Page 29 of This Monster of Mine

Kadra has a way of getting into people’s heads,Cisuré had warned.

How did you know? How did you see into me?

He looked even more amused at her silence. Reaching into his robe, he tossed her a key. “Upstairs. Left bedroom.” His gaze never left her. “Goodnight, Sarai of Arsamea.”

Too disconcerted to respond, she gave him a faint nod and headed up the stairs at the back of his study, tracing over the unfamiliar runes in the key as if they would ground her. This must be a key through his wards. She’d be able to enter Aoran Tower as she pleased.

Reaching the mezzanine overlooking Kadra’s tablinum, Sarai looked over the railing. She bit back a curse as the layout of Aoran Tower became clear. The tower’s only staircase began from Kadra’s study, baring the upper levels to his view. The moment she left her room, he would know. There would be no snooping around this tower unless it was empty.

The mezzanine held two rooms. Hers, and a door to the right that was probably his. Unlocking her quarters, she drew the bolt behind her and dropped her illusion, wincing as fatigue sank in from her prolonged use of magic. She could make no mistakes in Kadra’s tower and havingnihumbandzostaactive was going to drain her faster than the one-day estimate she had given Cisuré.

Threading the key onto a cord around her neck, she sank onto the four-poster bed, taking stock of an oak vanity, washbasin, wardrobe, and curtain-shielded window. She’d never had so muchspace. This room was palatial compared to Cretus’s shed.Even if I’m sharing walls with my assailant.

He had disarmed her tonight, all damp hair and open robes, but he was sorely mistaken if he thought that his muscled chest would make her lose sense. She had no trouble building a wall between her eyes and her mind.

Still, her unease persisted as she settled under the covers. He hadn’t lied once the entire night.

She blew out the candle atop the nightstand. Between one breath and the next, she fell into a turbulent sleep, where she fell and fell and fell.

And each time, it was Kadra who pushed her.

CHAPTER SIX

The man who’d conversed with the beautiful voice brushed a lock of hair from her face, and sprang back with a scream.

She could guess at how she looked. A bubble of blood burst from her mouth. Cold settled on her broken fingers, moving inward as her life leeched away. The red-eyed god robed in midnight would come soon, a scale in one hand to weigh a soul’s deeds. The few who had managed to Summon Lord Death had written of a sight immeasurable in words, and a voice icier than winter. She wondered if he would be kind. If he’d understand that she had tried so hard—

“Tetrarch Kadra requests your presence.”

Sarai fell out of slumber, slamming her head into the headboard. Disoriented, she scrabbled at the bedposts for purchase, before hitting the ground.

“Is everything alright?” the voice outside inquired. Cato. The coachman. Or Kadra’s manservant. Whatever he was.

“One moment!” Gettingnihumbandzostaactive, she waited for her scars to disappear before opening the door.

Sarai forced a smile. “Good”—she glanced at the pitch-black sky outside her window—“evening, Cato?” How long had she slept?

Tray in hand, he inclined his head. “Congratulations on your first day as a Petitor. I thought you might prefer to take breakfast in your room.”

She shot another glance at the window. “What time is it?”

“A little past two.”

“In the morning?”

“Tetrarch Kadra prefers to work while it’s dark,” Cato answered matter-of-factly. “Daylight affords too many opportunities for assassination.”

“I imagine burning people alive probably doesn’t help that.”

“But then who would eradicate the Enniuses of this world?”

“It isn’t a binary choice.” The Tetrarchy made the law. If Kadra disliked it so much, it was well within his power to change it.

Cato’s smile didn’t waver. “Of course.” Taking the robes Kadra had lent her—which stank of Ennius’s pyre—he gave her a new set and a bathrobe. “The bath is to the left of the tablinum.Tetrarch Kadra is outside when you’re ready.”

Once he left, Sarai sank onto the bed, head in her hands. She’d dreamt of the Fall for years, but there’d been something more vivid about these memories, as though Sidran Tower’s proximity had begun returning them to her. Eyes closed, she tried to recall the face of the second man that night and grimaced at the blurry outline her head yielded.I need to see that case record.Perhaps it had his name. Depending on Kadra’s idea of a workday, she might even be able to visit the Hall of Records today.

A long breath whistled through her teeth.By Fortune, I’m so close. Brimming with determination, she scarfed down her breakfast: a roast chicken leg, sizzling in herbs and butter, accompanied with root vegetables and a cup of lemon-honey brew. A far cry from the stale bread she’d filched from Cretus. Wrapping herself in the bathrobe—trying to ignore its similarity to the one Kadra had worn earlier—she crept downstairs and out of his blessedly empty study.

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