The Twice-Scorned Lady of Shadow (The Guild Codex: Unveiled #3)(2)

“Something like that exists?” Impossible. If it did, I’d have discovered it already. I’d been searching for ways to escape from or kill Bane for years. I hesitated, then asked, “You’d let me use it?”

“Borrow it,” she corrected me, emphasizing the word. “It was a gift from my parents. It’s the only thing of theirs I have left.”

“Borrow,” I repeated hastily, my mind racing ahead, already planning. “For one night. Just long enough to …” Doubts cut through my exhilarated strategizing. “Are you sure that’s how it works? It will hide me from any fae?”

“My parents said it doesn’t matter what kind of fae or how powerful. As long as I’m wearing it, no fae will notice me.”

“That’s … that’s unbelievable.” Was it too good to be true? I dragged my hand absently through my hair, knocking my hood back. “I could test it with my familiars, figure out exactly how it works …”

I trailed off, thinking it through. I’d have to confirm the artifact worked as she said, and if I combined it with other potions and spells … but what if that wasn’t enough? Bane was always prepared, and he expected me to try to kill him. The training he’d put me through—the grueling, never-ending hours of physical drilling, book studies, psychological conditioning, mental games, and underhanded tests—he’d done it all to turn me into a copy of him.

And when the “copy” was complete and I surpassed him in power, I would kill him. That was the deal.

Until then, I was at his mercy in every way. He already punished me for my failures, big or small. If killing him was my ultimate “test,” then the punishment would be worse than anything he’d ever done to me before.

But if I didn’t try, I’d have to keep going as his apprentice until I was strong enough to be one hundred percent certain I wouldn’t fail. I’d have to let him train me and test me and twist me until I was just like him. He was recreating himself in me, and if I stayed, I might become him.

I’d rather try, fail, and die than turn into Bane.

I forced my gaze back to hers. “If the spell does what you say it does, I can do it.”

“You can kill him?”

I nodded, even though I felt nowhere near confident. “He relies on his fae to watch me. I can slip away using your artifact, and while they’re searching for me, I can kill him.”

“And I can kill my aunt with your poison.” A grin flashed over her face, but the expression quickly faded. She glanced away, ducking her head. “And after they’re dead, we could …”

I waited a moment. “We could what?”

“We could … band together?” She abruptly straightened, forcing a nonchalant expression, even though she was still blushing. “Better than going at it alone, right? I mean … if you want to.”

“Like … long-term?” I asked uncertainly.

She tried to meet my eyes, couldn’t hold them, and looked away.

Band together with this girl? She was tough enough to endure her aunt’s abuse and brave enough to plan a double murder, but she wasn’t like me. I doubted she had any useful survival skills.

“I …” My shoulders flexed. I’d have to protect her, but was that so bad? Like she’d said, it was better than being alone. And I’d been alone for a long time. “I like that idea.”

“You do?”

Doubts flickered, then quieted. “Yeah.”

The flush in her cheeks deepened, and she abruptly grabbed my wrist. “How’s the cut?”

Her voice had gone high with embarrassment, and she hid her face as she examined the scar between my ring and middle fingers where she’d cut me.

She grimaced with obvious guilt. “Sorry.”

Her remorse was so over-the-top it was funny. You’d think she’d gutted me, not nicked me with a tiny knife, and I couldn’t hold back a short chuckle. “A memento, I guess.”

“You don’t need a memento of me.” She arched an eyebrow. “We’re going to stick together, right?”

“Right.”

“We are … aren’t we?”

It sounded like she really wanted this. She wanted to be with me—and I liked that. “Yeah. Together.”

Her cheeks flushed again and she gripped my hand tightly. “Then I guess we should, you know, introduce ourselves. My name is—”

“Wait.” I pressed my fingertips to her lips as a strange, nervous anticipation spread through my chest. “Not yet.”

“Then … when?”

Her lips were so soft under my fingers.

“After they’re dead,” I whispered. “A reward.”

Bane controlled my entire life, and as long as he lived, I had no future. I wanted the moment I learned her name, the moment she became a real part of my life, to be the same moment that my future began.

My fingertips slid across her silky lips. “I need something to look forward to.”

Understanding softened her expression. My touch drifted from the corner of her mouth to her cheek, and she tilted her face toward mine in invitation.

I leaned down. Our lips touched. Soft. Warm. Inviting. With my hand cupping her cheek, I fitted our mouths together. Her breath hitched. For a second, she didn’t respond, then she copied me, each press of soft skin sending a thrill through me.