Page 66 of All Hallows Game

No. No, no, no.

I blinked the tears from my eyes and prayed I’d been wrong. But there, carved into the lid of the box that contained a beating heart, was one word.

Misery.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CAT

Snow changed to sunshine as I raced past my car, my shoes thundering the old tarmac. I threw myself at the gates the moment they appeared, sunbeams warming the metal against my palm.

“Let me in. Let me in.”

I gripped the warm iron in a desperate fist, shaking the gates, and sobbed when they sprang open. I had the box cradled against my chest, a shaking arm wrapped protectively around it. Around Misery’s heart.

“Miz,” I gasped, frantic to find him, to see him healthy and tangible and alive, without a hole in his chest where this heart should be.

I slammed the gate behind myself, barely enough presence of mind to make sure it was latched before I raced through the courtyard to the castle. This was Death’s castle rising over me this time, with its dark bridges and towers, its conflagration of gothic windows and sharp roofs.

I clutched the box to my chest as I barrelled through the heavy front door, my weak legs barely holding me up.

“Miz! Misery!”

I raced up the stairs, aiming for the bedroom where I last saw him, my hands shaking so hard I felt the heart roll inside its box. Don’t drop it, don’t you dare fucking drop it, this is the heart of the man you love.

A shadow swarmed at the top of the stairs, and I caught my breath, praying, praying—

“What’s wrong?” Misery demanded, white hair streaming behind him like a banner as he stormed down the stairs, looking more like himself than I’d seen him in weeks. The long silk robe he wore open over black trousers made him look like a noble prince, but there was no hiding the dark glint in his eyes. If he was the prince of anything it was death.

“You’re okay,” I sobbed, my knees buckling. I hit the stairs hard enough to rattle my already aching body, my face crumpling. I held tight to the box, frantic to see Miz through the sudden veil of tears across my eyes.

“I’m fine,” he promised, kneeling on the step beside me, warm arms instantly coming around me. “What happened?”

My throat was too tight to answer. I put the mahogany box on the step above us and let him read the inscription while I threw both arms around him and held on tight. His hand buried in my hair, thumb stroking soothing circles even as his other hand lifted the lid.

“Shit,” he breathed, snapping the box closed again. “Who—Nightmare,” he growled, answering his own question. His voice was cold with the hard edge I associated with the blue-eyed psychopath he’d worn to intimidate me. “It’s not mine, Cat. The heart’s not mine.”

I buried my face in his warm shoulder as tears screwed up my face, my fingers twisted in his silk robe. “I thought—I thought—”

Miz wrapped a solid arm around me, pulling me in tight. His lips brushed my cheek as he murmured, “I’m right here. You haven’t lost me.”

Another sob ripped free, more and more tumbling out with every comforting word he spoke.

“I’ll go get Death and Tor,” he said after a while, kissing my temple.

I locked my hands on his robe. “No! I need you here. I need you close.”

Misery drew back, smoothing both hands over my hair, pushing it away from my face so he could look at me. Fuck knows what he saw. Red, puffy eyes, blotchy cheeks, bitten lips that wouldn’t stop trembling, and hair that was wild from climbing hills all day.

“You need me closer, my universe?”

I choked on every breath, another wave of tears burning my eyes. “As close as possible.”

“I hate seeing you upset,” he whispered, kissing the tears off my cheeks. “When you hurt, I hurt.”

His sweetness just made me cry harder, and my tears rolled down his bare chest as he pulled me back into him, a kiss landing on the top of my head.

“Cry as long as you need to, Cat. I’ll be right here the whole time.”

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