Page 6 of Wild Fury (Fallen Royals 6)

I walk for ten minutes when I realize I’m too far for my own good. My feet hurt, my thighs chafe. I’m not the sort of girl who’s meant to be in a dress for this long. Even if Rose Hill is an innocent place, I could still get kidnapped.

Or worse.

I shiver. It’s that thought, plus the images of that man falling backward, and his blood on my fingers, that force my hand. I pull out my phone and dial a familiar number by memory.

Last time I called, he threatened to block me.

But it rings through, and there’s a slight click. A hitch of breath.

The bastard answers and doesn’t say anything.

I suck my lower lip between my teeth. Then, “Hypothetically, if I was arrested for committing a crime, would you lie and be my alibi?”

“What sort of crime?” Theo’s voice is buttery warmth in my ear.

“Something bad. The worst you can think of.”

He’s quiet for a moment. “You don’t usually call me for hypotheticals.”

I glance around. The street is deserted, but it doesn’t help my paranoia. “Well, now I am.”

“Where are you?”

“Walking home.” It’s dark and cold, and part of me is just glad to be speaking to someone, even if that someone is Theo. I don’t know what possessed me to call him, other than a niggling sensation.

“Walking home in the dark, asking me if I’d be your alibi.” He pauses. “Not suspicious at all, Lux.”

I roll my eyes. “Fine. I’m hanging up.”

“You do that.”

It isn’t nearly as satisfying to tap the red end button when he’s expecting it—or even worse, agreeing to it. In fact, it downright irks me. He didn’t want any more details? He’s nosier than me when something intriguing is dangled in front of him.

Theo and I have had a push-and-pull relationship since we met in middle school. One thing has remained constant in my life, even when everything else fell to shit: Theo and I make great enemies.

Wind lifts my skirt and hair, both billowing out behind me. I should’ve taken a sweater or jacket, but this afternoon was practically balmy. It’s the end of summer, after all. Amelie will remain at home. I’ll start community college. Everyone else will move on.

She feels stuck. An awful, sticky trap sort of stuck.

I feel… alone.

That sort of lonely carves out pieces of your soul and leaves them on the ground as breadcrumbs.

Maybe I should’ve let that man touch me, just so I would know what it felt like. I’ve never been ashamed of my virginity—in fact, I usually wear it with honor. But now, my stomach turns. It could’ve been gone in a snap of my fingers. Literally. Something I’ve put my pride in, held up like armor, is flimsy. Fragile, even.

But I’m not fragile.

This is where the heroine of the story breaks down.

Cries about her bad deeds, the guilt. The murder.

I’ve got nothing inside me, so I keep walking.

2

Lux

A car turns onto the street I’m on.

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