Page 118 of Highland Spy

Sylvi came out of Percy’s room and closed the door quickly behind her. She had something in her hand Ariana could not make out.

Ariana gave Sylvi a nod, not wanting to engage in small talk any more than Sylvi likely wanted to.

The woman was fascinating, though. She possessed the greatest skill of any of the other women there, but she did not venture out on her own.

Sylvi’s brows furrowed together and she gave Ariana a disconcerted look. “What?”

Ariana gritted her teeth. Evidently, she had been staring. She could have kicked herself for it.

“Why do you stay?” Ariana let the question slide from her lips and tried not to regret it.

Sylvi smirked. “I’m not going to go until I find who I’m looking for.” Lines of white along the sides of Sylvi’s eyes stood out against the duskiness of her dirty skin, as if she’d been squinting during her ride. “Besides, I get training here.”

“More than you have already?”

Sylvi shrugged off the compliment. “There is always more to learn. Until I find who I’m looking for. And when I do—” She drew in a deep breath, as if to calm herself. “And when I do, I’ll be ready.”

There was a coldness to her tone, like the razor-sharp edge of a dagger. A chill skittered over Ariana’s skin.

Sylvi narrowed her eyes and the white lines around her eyes disappeared in the creases of grit. “You act as though it’s easy to leave, Ariana. No one just walks away.”

Ariana felt as if she’d been doused with a bucket of melted snow.

She gave a nod, all she could muster, and then Sylvi was gone.

Had that been a threat?

Ariana opened the door to Percy’s room and slipped inside, grateful her encounter with Sylvi was over, and grateful to be once more blissfully alone.

The light inside the room was so brilliant, it left Ariana momentarily stunned. Where the hallway had been dark, the room was brighter than the day outside. Sunlight shone in through the narrow windows lining the back wall, but surely it was not enough to fill the entire room.

Mirrors dotted the room, on walls and on tables and in sconces. One in particular reflected a dazzling shard of sunlight directly into her eyes. It was then Ariana realized the mirrors were responsible for the incredible amount of light.

Several silver lockpick-hairpins glinted at her from a table across the room, where they were neatly lined up alongside one another. Exactly what she needed.

Ariana plucked three from the table, all with a delicate rose design etched into them, and slid one into her hair. There was another table next to her, one with the small vials she’d received from Percy the night of her first mission. The dreadful eye tincture Ariana would never use again, the slender tube of the concoction which left a man incapacitated. And the round vial.

Her gaze flitted from the round vial. After having witnessed its effects, she wanted nothing more to do with its contents.

But the slender tube… Her hand lifted of its own accord and hung in the air for a brief moment.

There were many possibilities with the slender vial, many ways it could aid her in escaping.

No one just walks away.

Sylvi’s words pounded in her head.

The enticement flared up inside Ariana, greedy and entitled. She had always played by the rules, always done as she was told. Barring her time at the gaming tables, of course.

Her fingers settled over the slick glass. This was her opportunity to make her own rules, to live her own life.

That was when the door clicked closed with a softness that might as well have been a slam.

Ariana’s heart near burst from her chest and she spun around.

She wanted to be angry at the intrusion, to let it feed the fire of unfairness burning through her. And perhaps she could have—were the person anyone else.

Percy stood in front of the closed door, her blonde hair falling around her face like an angel’s. A soft smile touched Percy’s lips and her expression was as gentle and beautifully open as it always was.