Page 60 of Hunt the Dusk
“Secure my chamber, Banbury,” Ezekiel said.
Banbury ducked out quickly.
“Open the window,” he said to me.
“What?”
“The window, Miss Lighthart. Open it. Now.”
I ran to the window and yanked it open, falling back in time to avoid a rush of wings and a shadow as Godor flew inside.
“Take her.” Ezekiel indicated Regina. “Get her to safety.”
Godor’s expression gave nothing away as he gathered the woman carefully in his arms and strode back to the window.
“And Godor, have the others prepare the carriage and bring it to the east courtyard an hour before dawn.”
“Yes, Master.” His thighs bunched, and he launched himself out of the window and into the night, Regina cradled in his arms.
I closed the window and then slowly turned to face Ezekiel. “What just happened? What is thisCertamina pro thronoexactly?”
“We can talk once we’re back in our quarters.”
I wanted to press, but he looked wiped. Dark smudges beneath his eyes, and the pallor of his skin…gray…Had it been like that before?
“Come.” He led me to the exit from the room that I hadn’t seen anyone use yet. “I know of a secret shortcut.”
Chapter 20
The secret shortcut happened to be a series of passages in the walls. According to Ezekiel, he’d had them commissioned when he’d had Dracmore built. One of his first residences, Dracmore had been donated to the houses to use as neutral ground for political gatherings.
He moved fast, and I had to trot to keep up with his pace. The passage ended abruptly in a strange recess in the wall. Large enough to be a door. Ezekiel held out his hand, and I took it, noting how dry and cold it was. He pressed his other hand to the recess, and the bricks lit up with strange symbols. There was a click and a hiss, and the space swung open into his quarters.
We’d entered from behind the huge painting of Ezekiel that dominated the southern wall.
“No one knows about the passages,” he assured me. “And even if they did, they can’t enter this room through that painting unless I’m touching them.” He hurried to the bedroom. “Wait here.”
I heard water splashing, and a few minutes later he returned, face clean of blood, hair damp and raked back off his face.
“Ezekiel, what the fuck just happened?”
“It’s called a bonding feast. A willing human sacrifice that leaders share to affirm their allegiance to one another. It’s an ancient ritual. One we haven’t practiced in centuries.” Willing? Regina had agreed to this? “Constrange was either trying to ingratiate himself to me or use my hunger as a weapon against me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Bonding sacrifices are infused with certain mind-altering substances.”
“Drugs?”
“Yes, you could call them that.”
“Shit. But you’re okay, right?”
“I’m fine. But my hunger has been teased, and I’m afraid I overestimated my ability to control it.”
“You controlled it just fine. You stopped, and you didn’t drain her.”
“I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to continue feeding. I wanted to consume every last drop.”
