Page 127 of Tales of a Monstrous Heart
Alma’s eyes narrowed, turning cold-blooded with her rage. ‘They were in his office,actually.’
‘I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re—’ I began, snatching the papers, but the sight of them stopped any further complaint. ‘Septus mor.’
A dark calling. The crumpled and partially charred papers sent a wave of dread through me. Each one asked for the same thing in the dark language of Verr worship. Summoning spells.
The press of Emrys’s warmth against my back was my only comfort as I heard him distantly give a command to Thean. Something about leaving.
‘No,’ I barely breathed, reaching for Emrys’s hand. All their focus shifted back to me, but none more intently than Emrys’s. ‘Montagor will be expecting you to leave.’
‘Montagor?’ Alma turned to me, eyes wide, pupils as large as an owl’s.
‘Lord Percy’s latest guest,’ Emrys offered darkly, but his focus didn’t shift from my face, as if testing how I’d respond to the word uttered from Alma’s lips. ‘He’s brought Ainsworth’s son along with him too.’
‘Finneaus? !’ Alma hissed, making me look to her as her skin shifted slightly so scales rippled down her throat. ‘That little rat.’
Then she turned on me, clawed finger pointed, eyes deadly and tongue slightly forked. ‘I told you to leave him to that sodding demon.’
‘Something we agree on, Miss Darcy,’ Emrys added menacingly, making me turn to see him. Only to note the indentation at his bottom lip caused by my fervent kisses.
‘I’m going to gut the pig,’ Alma hissed, bringing me back to reality as she rooted around in that cupboard for her shoes, hopping with fury as she put them on.
‘As entertaining as that would be …’ Thean grinned, clearly thrilled as Alma’s vicious glare returned to him, ‘Montagor won’t be put off his task for long.’
‘He won’t be doing anything tonight.’ Emrys’s words were cold, something in them having more sting than a winter wind. William grasped his coat a little tighter, but it was the voyav’s reaction that worried me.
‘What did you do?’ Thean asked, all traces of amusement gone. Studying Emrys carefully, like he was a lingering threat.
‘That smell …’ Alma murmured, interrupting Thean’s interrogation as she moved suddenly for me. Grabbing my forearms. Nostrils flaring. ‘That’s the smell from that wood.’
‘I washed,’ I objected, but she was already shaking her head, dislodging her dark curls, brow furrowed.
‘Not you,’ she snapped with exasperation, stepping away from our gathering, closer to the passage that led to the ballroom. ‘It’s here. Close.’
‘We need to go back in the hall,’ I said. ‘Try and see who it could be before they come up with anymore gossip about Montagor’s arrival or—’ I couldn’t finish. Knowing they’d be talking about what exactly Lord Blackthorn was up to with his partner mage being absent from the ballroom.
‘I wouldn’t worry about that; they’re all talking about those old coins.’ William rocked back on his heels, hands running through his unruly curls.
‘What coins?’ I demanded, a horrid terror seeping through my limbs, but I didn’t need William to answer. That unease I’d felt before came back to me now. Sharply.
Why Alma could smell something. It was here.
‘Kat!’ Emrys warned, but I was already running.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The darkness devours the wildest things first. Feasts off their hunger for this life, the power buried in their bones and the chaos in their soul.
– The Book of Mort,1247
Useless warnings raced through my mind as I pushed and elbowed my way through the lace and silk adorned crowd, past dancers who sneered at me. I followed that horrid sensation rushing across my skin, making my magic claw ruthlessly inside of me, until I stumbled to a stop at the far edge of the ballroom, where the card table was set up in the adjoining room. Lord Canthorp was holding court, a gleam coming from the table before him. A gold coin sat amongst the mess of abandoned cards and glasses of wine. It darkened and twisted in shape out the corner of my eye. One of those cursed coins from the ruins.
No.
‘Beautiful, aren’t they?’ Mr Canthorp crowed as Lady Lovell fluttered her fan over his shoulder. ‘After Lord Percy mentioned the ruins, our curiosity was piqued—’
A demonic hiss of laughter clawed through my skull, making me wince just as Canthorp jumped to his feet, clutching his hand. The gold coin slipped from his grasp to roll across the floor.
‘Good heavens, it’s sharp.’ He laughed, the guests joining in like a cruel chorus of fiends. The blood-coated thing started to roll further into the centre of the room. Guests stepping back out of its path.
