Page 269 of Lethal King

How could this happen?

How could I let it happen?

“I’m still not sure,” Maksim admits. His voice is full of shame.

“I think I have an idea,” Roz calls out again. “Someone hit the lights.”

“What are you—” I start, before being interrupted.

“Hit. The. Lights.”

“Do as she says,” I grumble. There’s a wild look in Roz’s eyes. She’s found something important.

“Come here,” Roz insists. The lights shut off. The studio goes dark.

Taking out my phone, I light the way.

Every step I take is like a punch to the gut. Mel will never survive out there. Especially not with Tytus on the hunt.

We need to bring her back home. And fast.

“Look at this,” Roz says. She’s pulled out a lighter and flipped my coronation painting around. Pressing the flame against the back of the canvass, she illuminates a hidden message.

Your artwork is beautiful,

And so are you.

If you want to be free,

Then I can show you what to do.

At the far end of your studio,

Beneath the very last light,

There’s an escape hatch you can use,

To take your very first flight.

Yours truly,

The shadow.

My heart drops.

“There’s more,” Roz says. Leading the flame beneath the poem, she finds a much more rudimentary message. It’s painted in white just beneath one of the wooden wedges.

I’m sorry. I need to be free—if only just for a little while.

Love, Mel.

“That fucking bastard,” I curse, ready to explode.

“Tytus must have written that message before he returned the painting,” Roz points out. “I wonder if he tipped your sister off when they ran into each other?”

“Mel is smart,” Maksim says. “She could have figured it out herself.”

“She’s more than smart.”