Page 169 of House of Lilith

“She’s a tough nut to crack,” the shifter says, “and there’s only so much the Pied Piper will let me do.”

“I can’t fucking believe it,” Max snaps. “As if the Games aren’t dangerous enough even with all the figurines working properly.”

The shifter says nothing.

There’s a second of silence before Max asks, “What about the other two?”

“They’ve run all the tests,” the shifter starts reciting in a flat voice. “Door seems to be exhibiting strange behavior, but Hourglass is perfectly stable. And that’s all that matters, for tomorrow at least.”

Judge, I think to myself, shivers running down my spine. She tried to use Judge,that’swhat she did.

“Okay,” I hear Max say. “Thanks. Give the Pied Piper my regards.”

And just like that, he’s standing next to me, making me look up as he calls for the Elevator. “Thank you for waiting, cupcake. Shall we?” he asks when the door opens.

I walk inside, hesitating a little. But just as the door closes, I bite the bullet. “Anything worth relaying?”

“Ah,” he says with a wave of his hand, “tiresome admin stuff. Would bore you out of your mind.”

I don’t say anything. He’s lying, I think to myself. But then again, I don’t have all the information. For all I know, the Pied Piper could’ve sworn him to secrecy.

So I choose to just give him a smile.

And the door opens again, letting us into the nearly empty Entrance Hall, the music blaring from the Main Hall, where the party is.

And my mind is buzzing with what I’ve heard just now and I’m so anxious about tonight, but I still breathe a sigh of relief when we walk through the archway, his arm around my waist, and I see exactly how crowded the place is.

It’ll be easy to avoid seeing people I don’t want to see here.

“Max, you won’t believe what I managed to score,” my brother yells as soon as he spots us approaching his and Hilde’s table.

He’s holding a bottle of bright green liquid up for us to see. Feno wine. It makes me frown, but before I can say anything, Hilde cuts in.

“Nyx,” she urges as she looks up at me. “Please tell him he can’t have any.”

“Why don’t you just drive a stake right through my heart, woman?” Nikolay demands with hurt and defiance in his voice.

“Oh please,” Max scoffs as he pulls the chair out for me. I throw him a smile and take a seat. “Feno,” he continues as he takes his seat next to me, “you’re fretting about Feno?”

And he turns to me, saying in an important little voice, “I’d had worse by the time Father gave me my first horse.”

I don’t smile, his voice and the words having put me off a little.

“But if he drinks too much,” Hilde insists, “he’ll poison his blood.”

Itistrue. And it makes images of bloodied bandages and syringes flood my mind.

“Then I just won’t drink too much, will I?” Nikolay says, as if to a half-wit. “Tell her she’s being an ass, Nyx. I think I deserve some unwinding after everything I’ve been through lately.”

I have to fight not to roll my eyes at this statement. And there’s this resistance in me to doing anything but letting brother darling do whatever the fuck he wants, be it having fun at a party or killing himself in the stupidest possible way.

But when I look into his eyes, it makes me let out an internal sigh, hold my hand out and say, “Can I take a look?”

He gives it to me.

And for a moment, I pretend I’m reading the label. Then I hold it out a little to the side and intentionally drop the thing, making it come crashing to the floor, all the liquid spilling onto the polished tiles beneath our feet.

“Shit,” I curse, faking surprise and remorse as I look up to see everyone staring at the mess. “I’m so sorry.”

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