“Except the killer jumped out of our window,” Rell said.

  I frowned. “We don’t know that for sure… neither of us saw it happen.”

  “No, but the bedroom door was closed.”

  “Who knows what really happened? Elaith could be telling the truth.”

  “And if they aren’t?”

  “I could’ve killed either, or both of you, even in my weakened state if I had really wanted to,” Elaith said. “I’ve already had many, many opportunities to do just that. What I don’t have is a motive, and that’s something we can all agree on.”

  I took a deep breath, then exhaled. “They’re right. Elaith could’ve killed me before, many, many times.”

  “And that’s why you trust them?” Rell asked.

  “We have to trust someone. We can’t do this alone.”

  “Do what?” Elaith asked, as they propped themselves up.

  “All I want to do is finish this Favoring so that I can stand a chance of going home, but someone’s trying to kill me, and the Viscount, and the Duchess is being about as encouraging as one of Cinderella’s stepsisters.”

  “Cinder-who?”

  “It’s a human thing. Anyway, point is, I’m trying to win a competition, and someone’s out there trying to ruin things for me. I want to know who they are, and I don’t have a whole lot of people who I can trust to help me.”

  Rell raised a hand. “Me,” he said, “I’m the one she can trust.”

  “I can assure you, I’m telling you the truth,” Elaith said, “I know my situation right now looks suspicious, but I’m not lying to you. I was attacked, and I’m not the one trying to kill you.”

  I watched their eyes when they spoke, trying to figure out if they were lying to me or not. I was never very good at playing poker. If someone had a tell, something to give away that they were holding better cards than I thought, I would’ve had no way of knowing. But I saw sincerity in Elaith’s brilliant blue eyes, and all I could do was agree.

  They weren’t responsible for the attack.

  “Alright,” I said, “I believe you.”

  “You’re insane,” Rell said, “For the record.”

  “That’s not helpful, Rell.”

  “They definitely know way more than they’re telling you, but if you want to believe them, that’s fine.”

  Elaith sat fully upright now that the wound in their gut had all but healed. “Don’t worry,” they said, “You don’t have to trust my words, little Sprite. In time, I hope my actions will do all the talking.”

  “Can you stand?” I asked.

  “I think so. Why?”

  “Because the killer is still out there, somewhere. They could even be inside the house. Wherever they are, I want to find them, and finish this once and for all.”

  Elaith’s eyebrow arched. “Sounds to me like you need to bait them out.”

  I nodded. “I think I know how, too.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Trying to trap an assassin was a bad idea, but I’d had worse. This one, at least, was a simple idea, but that didn’t mean pulling it off was going to be a walk in the park. And even if it succeeded, the point of it was to draw out a killer—once the killer was out, we were going to have to deal with it, and that on its own was dangerous.

  “I still think we should bring someone with us,” Rell said. The three of us—Rell, Elaith and myself—were in my bedroom, waiting for the moon to be high in the sky, and for the clock to go past midnight. There weren’t usually many people out at that time of night, and only a handful of guards at best.

  “Who are we going to bring with us?” I asked.

  “The Viscount?”

  I shook my head. “The less people we involve in this, the better. I still don’t know where the Viscount fits in Invidia’s plans, anyway. For all I know, he’s involved in all of this.”

  “Do you truly believe that?” Elaith asked, flicking their golden hair from one side of their shoulders to the other. “Aren’t you supposed to be in love with him?”

  “In… in what?” my cheeks flushed with hot blood. “What are you talking about?”

  “Sorry, did I hit a nerve?”

  Rell started giggling. “She’s cute when she gets defensive, isn’t she?”

  “Defensive?” I shrieked, my voice rising a couple of octaves. “I’m not in love with the Viscount. I don’t even think I like him.”

  “You don’t think?” Elaith asked, their eyebrow rising.

  “I don’t. How did we get talking about this, anyway? Can we stop?”

  “No, please,” Rell said, “I want to know more about how much you love the Viscount.”

  “Seriously, man. Shut up.”

  “Touchy…” Elaith said, trailing off. “In any case, I was merely connecting dots, considering the Viscount hadn’t at any point displayed anything but… admiration toward you.”

  “Admiration? Is that what you call locking me in a cell underground?”

  “You were an unknown variable, a human in a house full of Fae. He was only doing his duty, and when he wasn’t, he was praising you on your fighting spirit. I think you’ve both come a long way since you got here.”

  “Maybe, but none of that matters. He had the power to send me home; he knows Invidia won’t. But he’s more interested in trying to figure out what’s going on in this house than trying to get me out of it.”

  “A goal you now both share.”

  “Sure, but that doesn’t mean I trust him as far as I can throw him. At the end of the day, he’s Fae. You’re all a bunch of devious pricks.”

  “I don’t appreciate the tone of your voice or your choice of words,” Elaith said, “But considering you have had a difficult day, I will let it slide. Once.”

  “Okay, anyway, is it time yet?” Rell asked.

  “We could probably risk it…” Elaith paused, “But I don’t recommend trying to leave your room using the door.”

  I groaned. “Don’t tell me you want us to go out of the window again.”

  “I do. It’s the best choice we have.”

  “I hate heights, though.”

  Elaith stood and walked over to the window. “Conquer your fears, then, or stay in this house for the rest of your life… which is about, what, five minutes? How long do humans live, I forget.”

  “Eighty years, give or take.”

  “Oh, you poor thing…” Elaith opened the window, then pointed at the ledge. “Come, now. Let’s bait out our killer.”

  “I hate this,” I said, as I stood and approached my au pair. “The last time I climbed out of a window, I almost threw up.”

  “Oh, that I have to see,” Rell said, leaping off the bed to follow me.

  “I’m not giving you the satisfaction, lizard.”

  “That’s unicorn-lizard, now.”

  The cool breeze floating past the curtains only served to heighten my level of anxiety. Ground level was about fifteen feet beneath us, and looking down twisted my stomach into a knot. I turned my eyes up and cast them across the horizon, toward the mountains in the distance, then up to the moon in the sky; a moon that loomed large, full, and silver.

  Rell was first out, taking to the air on his wings and easily holding position a few feet away from the ledge. Strangely, I couldn’t hear the beating of his wings. They were large, and leathery, and they should’ve made a noise as he moved them, but they didn’t—kind of like owls back home.

  “Are you coming, or what?” Rell asked.

  “Says the one who can fly,” I grumbled.

  “C’mon, the quicker we do this, the quicker we can end it.”

  I looked over at Elaith, who had their arms folded in front of their chest and a smug grin on their face. “What?” they asked, “Were you expecting me to go next?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

  Elaith shook their head. “You first… in case you fall.”

  I frowned. “I hate you.”

  “I know,” Elaith beamed.

  With a deep breath held in my lungs, I took to the edge of the window, realizing only as I tried to steady my footing that the ledge was shorter than I remembered. Of course it was. The house had shrunk, hadn’t it? Even though it had gone through a couple of growth spurts thanks to my wins, it clearly wasn’t enough for the window ledges to come back, or even stretch a little.

  Because why would things ever be easier?

  Trying my hardest not to look down and concentrate on where to put my hands and feet, I climbed out of the window, took a step off to the side, and held onto the drainpipe for support. Elaith climbed out after me, making it look as easy as breathing—which I had forgotten to do.

  I exhaled, finally, just as Elaith righted themselves, balancing on short ledge using the tips of their toes, and nothing more. “There we go,” they said, “That wasn’t so hard.”

  “Don’t gloat,” I scoffed. “I still have to get down.”

  Elaith pointed at the drainpipe I was clutching to. “After you.”

  “Great,” I said, rolling my eyes as I tried to turn around. One of my feet slipped, causing me to lean on the pipe a little harder than I should’ve. I heard something snap, likely a bolt somewhere, something securing the thing in place. “Just great,” I added.

  “Don’t break the pipe,” Elaith said. “The only other way down is the express way.”

  I glanced down at the ground, and vertigo kicked in pretty much instantly. The grass and the hedge swayed and swam with my vision. The path looked like it was miles away, a fall I thought would probably kill me instantly. If it didn’t, it would leave me mangled and maimed for the rest of my life.

  “Yeah,” I said, “That’s not something I want to do.”

  “Then be careful. Take it slow.”

  I nodded, then I secured myself around the pipe. I had done stupid stuff like this before, but rarely in my adult life. Not since the last stupid thing I had done. Come to think of it, I had done a lot more stupid stuff in the short time I’d spent in Arcadia than in the past five years I’d spent on Earth. This place really had brought out the stupid in me.

  Stupid.

  I searched with my foot for the first rung down, careful not to let myself stretch too far down the pipe. When I found it, I took a deep breath and let my other foot slip off the edge of the building. Once I was on the pipe, it was a matter of carefully, dizzyingly, stretching my leg to find the next set of rungs, and the next, and the next.

  The pipe creaked and cracked with every step I took, and with each snap and pop it made, my heart would surge into my throat and wedge itself there. Once I had reached the tops of the hedges under the windows, I decided to take my chances and jump, falling on the grass below.

  Panting, I looked up at Elaith standing by my bedroom window. “Well done,” they whispered.

  “I didn’t kill myself,” I said, “I also didn’t break anything. That’s a surprise.”

  “Are you talking about your bones, or the pipe?” Rell asked, settling on the grass next to me.

  “Both,” I said, smiling. “I’d call that mission success, wouldn’t you?”

  “I’m not so sure,” Elaith said.

  I heard something pop, then crack, and a second later, several of the drainpipe’s clasps came loose and fell off. Once the first few supports were gone, the others couldn’t hold its weight, and with a series of loud cracks and croaks, the entire pipe started to come down.

  I scrambled to get on my feet, then I backed up away from the pipe as it started to fall. The entire house was going to hear it, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Worse, Elaith was stuck up there with no way—Elaith suddenly, and casually, hopped off the edge of the building and landed on the grass a few feet away from me.

  “What the hell?” I said.

  “What?” Elaith asked. “The pipe was the only way down for you.”

  “There isn’t a soul out here who isn’t gonna hear that,” I said.

  “So, we should get out of here,” Rell said, “Like now.”

  “Right,” I said, nodding. We didn’t have much time to linger about. There’d be guards out here in a manner of minutes, and soon enough, someone was going to realize I was out of my room. It was probably already too late to bait the killer like we’d planned, but we were fresh out of choices. We had to either commit to the plan, or stand around, let the guards catch us, and suffer Invidia’s wrath.

  “We have a plan…” Elaith said, “we should start now, then.”

  “Good idea,” I said, “Time to split up.”

  Rell took flight and headed up into the air. Elaith went left, speeding away from the house and heading for the maze. I, meanwhile, went right, moving toward the topiary with its huge, manicured hedges and all the cover they could give me, especially at night.

  The breeze was crisp and cool, and the night flowers were hard at work making the air smell full and fragrant. Behind me I could hear confused guards trying to puzzle out why the drainpipe had detached from the side of the building and toppled over. It wouldn’t be long before someone went into my room to check on me. Hopefully by then, we would’ve caught the killer and stopped them before they did any real damage.

  During the day, the hedges in the topiary looked like pretty spring flowers in bloom. They were cut perfectly, precisely, and with all the care in the world. Elaith had brought me here a couple of times before, whenever they thought my mind needed a change of scenery and to recharge.

  At night, though, and under the silvery light of the full moon, this place was anything but calming. The way the light hit the hedges made for deep, dark, and twisted shadows. It was easy to hide in there, but the way the hedges rustled with the breeze sent my nerves into overdrive.

  I was alone for the moment, in a place where the person who had tried to kill me earlier could easily, and from anywhere, jump out at me again before we were ready for them. As I stood and waited, I could only hope Elaith hadn’t been spotted and stopped by the guards on the way over here.

  Because I knew one thing for sure; alone, I was no match for the assassin.

  CHAPTER 14

  A strong breeze rustled the bushes nearby, setting my skin alight. I spun around, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was nobody else here. Nobody that I could see, anyway. It was the middle of the night, but the full, silvery moon hanging high above gave plenty of light to see by.

  It also made for some dangerous shadows that kept my anxiety running high.

  All I had to do was pretend like I was waiting for someone, make it look like I had snuck out of my room for a secret meeting in the dead of night. The killer was out there, somewhere, and even though I was taking a gamble assuming they were watching, and waiting for a chance to catch me alone, I felt like it was a good one.

  If I was wrong, well, it only meant I wasn’t about to get attacked, and that was also a good thing.

  I moved around between the hedges, going from shadowy spot to shadowy spot, keeping my eyes peeled all the while and jumping at the slightest sound. I really wanted to play the part of girl anxiously waiting. I wanted the killer to think I had been shaken up by their first, failed attempt at ending my life. I wanted to put them in the frame of mind where they’d make mistakes.

  Another bit of rustling made my skin prickle all over. I turned, eyes wide, and with a harsh whisper called out. “Viscount, is that you?”

  The breeze made the tips of the hedges bristle, and brought with it a sweet, soft scent of night flowers, but no reply. One of the hedges nearby looked a little bit like the creature I had fought the other day, the Jewel. It shivered, and whispered, almost as if it was trying to warn me of the shadow slithering out from under it.

  “Waiting for someone?” came the voice, distorted and low, so as not to draw any attention.

  “You,” I hissed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you.”

  “The Viscount will be here any minute.”

  “The Viscount is asleep in his room, none the wiser. And as for your little plan, it’s already failed.”

  “Plan? What plan?”

  “Did you think splitting up with your friends before coming here would throw me off? Did you not think I was watching you this whole time?”

  Shit.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re playing stupid, and until recently, I thought you weren’t, but I’m totally wrong.”

  “I’m not stupid.”

  The assassin took a step to the left and looked to his right. “Let’s get to the topiary at separate times, then pretend to have a fight. That’ll draw them out.” After that terrible impression of me, he then moved to the right, looked to the left, and put on his best Elaith. “Excellent, If the killer thinks we’re arguing, they’ll attack, and we’ll have the element of surprise.”

  The blood drained from my face. He had all but word-for-word reenacted my conversation with Elaith from earlier. “Have you been spying on us?”

  “I have eyes everywhere.” The shadow placed a hand on its hip and shook its head. “I mean, seriously, how did you think that plan was going to work?”

  “It had a chance,” I said, frowning. “I didn’t know you were listening to everything.”

  “Didn’t you? I entered and left your room in an instant. I’m literally made of shadow. How did you not predict I could do something as simple as listen to your conversation? An idiot with a cup against the door could’ve heard your plan. I’m not an idiot, and I have magic.”

  “You don’t have to rub it in.”

  The killer extended a hand, and the blade they were holding drank in the moonlight and gleamed with it. “Give me the necklace. I don’t want to have to waste the energy beating it out of you—you’re clearly not worth it.”

  I put my hand against my neck, where the jade necklace sat. “What do you want with this?” I asked. “Are you going to make some kind of weapon with it?”

  “It doesn’t matter what I want with it. Give it to me, or I’m going to kill you. Right now.”

  Another rustling in the bushes caught both our attentions. I turned my eyes, while the killer turned their knife. As if the wind were trying to signal anyone’s entrance into the topiary, there was Elaith, carefully skulking around the corner. As soon as we saw them, they stopped.