Page 125 of The Shuddering City

She pulled away from him. Her anger and determination were fading, and she was beginning to look anxious and afraid. “What do we do now? There’s a dead body in my room! And the high divine promising to be back in a few days! Brandon, there is no hope left for me!”

He caught her shoulders and drew her closer, making shushing noises and dropping a quick kiss on her mouth. “We leave,” he said. “Right now. Tonight. The servants are gone. Finley is dead—”

“What?”

“I know. It’s terrible.”

“But I liked her!”

“Me too. Linnet killed her before she came upstairs.” He shook his head, shaking away the grief. He had no time for it. “But now we have an unexpected opportunity. There is no one in the house but us. It’s a few hours until dawn—we have a little time—”

She brought her hands up between their bodies, wringing them together. “A few hours—we cannot get far enough away—and when Michalo realizes that he’s been right all this time, that I really am in danger—Brandon, we will never get away!”

Suddenly it was all clear to him. The entire plan. “Get dressed. Grab your things,” he said. “We’ll be out of here in fifteen minutes.”

“But—”

He reached for her left hand and gently unsnapped her ornate gold bracelet. “We’ll put this on Linnet. We’ll strip off her uniform and dress her in your robe. And when they find her body—”

“We look nothing alike!”

“She’s got Cordelano coloring, just like you. And when they find her remains, charred by fire—”

She stared at him. “You want to burn the house down,” she whispered.

“If they think you died, they won’t look for you.”

“Brandon!Yes!But will it work?”

“I don’t know. But it could. It might. It’s our best chance.”

She pulled away from him, suddenly full of brisk purpose. “Go. Pack up your own things. I’ll get my money and a change of clothes.”

He toed Linnet’s limp body with his bare foot. He should be more horrified that he had just killed another living human, and more distraught that Finley had been murdered, but mostly what he felt was a profound sense of relief. Such a terrible night, and yet how much worse it might have been. “I have to cut off Linnet’s bracelet and gather materials to set a couple of fires. One here in the bedroom, I think, and one or two downstairs. So maybe it will be an hour before we’re out of here.”

“Maybe an hour,” Villette said, almost blithe. “And then we’ll be gone.”

He headed for the door, then turned back briefly to kiss her one more time. “You’re free,” he whispered. “I swear to you, as of this night, you’re free.”

She leaned forward to kiss him in reply. “Let’s run away.”

Chapter Thirty-one:

Madeleine

It wasn’t even dawn when Madeleine heard the insistent clatter of heavy vehicles laboring up the street, caught the faint echoes of people shouting from what seemed like a far distance. She stirred in her bed, half tempted to run to the window and peer out, trying to guess what disaster was in the making.

Reese moved beside her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he murmured into her neck.

“I hear noises outside.”

That brought him all the way awake, and he pushed himself up to an elbow, though he managed to keep one arm around her. “You think someone’s attacking the house?”

“No, no—something in the distance. As if a couple of chuggers have collided and people are coming from all over the city to provide assistance.”

He yawned, threw the covers back, and climbed out of bed. “Let’s see if I can tell anything,” he said, opening the window as wide as it would go. He stuck his head out so far she was afraid he might fall to the garden below.

“Reese!Be careful!”

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