Page 7 of Hallowed Games

“As a faithful servant of the Archon, a pious tiller of the land, can you please consider again if there could be more in that manor? Are you quite positive it’s only the daughter?” He sighed. “Dark magic runs in families. It’s hard to believe her father would not also summon these evil arts. Surely he has also made a bargain with the Serpent? I could pay you very handsomely. We are at war, Rufus, with the Serpent. We’ve been finding bodies all over Merthyn. Unnaturally killed, drained of their blood. We must fight back.”

I swallowed hard. How many of these bodies were there?

Rufus cleared his throat. “It’s just that I haven’t seen him use magic…”

At least he was honest, I supposed.

“But there’s a small boy,” he added. “He lives in the soldiers’ barracks on Baron Throckmore’s estate. The boy has been marked by the Order. I saw it on the back of his wrist. It’s a symbol like the sun, yes? In a circle?”

Fear iced my veins, then slowly heated to molten anger.

My jaw clenched. I’d heard enough.

Gripping the hilt of my dagger, I pulled open the carved wooden door to the whispering chamber.

Two sets of eyes turned to me, and the Raven began to stand.

I slashed his throat before he got a chance to call out. Rufus made a choked, terrified sound, and I whirled, bringing the dagger up beneath his ribs into his heart. Swift and brutal, just as the Baron had taught me. Both taken out within seconds.

I stared into Rufus’s eyes, fury still humming through my bones.

Blood trickled from his mouth, and his gray eyes snapped wide open.

“You’re willing to kill a child,” I whispered into his ear, “for silver?”

His body went limp, and he slumped forward onto me. I pushed him back in the chair, and his head lolled. I pulled a second dagger from my scabbard and planted one in Rufus’s hand, laying it limply on his lap.

I added a few more stab wounds in his chest, some across his palms to give the appearance that the Raven had attacked him first. Then I cleaned my bloodied hands on the Raven’s black cloak and used the fabric to wipe off the soles of my boots.

Blood had spattered all around me. I pulled off my thick wool cloak and turned it inside out, hiding the stains. I peered out through the chamber’s wood latticework.

The atrium looked empty. Quietly, I pushed through the chamber door. Silence hung heavy in the air, and my heart still slammed against my ribs.

My breath was shallow as I crossed to the door leading to the garden. Right now, I was desperate to be out of here.

I reached the door, pulling it open into the overgrown garden. My breath caught. There, under a yew tree, stood the Raven Lord. “Are you all right, mistress? You seem as though you’ve had a shock.”

Was there a hint of mockery in his tone?

I raised my eyebrows and pressed my hand to my chest. I’d been trained to keep my expression neutral, but inside, my pulse raced wildly.

Why did I have the sickening feeling that he knew what I’d done, that he could sense my fear?

When I glanced at the far end of the garden, I saw a family strolling through. If I killed him, they’d see. Inwardly, I cursed. Killing in the Dome had been a reckless idea.

“I heard shouting in the whispering chamber,” I said. “It sounded like an argument. It disturbed me. I visited here for quiet contemplation, and they sounded…” I breathed in deeply. “Agitated. Someone was angry about heresy. It sounded like…well, I don’t want to suggest it was a fight…”

He stepped closer, peering down at me. This close, the lord towered over me, and his blue eyes glowed with a fervent, holy gleam. The air seemed to vibrate between us, charged like lightning. Was this the power of the Archon himself, radiating from the Raven Lord?

But it didn’t feel like the Archon. It felt forbidden.

The lord breathed in deeply, closing his eyes, and a faint smile curled his lips. He looked as if he was inhaling the spring air.

His eyes snapped open again, and his jaw tightened. His smile disappeared completely.

“You should get as far away from me as possible,” he said in a deep, husky tone.

As if I didn’t want to.

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