Page 62 of Hellbound

“I thought this would suit both your romantic femininity and the more carnal sensibilities of your new position.” His breath was hot against her neck, and she stifled a growl in her throat. His fingers brushed her nape as he fastened the clasp, and something dark and violent coiled in her chest, like a serpent ready to strike.

Her fingers ached to move—to snap his wrist, to drive Caromir into his fat gut, to wrap the delicate chains around his throat instead and watch his face turn purple.

Instead, she smiled and turned around with a flourish. “How thoughtful,” she settled on, her voice honeyed over glass shards.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted Pavel at a pew.

“Grand Chancellor, we’ll meet again soon.” She’d practiced this mask in her mirrors until it looked more real than the expression she truly wanted to surface.

You know you want to do it, Vornaya said silkily. The soft place just below his ear—one thrust and he’d be dead before he even hit the floor…

She couldn’t afford an assassination in broad daylight. Let alone the Grand Chancellor, so she forced her body still.

“Of course, of course, my dear.” She let him tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

Ksenia watched him walk down the center aisle toward the pulpit where a hulking archbishop stood, his attention trained on Kovar.

Ksenia wove between churchgoers lingering after the service, forced to wait their turn to speak with the archbishop. Their voices were a low murmur, eyes occasionally flicking between her and the chancellor.

The rumor mill had begun.

Ksenia gratefully found her seat next to Pavel.

Darkness encircled his eyes, and he scratched at the stubble sprouting on his neck. “That was painful to watch.”

Pavel shrank beneath Ksenia’s scathing gaze.

“Anything from the graveyard shift?” Ksenia scanned the couple of dozen churchgoers.

“The rotation is fuzzy at best. I would have needed multiple nights of study to go through all the Envorsen staffed here; we’re talking battle-trained, elite guards in the hundreds.” Pavel yawned. “Being the court scribe is boring but has its perks…I’ve learned maybe forty of them by face and name, but there’s a ton of gaps still in their patterns and rotations.”

“What about the other teams? Did you see any of them?”

Pavel chuckled. “Yeah, spotted one being dragged away by his thumbs last night—the one with the red beard.” He cracked his knuckles. “I followed them and passed by a forge.”

Ksenia’s ears pricked. “A forge? Any bondsmiths?” she asked, a little too quickly to subvert suspicion.

Pavel rubbed his bloodshot eyes, unnoticing. “Maybe? It was my first time down there. I figured they just got executed regardless of whether they’ve pledged fealty.”

Ksenia bit her lower lip. “Where did you say this was?”

“Can we focus? I still don’t have a way into the vault.” Pavel raised his brows at her.

She settled her nerves. There would be a time and place later for her to roam and find where Danika was being held.

Ksenia sighed. “There has to be a way past them. Either by distraction or force.”

Pavel slid away. “I’m not seeing a way to do either. This challenge is about infiltration after all. I’m going to meet up with Vuk to check his progress with the pulley system.”

“I’ll do some research tonight, see if I can find an in.” Ksenia was starting to see double from her repeated sleepless nights, and she rubbed her eyes.

The church was emptying.

Behind her, the faintest shift of weight on wood.

She stayed forward.

Two small hands clapped over her eyes. “Guess who!”