Page 152 of Fallacies

I look down at myself, at my half–illusion, and frown.

The very last thing I need right now is attention—which is exactly what I’d get if I walked out there as the man who went missing’s mistress.

“Dammit.” I let the illusion go and glance around the room. “Then how am I supposed to get around the Estate? And how is that going to stop the Countess from searching for the Baron?”

“They can search all they’d like.” The Hound dismisses the assumption with a shrug. “They won’t find anything. Without a body and with Alesi missing too, it will likely be assumed that they ran off together.”

“Likely?”

He nods.

I huff, folding my arms across my chest while I search for something wrong with his plan. It’s flawed for sure, but I have nothing to replace it with.

“Okay,” I surrender. “But if I can’t be Alesi and I can’t be Lucina…” I gesture to the dingy closet. “How the hell am I supposed to get out of here?”

He inhales a deep breath, like he’s about to deliver bad news.

“No.” I shake my head. “Absolutely not. Snare me again, and I swear to the gods I’ll⁠—”

His brows rise. “All the gods?”

The cast of the dim light above him makes his jaw appear sharper and his face more vicious. Deep, otherworldly eyes are the most obvious indicator that he’s different, but there’s nothing about him that’s ordinary. His size, his magic, the way he moves like he’s been in this body for centuries…he’s one of his kind. Truly.

“No,” I amend, determined not to be intimidated by him. “Just you.”

Salem nods. “Well, I wasn’t suggesting Snaring,” he admits, only after I’ve thrown a fit about it. “I don’t have that kind of power to spare—teleporting you all around the Estate.” Extending the hand not covering the doorknob, he holds out a long piece of black fabric that I’m pretty sure is a curtain. “You don’t need to be someone else entirely. No one here knows Lucina. Not yet, anyway.”

“Not ever,” I clarify, eyeing the dark fabric.

He’s silent for a moment. Then, “You have no idea, do you?”

That captures my attention.

“Lucina, Alaric will return the Countess’s letter, and in it he will tell her why I’m here and what I’ve been sent to do. Everyone in Onyile knows you exist, and with that one letter, everyone here will know too. News of your existence hasn’t made it to Streatham yet, but it will. Another reason we need to hurry this up.”

It renders me speechless. My jaw slackens, and I realize I have questions. A lot of them.

The Hound pushes off the door, bringing his outstretched hand closer. “No one here knows you, so you don’t need to disguise yourself as someone else. You just need to blend in.”

“Blend in?” I question.

He gestures to his eyes, then nods to my own, and a pit of dread yawns awake in my stomach. To change my eyes would require using Rogue magic exclusively. I’d need to keep a steady stream of it flowing through me at all times, and it’s not that I’m incapable…I just don’t feel good about⁠—

“Why do you feel guilty?”

Not, do you feel guilty—which would still be a strange thing to ask—but why?

My attention, which had drifted to a mildewed spot on the wall, snaps to his. “What are you talking about?”

“You feel guilty.” It’s a statement now. “I can smell it.”

My eyes bulge. “You can smell it?” I take a half-step backwards, bumping into the far wall. “Stop smelling me!”

“Sure,” he huffs, “if only it were that simple. Look, we don’t have time for this. I shouldn’t have even asked.” Salem holds the “robe” out further, prompting me to take it. “I found some kind of tunnel connected to my rooms, and you can explore those while I find our sources, but we’re not leaving this closet until your eyes are yellow.”

There’s no give in his tone. Not a single square inch of room for argument.

Buying myself time, I reach for my shoes, feeling the weight of his attention as I lace them. There isn’t much urgency as I slip weapons into my waistband and a few mender pills into my pocket, and after I’ve meticulously braided back my hair, I snatch the black fabric from his still outstretched hand. Throwing it over my shoulders, I freeze.