“You did it when we were younger, remember?” Aidia says. “You used to relive things from your day. Dance lessons once. There were a few others, but I can’t quite remember. Maybe it will come to you if you try to remember the last time you were on a balcony?”

I frown. I really don’t, but there’s a hint of desperation in her voice and her eyes are clouded.

“Aidy, can you hang in there? Just until after Dark Star Festival.”

She cocks her head to the side. “I can hold out a day longer than Rafe. Always. You know this.” Her voice is full of forced lightness. “Speaking of the monster. I should go.”

She walks back into the closet and it takes a tremendous amount of restraint to not grab her and drag her into a hug, but her ribs are probably still bruised and I don’t want to cause her any more pain.

Aidia pauses with her hand on the passageway door. “Low?” Her voice is so serious, it sends a chill through me. “Tell Henry to go down on you like he’s trying to honor the Divine again, because I’ve never seen your aura look more radiant.” She smirks at me over her shoulder.

I pull off my silk slipper and toss it at her. It hits the door as she wrenches it closed behind her.

It was good to hear her laugh—to fall back into easy teasing.

I blow out three slow breaths, but my heart hasn’t stopped pounding since I saw her bruises. The room feels too hot and stuffy.

Henry should be back any minute. If I don’t go now, I’ll lose my chance to get out.

Riffling through the dresses in my closet until I find the most indecent one I own, I slip out of my dinner dress and into the red lingerie Aidia was waving at. I slide the gown over my head, and the silk is so fine and delicate that it shows the texture of the lace below. Though the lingerie is bright, the dress is such a deep red, it looks almost black.

I tuck my feet into matching slippers and pull on my coat. Then, I sneak out the closet passageway.

OceanofPDF.com

40HARLOW

Guardian’s Crossing is so packed, I have to shove my way through three drunk old men doing a linked-arm line dance just to get to the bar.

Bea has a glass of whiskey waiting for me. I’d prefer wine, but I’ll settle for anything to take the edge off of seeing Aidia. She’s fine. At least as fine as she can be considering the circumstances, and yet I’m still full of nervous, churning energy.

I take a long gulp of the whiskey.

Bea clicks her tongue. “That’s good stuff. Don’t gulp it like it’s common swill. You’ve only been out with the wild mountain people a few Divine damn days.”

I lick my lips as I place the glass down on the bar and grin at her. Bea looks beautiful as always. Her short hair is twisted back from her face, a flower tucked behind her ear. No doubt it’s Josie’s touch. Bea has never been one to accessorize.

She pulls a few beers for the men on the stools beside me and grabs a rag to wipe down the bar. “I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon,” she says, rubbing at a nonexistent stain in front of me.

“I was summoned.”

She frowns but still doesn’t look at me. “They call. You come.”

“Not for long.”

Finally, she meets my eyes. “Oh?”

I nod. “I think I finally have a way to get everything I want, but that’s a conversation for somewhere more private.”

She nods her head toward the back room, and I round the bar and follow her through the curtain into the dim stock room.

As soon as I step inside, I take off my coat and toss it onto her desk in the corner. Her face shifts from annoyance that I’ve disturbed her stacks of papers to appreciation for the gown.

She whistles. “Bleeding woods! Every time I think you can’t wear something less appropriate in public, you go and one-up yourself.”

I smooth my hands down the deep red silk. “Thank you for noticing. I’d been saving it for a special occasion. After being naked in front of all the magical families of Mountain Haven, I figured why not.”

“So it has nothing to do with your new husband?” Bea challenges.

I shrug a shoulder. “If Henry is agitated by my choice of dress, that’s merely an added bonus.”

Bea laughs, the sound a smooth, melodic alto that’s all at once familiar and foreign. I used to collect those laughs like precious coins, but we’ve laughed far too little these last few months.

“What’s your new deal?” Bea asks.

Bea doesn’t know everything about my family. There are many things I can’t tell her for her safety. It was a huge sticking point in our relationship. She didn’t understand that my not telling her things wasn’t because I didn’t trust her, but because I didn’t trust them. If they even suspected she knew things she wasn’t supposed to know, I wouldn’t put it above them to at the very least have Electra wipe all recent memories from her brain. Something like that would be devastating to a woman who runs her bar from an accounting system that only makes sense to her and a list of merchants and favors she keeps in her head.

“I need to turn Henry against Rafe.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Bea asks.

I wave my hand down my scantily clad body. “With the gifts the Divine gave me…and my sparkling personality, of course.”

She laughs again. “Of course. It seemed like you were off to such a good start.” She takes a step closer. “He’s been good to you?”

“He’s been humbled.”

Bea purses her lips. “As I knew he would be. But really? You’re doing well?”

I don’t take the offer to share. It’s hard enough for me to share things with anyone, but it’s far too strange to talk to a former lover about my new husband.

She seems to sense this new boundary between us. “And what will you buy with this one last favor?”

“Freedom once and for all.” I take a deep breath. “I’m leaving.”

“How?”

I understand her skepticism. I’ve threatened to leave so many times before. I’ve ranted and raged and said I was fed up, but I always stayed. It was impossible to leave without a clear escape route.

“My parents have agreed to grant me a favor when I do this one last thing. Once the deed is done, I’ll be gone and they won’t have any dominion over me anymore.”

“So you’ll stay at the fort?” she asks.

I’m tempted to just tell her about the tunnel, but I’m so close to escaping. Bea is one of the most secretive people I know—yet, still, I can’t risk word of its existence getting out before I make my final escape.

“No. I’m going beyond the mountain.”

Bea stares at me for a beat. “And what of your husband?”

I scoff. “He’ll be glad to be rid of me and have the resources our marriage granted him.”

She purses her lips like she wants to say more. I understand her doubt, but the thing that has shifted this time is that I’ve left the city walls. Before leaving, it was unimaginable to think of life outside this fishbowl. Now, this boundary has been crossed and freedom feels within my grasp.

She rubs the back of her neck. “What about the Poison Vixen?”

The guilt is swift. I take my responsibility to the women of Lunameade seriously, but the whole reason I started that work was because I couldn’t help Aidia. There’s not a place in the city I could stash her that my parents couldn’t find her. They’ve already shown they have no problem marrying a daughter off again if it suits them. There’s no escaping them inside the city walls. If we stay here, sooner or later, we’ll get sucked back into their games.

“I can’t surrender the only chance I’ll ever have to leave to be a one-woman vigilante against an army of abusers,” I say. “I don’t want to let anyone down, but I thought about what you said about letting more women help. It’s going to take a while for me to make formal plans. I thought in the meantime we could brainstorm a way to develop our network and carry on the Vixen’s work.”