Page 109 of Nocturn

Both of us froze, looking toward the sharp clinking.

She straightened and backed against the side. “If you manage to escape. Do not turn back,” she whispered.

A howl ripped through, echoing.

Sounds of skittering approached. A single Hollow rounded into our view. There was no time to run; she was trapped. The Hollow lunged at her in a burst too quick to track. She fell on her back, head smacking against the metal bar and sending blood spattering across my dress.

It rammed its long, curved claw down the front of her chest, ripping her from throat to navel.

A scream caught in my throat as I staggered back until I was flush with stone. Innards and blue blood burst from her as her torso was torn open. Renata kept screaming, still not succumbing to death.

The Hollow opened its maw, showing grotesque teeth, and it began to feed, burying its face into the split torso.

Renata’s head went limp, her eyes wide open and fixed on me. The monster continued feeding. My legs stopped working, and I slid down against the stone until my bottom hit the ground.

She was gone. Renata was gone only because she wanted a better life for her niece.

I clamped my palms over my ears, but the wet sounds of the Hollow feeding still reached me. I curled forward over my thighs, pressing my forehead into the stone. If they knew I was involved, they would search the chamber . . . They would find the grimoire.

The very thing Renata died for. The crack in my chest only grew.

Nothing I had done until now had worked.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Escape

“She’s comatose,” a deep voice said, strained. My bottom had grown as cold as the stone of the pit. “Amara,” he insisted, hand on my shoulder.

I could see someone before me, but I could not move my body. His face stirred familiarity. Where had I seen him before?

“If we do not leave, we will be tossed to the Hollows next.” Bitterness coated his voice. Just like Renata.

She had told them I was working with the Resistance. Cassiel knew when I walked into his chamber. Nothing I would have begged would have gotten through to him. He had already seen me as a traitor.

My heart squeezed.

‘We have to go, Amara!’ Piper was here?

Teeth sank into my hand, and I was ripped out of the foggy haze. I blinked and stared down at Piper.

“Piper?” I croaked, registering the warmth at my breastbone.

‘We can do greetings later,’ she chittered. ‘We must run now.’

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

‘I do not want to bite you again,’ she snapped.

“Thank Saints you are conscious.” He grinned impishly. I squinted, scanning the broad features making up the planes of his face. He seemed terribly familiar.

“You are the . . .”

“Yep.” He popped the last letter. Damien, the stable boy. The spy.

“We have to get you out of here. We only have a small time frame.” His hand curled under my elbow. I winced.

“Apologies, my lady, there is no place on you that isn’t bruised,” he said gruffly. He helped me to my feet.