Page 147 of Lethal King

But there was no time to collect everything that escaped my padlocked heart. Red-hot remnants still flutter through my chest as I sneak around to the back of the little cottage.

The second I open the door, I’m greeted by an unexpected host.

“You’ve gotten bigger,” I note, not daring to reach down.

To my surprise, Kaja doesn’t hiss at me. Instead, the growing kitten brushes against my leg.

The contact sends a warm tingle over my skin.

“Does that mean I’ve won you over?” I ask. Bending down, I go to pet the purring cat, but she won’t let me feel too good about myself—not for long, at least.

My hand might as well be venomous, and the stubborn creature avoids it at all costs, slinking away as I sigh and accept my position as an inanimate scratching post.

“I guess not,” I mumble.

Still, Kaja looks back over her shoulder when I don’t immediately follow her deeper into the house.

“Where’s Babcia?” I ask, kicking the dirt off my shoes.

Kaja meows and turns back around. I follow her into the kitchen.

“Hello?” I call out.

No one responds.

Opening the fridge, I find it full of saran-wrapped meals. But I don’t grab any of them.

Something is wrong.

“Babcia, are you here?”

She must be. The old woman doesn’t have anywhere else to go.

My heart sinks a little as I make my way to the bedroom. The light in there is on too.

But there’s no Babcia.

Back in the kitchen, Kaja meows on the counter.

“What is it?” I ask. “Where’s Babcia?”

Kaja just looks up at a cupboard beside the fridge. Her yellow eyes glare at the wooden door so intensely it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

“… Babcia?” I gulp, suddenly filled with dread.

My life has been filled with so much horror that I automatically expect the worst. Before I can stop myself, I’m reaching for the cupboard door.

“… Babcia?” I force myself to call out, a little louder this time.

Please, no.

When my hand falls on the tiny wooden knob, I freeze. For some terrifying reason, all I can think of is what happened to my parents.

From deep in the back of my mind, I see their charred corpses melting behind a wicked wall of flames.

Kaja meows.

I flinch.