Page 96 of Fortress of Ambrose
“Later.” She hasn’t told me about anything that has happened. I don’t know how she and Yani linked up to find me or where Abby came from. I’m just relieved she’s alright.
As the last person comes through the gate, the black roses close behind us like a curtain. I’m about to say something to Quell, when she spots Willam outside and rushes in his direction with a look of fury on her face I’ve never seen.
Forty
Quell
As I storm across the lawn of Chateau Soleil, my mother’s words ring in my ear like a song I hate that won’t leave.The Dragunhead is after me.And while the walls of Chateau Soleil have my grandmother’s prickly roses, I’m not sure that’s enough to stop the leader of an army of Darkbearers if he decides to show up here.
Jordan said he saw the Dragunhead…
If that’s true, why isn’t he pursuing us…
What if the enemy is already inside?
Willam has made his desires plain—he wants his own House. He’s already started making moves. But he was hesitant to say with whom. He’s been at odds with Jordan since day one, but he was willing to come here with us. And then there’s his shirt, which is always buttoned to the collar, over his new tattoo. From what I recall it has sprawling lines stretched in every direction.
Like a sun.
Is it a shaded-in one?
Willam stands on the colonnade with a hand shading his brow, watching a throng of Marked from safe houses descend upon the estate.
“Quell, what’s the meaning of this?” Knox says as she exits the Chateau.
Jordan catches up to me. “Quell?”
“Unbutton your shirt, Willam.”
He gazes in both directions before arriving at the obvious conclusion I’m talking to him. He has always been nice to me, and he received me warmly. Maybe I’m wrong.Please let me be wrong.His skin reddens. Knox glances between us, perplexed.
“What are you talking about?” Willam looks down when he talks. I can’t see the rays or the edge of his scar.
“I want to see the tattoo you have over your scar.”
“We don’t need to do this here, Quell,” he says.
“Willam?” Knox’s curiosity deepens.
“What better place than in front of everyone else that will be staying here with us for a while?” I gesture at the group. Dexler joins us outside and clutches her chest.
“Goodness,” she says. “Do we need rooms forallof them?” she asks no one in particular. But my eyes don’t leave Willam.
I allow the cold to bleed through my fingers. “Shirt. Off.”
He exhales sharply through his nostrils, rips his buttons open. On his neck is a sun with curved rays.
And a shaded-in center.
A freshly inked Darkbearer mark.
The same marks on the bodies in the Sixth Ward.
Has he been feeding the Dragunhead information on us all this time?
Toushana bites my bones. I ball my fists, resisting the urge to unleash on him. Knox helps Dexler order the others inside the House. A few give her strange stares before streaming inside. When the doors to the Chateau close, Knox grabs a fistful of her clothes, staring at Willam. I can’t tell what she knows.
“This is not how I wanted them to find out,” Willam says to Knox. She is stone. “It’s not what you think. Let me explain.” He takes a step toward me.
