Page 124 of House of Lilith

She shushes me, finishes fixing her corset and starts marching out of the grove, gesturing for me to follow.

And I do, but I first grab her ribbon off the ground. Fighting the urge to whistle, I fall into step with her just as she walks out from among the trees.

Still moving, I hold the ribbon out for her, but then I see Hilde walking straight at us, waving, and I slide my hand back into my pocket, concealing the incriminating little item.

I see Romanov wave back, throw a quick glance at her chest and let out a quiet little groan. “Where’s the fucking… Fuck.”

It makes me have to stifle a laugh just as we meet her cousin halfway.

“Thereyou are,” Hilde says, but she doesn’t wait for a reply. She immediately turns tome. “Hi, Dahrian,” she says, sweetly, but there’s some kind of pause in her voice.

“Hello to you, too,” I say, unfazed, smiling and tipping my head in a greeting.

“What’re you two doing?” she asks, without hesitation but with a little frown now scrunching up her forehead.

“Oh,” Romanov jumps in, making me turn to see what she’ll come up with, “I was just showing Howe the spot where that gargoyle attacked that student, remember, our first year here?”

Would you look at that, I think as my mouth cracks into a smile.

“But that’s not the grove where it happened,” I hear Hilde say.

I don’t take my eyes off Romanov.

“What’re you talking about, Hilde?” she protests with a scoff. “I think I’d know.”

Such conviction, I think as my smile turns into a grin.

“So you’ve seen the marks on the trees?” Hilde asks just as I turn to her, finding her no longer looking so suspicious.

For a second, I just look at her. Then I clear my throat to suppress a laugh. “Of course,” I say, my voice coming out all collected and serious, “it was all so fascinating.” I let my eye dart to the jumpy little rabbit as I say, “I enjoyed the little lectureimmensely.”

She subtly rolls her eyes at me, but her lips are tugging into a smile, which is the look she has on whenever she tells me I’m an idiot.

It makes me start getting hard again.

“No, it reallyisfascinating,” I hear Hilde say and I turn to look at her, but it’s proving to be hard not to hate her for interrupting.

“Yeah, he’s just being polite,” Romanov protests, making me snap out of it. “But we have to go, don’t we, Hilde?”

And she takes her cousin by the hand and moves to walk away, throwing me a look that’s telling me I better start making myself scarce.

“Yeah, Nikolay’s already left,” Hilde replies with a sigh as she lets herself be led away. “He had a little too much of that feywine.” She stops, throwing a glance over her shoulder, at me. “But we can’t leave Dahrian all alone out here.”

“I don’t think he needs a babysitter,” comes a cutting reply.

I blow a little laugh through my nose. “You two run along. Good night,” I say, tipping my head to the side a little to catch a certain rabbit’s eye. “And sweet dreams.”

“Night,” she says flatly.

“Bye, Dahrian,” Hilde says sweetly. “Sweet dreams to you, too.”

For a second, I just keep standing there, watching them start making their way across the gardens and back to Lilith Tower.

Then I turn on my heel, sliding the hand with the ribbon out of my pocket at the exact same moment I hear Hilde’s already distant voice say, “Nyx, where’s your bow?”

“Um, there was this branch… Nevermind. I just lost it.”

I keep strolling down the slope, snickering, my thumb stroking the smooth surface of the fabric between my fingers.

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