. His face was so calm.
“A good trade,” he said.
“No!” she yelled, but the word came out as a weak croak.
Kaldar took off his harness, dropped it on the ground, and raised his hands to the back of his head.
“Let her go,” Helena said.
The pressure ground her throat.
“Sebastian! Let her go.”
Sebastian hurled her over the balcony railing. She fell, plummeting downward. The trees rushed at her. Her wings snapped open, but the ground came too fast. Audrey crashed into a tree. The branches snapped under her as she fell from limb to limb, her wings a torn shroud around her, and then the ground punched her, and all was still.
Audrey staggered to her feet. Her knees shook. A piercing, sharp pain fractured her ribs.
Far above, the castle jutted out of the mountain. When they had approached the castle for the first time, their wyvern had landed to the north of it. Judging by the sun, she had landed to the west. Getting to the wyvern was her only hope.
She had to get moving. She had to find the boys and Gaston, and then she had to rescue Kaldar.
Audrey wiped the blood from her face and started walking north.
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