Page 152 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

I steal up to the side of the house and pluck a couple of lingering shards out of the frame. Gripping the base, I swing my leg inside and set my foot down ever so carefully on the floor.

It turns out I’m in a kitchen—next to a dusty stove that looks as if it hasn’t been lit in years, with cupboards along the walls beyond.

Drawing out one of my knives, I creep out into the hall beyond, searching for the stairs.

A muffled murmuring filters through the floor from above, followed by a retort that sounds sneering. The hairs on the back of my neck rise at the tone.

As carefully as I’m setting my feet, a warped floorboard creaks at my next slow step. I freeze, my heart skipping a beat, straining my ears for any sign that those above have noticed.

There's no sound from the second floor except a whimper that filters through the ceiling. I suppress a shudder.

After a moment, the sneering voice mutters something else. When I don't pick up any indication that the people above are coming to investigate, I creep forward even more cautiously than before.

Down the hall, I spot the shadowy staircase. I flatten myself against the wall where the boards should be most stable and ease up one careful step at a time.

The dust that my movements sends whirling into the air tickles my nose. I rub it to restrain a sneeze.

When my head is level with the floor of the hallway above, I spot movement in one of the doorways. The door is slightly ajar, and a large form stands just beyond it, only his shoulder showing in the dim lantern light.

At least, I assume it's a man from his size.

The sneering voice speaks again from farther inside the room. "Come on, come on. You can give a little more. We've got to keep those idiots full of confidence, or they'll fall down on the job again."

Julita's presence twitches at the back of my skull. Borys.

I'd thought the tone sounded familiar before. I just hadn't wanted to believe it.

But then, it fits everything I know about Julita's brother that he'd choose to contribute to the battle by extending power from afar rather than risking his neck directly.

If I have anything to say about it, that neck is going to have a very large gash in it by the time we're through.

My fingers itch around my knife, but I don't dare throw it from here. I don't have a clear view of any vital part of the man guarding the doorway, and I don't know how many others are with him and Borys.

I reach into my pocket and flick open the locket to press its inner surface. It's quite possible I won’t be able to tackle this problem all by myself.

But I have to do whatever I can manage on my own, because the battle might be lost and Borys moving on to join his comrades before any of my men reach me.

A sound like liquid pattering onto the floor carries through the doorway.

Julita outright flinches. Oh, gods. He still does it. The blood...

My stomach flips over at the thought of all the times he carved into her skin in the hopes that offering her blood would gain him additional power. Just like he’s apparently doing up there right now.

Breathing shallowly, I slink up the last few steps and along the hall toward the room. Through the thunder of my pulse, my focus narrows down to the little details I've learned how to judge during my days of thefts and cons.

The light streaks in only one angle across the floor, which means there's a single lantern. Two shadows cross the floor by the threshold, so there's another figure standing guard just inside, beyond the door. I can judge their position by the patches of darkness in the wan glow.

Crouching low and inching even nearer, I peek around the closer man's leg.

Borys is squatting across from one of the scourge sorcerers' sacrificial accomplices, her shroud discarded, her eyeless, noseless face as haunting as all those I've seen before.

As I watch, he drags the knife he's holding through the flesh of her jaw just below where her ear should be. Blood springs up, nauseatingly scarlet against her sallow skin.

To amplify his own gift, he’s making her sacrifice even more than she already has.

Their combined magic wafts through the air, vibrating through my bones. I tense against a cringe at the sensation.

I’ve got to stop him—fast.

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