I might as well go to bed because that was where Marcus was about to send me.

With a heavy, bone-weary sigh, I pushed off from the gate as ten drones flew over the wall and clustered like a swarm of mechanical wasps overhead.

It only took three seconds.

The drones lined up with the girls.

They went to run.

And then dropped dead thanks to bullets fired directly from the snipers mounted on the flying machines.

Whisper leapt upward, trying to snatch the closest one.

Marcus’s voice echoed, smooth and amused. “Lucien, Lucien, Lucien.”

I gave him the finger and stalked back to Cinderkeep.

The drone followed me even as Whisper tried swatting it again.

“Must you always be so dramatic?” Marcus tutted. “You should know by now there’s no escape unless I give you one.”

I didn’t bother turning around.

My heart fluttered with twenty years of hate. One of these days, I would get my revenge. One day, I would kill him.

Slowly.

Painfully.

I would relish in his screams.

“I see you’re feeling rather good tonight. There’s almost a pep in your step,” Marcus said, the buzz of the drone making my ears ring. “It seems I’ve been remiss in monitoring your dose.”

Shit.

My hands fisted but I refused to give him the satisfaction of my misery.

So much for Rook curing me.

So much for feeling normal and healthy and—

PAIN.

The vitalsync core clicked, beeped, and drenched me with burning, burning agony.

My knees hit the grass as every muscle seized, every bone sizzled, every droplet of blood turned molten.

My spine arched, my skin blistered, even the roots of my teeth felt scorched.

Every breath was full of knives. Every blink set my skull throbbing.

Colours bled out of my vision.

Whisper’s howl turned to a whimper.

Consciousness abandoned me as the pain became too much.

I fell sideways.

I bit my tongue as I landed.

And choked on precious Ashfall blood as I passed out.

Chapter Forty

I STOOD OUTSIDE MY PAVILION, WATCHING the drones put on a show.

I didn’t know why they’d suddenly appeared over the wall or why so many of them clustered in one spot. Whatever the reason, I’d heard a soft popping sound while getting a midnight snack and came out to investigate.

Shivering in the cooler evening, I rubbed my arms as the twinkling lights on the drones danced like comets. I counted ten, weaving around each other, almost forming patterns.

If I let my eyes go hazy, I could almost imagine it was a lightshow like the one I’d witnessed in Hong Kong on New Year’s a few years ago. Back then, there’d been thousands of flying machines, all programmed to spiral and combine, transforming into a sinuous dragon in the sky.

Watching them had been calming. But tonight, these felt...oppressive.

Their lights were too bright, too...hunting. Their movements too fierce and threatening.

My floor-length white satin nightgown couldn’t protect me from an icy chill. Not because of the cutting breeze, but because the longer I watched them, the more I felt something was dreadfully wrong.

Were some of the girls in trouble?

Was Laura okay?

Lucien?

My feet moved to go. To dash across the grounds to see why those nasty drones hovered like murderous sentries but...my temples throbbed.

Even if I did race over there...what could I do?

What if something really bad had happened?

I barely stomached seeing the lumpy body bags being carried out of Lucien’s palace without passing out. Let alone seeing a girl bleeding and glassy-eyed—no matter how heartless she was.

“Best just to stay here,” I whispered. “Go back to bed. This isn’t your fight.”

Call me weak or useless, but I knew my limits.

My heart squeezed as I turned to leave, but I looked over my shoulder.

My thoughts filled with Lucien. Of the way he’d kissed me so violently, so hungrily. Of the way I’d been too shocked, too overcome to kiss him back.

He wouldn’t pay for that, would he?

Those drones weren’t for him, were they?

I turned to face them again, a gush of nausea working through my system.

What if he was hurt?

What if they’d done something to him—

The drones suddenly shot upward and vanished over the wall, taking their lightshow with them. The sky seemed darker and domineering with them gone, an aura of cruelty clinging to the breeze.

I shuddered and stared at the faint stars above.

I couldn’t shed the feeling that something bad had happened to Lucien, even though common sense told me to calm the hell down.

Turning my back on the repressive night, I entered my pavilion’s courtyard and stood next to the quietly singing stream.

Ugh, who was I kidding?

I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep now.

I should go and check on him.

I could sneak into his palace, creep into his bedroom, and—

He’d kill me for thinking I was there to sleep with him.

Ugh, forget it.

My shoulders slouched as I shuffled to bed.

I’d only make things worse.

He’s fine.

I’m sure he’s fine.

If I repeated it enough, hopefully I would eventually believe it.

Chapter Forty-One

I SHOT AWAKE AS SOMETHING HEAVY AND huge sprang on top of me.

“Ahhh!” My scream cut through the darkness as twin predator eyes glowered from above. Slapping both hands over my mouth, I froze solid.

I could barely make out the panther’s sleek, midnight outline as he crouched over me, tail whipping, fangs bared.

I squeezed my eyes closed, preparing to die.

I didn’t know what for or why tonight, but Lucien had obviously commanded Whisper to end me.

Was it because of the kiss?

Wasn’t that his fault, not mine?

When death didn’t come, I balled my hands under my chin and whimpered, “If you’re going to do it, can you hurry up?”

Whisper snarled.

I burrowed deeper into my blankets, only for him to launch off me and yank them away with his teeth.

He snapped at my nightgown, a rigid line of fur bristling along his back.

“W-What are you doing?”

The panther growled, a furious rumble that made my spine snap straight. Putting both paws on the bed again, he loomed over me, pushing his muzzle against my nose, the tips of his fangs flashing.

He roared right in my face.

I cringed away from the reek of carrion breath. “What on earth are you doing?”

Pushing off from the mattress, he dropped to all fours and raced toward the door. He roared again, tail whipping, eyes wide with...worry.

Understanding punched me hard. “Lucien.”

Leaping out of bed, all dregs of sleep vanished, leaving me with a wickedly sharp headache.

I didn’t bother asking questions that Whisper couldn’t answer. I merely grabbed a long-sleeved cream dressing gown—that was so long it trailed behind me—and slipped into it.

Tying it tight, I bolted.

“Where is he?” My bare feet flew over the carpet then sank into dew-cold grass.

Whisper loped beside me; his gaze locked on the palace in the distance. His hot breath fogged the cold night as he snapped at my elbow, making me run faster.

I’d never been a runner. Never been able to stomach the rise in my pulse and the pounding in my head, but tonight...I shut down all my discomfort and ran as fast as I could.

The journey through the flame-flickering gardens seemed to take forever. Lantern light skittered across the pebbled pathways and manicured hedges, granting morbid, hellish shadows.

I braced myself to find Evelyn and Lydia on the main steps where they usually lurked. I had no doubt if they tried to stop me, Whisper would tear them into pieces.