Better to live to see another day.

I jump to my feet and try to sprint toward the door, but I trip over the hem of my dress and my knees slam onto the wooden catwalk floor. I’ve had extensive training, but all of it was done in pants. There’s no accounting for the way a dress moves and tangles as I try to fight.

I spring up, but Stefan is on me. He grabs my hair and yanks my head back.

“Quite a show you put on last night,” Stefan taunts. “But I bet the beast down there would take you for a better ride.”

I’m vaguely aware of the sound of two other people at the window, their graceless climbing making it hard to hear where the Breeder is down below.

I twist, gripping Stefan’s wrist, and yank us both down toward the catwalk floor before slamming my head back into his face.

He curses and lets go of my hair. I grab the blade wedged in my boot and stab it into his side. He howls and backhands me so hard I stumble back into the arms of one of his minions.

“Grab her, Joe.” Stefan’s voice is muffled by the hands trying to stop his nose from bleeding.

Joe wraps an arm around my throat so tight I can barely breathe.

Stefan regains his composure and yanks me away from Joe. He wraps a fist around my hair and shoves the top half of my body over the railing.

I’m bent at the waist, perilously close to falling headfirst to the floor below. That alone might be enough to break my neck and kill me instantly, but I don’t want to find out. I try to shift my legs wider to brace myself, but my dress is tangled around them.

The Drained one hasn’t moved from its spot, but it’s watching me. I recognize the difference in it immediately. It’s terrifyingly calm and unnaturally still.

The Drained in the woods would not be waiting. They don’t have that same intelligence in their eyes. This beast is something else. Real fear bolsters me.

“I went to the nest where they found this thing.” Stefan’s voice is ecstatic with menace. “You should see how it fucks. You think your Henry is a savage?” He whistles low. “He’s got nothing on what that Breeder will do to you, but I bet you’ll love it. After all, you were sent here to be bred like a little traitor whore.”

I don’t break eye contact with the beast, and for a moment, I wonder if it has more humanity than the men dangling me here.

Normally, I would stand and fight, but this is a scenario where I really need a distraction.

“Why do you keep trying to kill me?” I ask.

“The first time it wasn’t personal,” Stefan says, as if sending someone to murder me was only a minor insult. “I was testing Henry because defending you would make him look bad, but so would allowing you to be attacked. You were just a means to an end. But after that, I would have had nothing against you. I think we would have been good together, but you had to humiliate me instead. I couldn’t let that stand.”

I test Stefan’s hold by shoving my chest a little farther forward. It has the desired effect.

Stefan shifts to pull me up, and I throw all my weight back at once, pushing off the railing with all my might and arching my back. I slam into Stefan, and he stumbles. Joe and his other friend catch him.

Joe is on me instantly, but I’m ready for him. I duck his swipe and stab my blade into his side. He elbows me in the chest, stunning me enough that my heel catches on my ripped hem.

I grab Joe for support, but the movement drags him off balance. He’s much taller, so when he hits the railing, he tips right over.

My relief lasts a split second—until he grabs my waist and we both tumble down to the floor below.

OceanofPDF.com

32HENRY

We have the full attention of the Raining Star Bar as soon as we step inside. The storytellers seated on a long line of barstools give me a slow once-over and then turn their backs.

“I’m picking up a bit of an icy reception from about half the room,” Gaven says.

He’s not wrong. He’s probably noticed that the Laurence family is our greatest competition for power in Mountain Haven, but I doubt he realizes that the most established storyteller in the fort is a Laurence.

The greater offense than my being a Havenwood is that we’ve entered and made noise mid-tale.

The storyteller on stage, Marjorie, only pauses a moment to give us a disapproving look before continuing.

I scan the room for any sign of Harlow, but even at a glance, I know she’s already gone. It’s probably too much to hope she went back to our room, but maybe I’ll send Carter back to check.

“There’s something I should have told you before,” Gaven whispers.

Several patrons turn to give us a dirty look.

“Only if it’s urgent?”

Gaven rubs the back of his neck. “Harlow can glamour.”

I grind my teeth, keeping my voice as low as possible. “What the fuck do you mean she can glamour?”

He glances guiltily toward the door. “I suspect that’s how she never got caught sneaking out for her many trysts.”

I’m struck that Gaven knows she was sneaking out but not why. The ability to glamour explains how she never got caught as the Poison Vixen. If she changes her appearance for every kill, it would be a logical assumption that it’s a network of women fighting back, instead of just one.

“She’s twice-blessed?” I ask.

Gaven shakes his head. “No. One of her siblings has a blessing from Stellaria. Harlow has a necklace that has a limited amount of glamours.”

“So she could be anyone in this room?” I ask.

Gaven shakes his head. “She’s not here.”

I want to ask how he knows, but he’s been protecting her since she was a child. Surely he knows her mannerisms and gait even while glamoured.

Our only option is to wait for the story to end, so I can ask if anyone has seen her, but if she used magic to change her appearance, I don’t even know how we will ask if anyone saw her.

The five minutes we wait for Marjorie to finish her tale are the longest of my life. As soon as the crowd applauds, I cross the room to the bar, tossing a handful of coins into the storyteller’s basket on the way.

Nicolina Laurence turns to face me. She’s Stefan’s aunt, and while I know she has no love for me and my family, she does believe in tradition and the chain of command.

“You’re not usually one for the listening, Henry. You’re a man of action. Or has your new love changed you already? Your chemistry was quite something last night,” she says, her voice laced with accusation.

My parents and I knew this would be the most perilous time for our plan. Not telling our people that this marriage is a sham, that we are using Harlow to bring her family down, made sense all those months ago. The more people who knew, the more likely someone would tell her. But now, seeing the faces of the wisest women in the fort with expressions ranging from anger to downright betrayal, I worry we miscalculated.

“My new wife is a fan of stories. I was hoping to bring her here soon,” I say.

I wait for her to say Harlow has already been here, but Nicolina purses her lips. “Shouldn’t you be busy entertaining her?”

“Yes. I’m actually here because I was supposed to meet a woman about some urgent fort business. Unfortunately, Harlow made me late.” I offer a smug smile.

Nicolina rolls her eyes. “What’s your woman look like?”

“She was wearing a red silk dress and⁠—”

“Blonde? Dark eyes?” Nicolina asks.

I nod.

“She seemed quite entranced by the tale of the Deathless⁠—”

Of course. Hundreds of possibilities, and it had to be that Divine-damn story that’s going to reinforce all of her prejudices about fort life. This is exactly why I wanted to choose the night we attended a story session—so I could curate Harlow’s experience.

“But she left a bit ago—wandered upstairs with Brennan Marley,” Nicolina says.