Chapter 42

She clung to Sotz, breathing in the familiar smell of his fur, feeling the comforting beating of his heart. She sucked in a shaky breath, her legs trembling. She’d survived, by the skin of her teeth.

All around them, bats shrieked, their voices echoing off the walls. Still, a sense of calm warmed her body. If she could survive an attack by a legion of caterpillars, maybe she had a chance against Bournajoux.

She leaned down, whispering, “Take me home.”

Sotz soared through the darkness. As the light dimmed, the cacophony of the rookery dampened. After a few minutes of peaceful darkness, they burst into the light of the crater. Asta’s now-familiar spire towered over the ground—an oddly welcome sight at this point.

Sotz curved in a slow arc toward the manor.

Ursula took a deep breath, reveling in the clean air, the feel of the wind and the milky sunlight on her skin. She belonged in the air—not buried in a dark tunnel.

Sotz swooped low toward the manor’s roof, then landed gracefully on its slick surface. Ursula caught her breath, her heart still pounding hard.

“Thank you for coming for me, big guy.”She rose, her muscles aching. Not super bright to get into a fight before my actual fight, but too late to fix it now.

For a moment, Sotz brushed against her leg like a cat, then launched himself off the roof.

As she walked to the lift, she touched her heart, feeling it pounding hard through her shirt. She stepped into the lift, and a stiff lunar breeze rushed over her skin.

The elevator slowly creaked down, past one shattered floor after another, and she wrapped her fingers around the metal bars. She still had no clue what Bael had been doing with the oneiroi. She had no idea he interacted with them at all. How exactly had he ended up with the Gray Ghost in a mushroom forest?

As the lift lowered into the atrium, she glanced at the door to Bael’s chambers. She’d left it open, but someone had since closed it. She glanced around furtively, taking care that no one caught her sneaking back into her quarters.

She hurried over the bridge into her living room, then made a beeline for the bath. Blood, mushroom juice, caterpillar fluid, and mud coated every inch of her body, and she stank like the bottom of a grave. She glanced at herself in the mirror. A deep purple bruise had bloomed just below her eye.

As she filled the bath with warm water, she ripped off her clothes. She shoved them under the bathroom sink. I’ll find a better hiding place later.

She stepped into the bath, relishing the feel of the warm water against her burning muscles. She lowered herself down, letting the water soothe away the aches in her thighs. Still, her face throbbed where she’d smacked it against the rock.

She dunked her hair under the water, then rose again, reveling in the warmth of the bath. It was nearly time for her real battle—the battle against Bernajoux, and whoever else. And she’d need to be clean and rested for the fight.

She grabbed the lavender-scented soap, rubbing it over her skin and working up a frothy lather before washing her hair. When she’d finished soaping up, she dunked under the water again, rinsing off the suds.

From the living room, a heavy pounding punctuated the silence. Her heart sped up. Definitely Bael’s knock.

As she stepped from the bath, water dripping from her skin, he knocked louder. And he seems a little cranky.

He continued to pound on her door, and she yanked a towel off the rack, quickly drying off.

Bael slammed his fist into the door. “Ursula!”

Fucking hell. She wrapped the towel around herself.

“I need to speak to you.” His voice boomed through the door, an edge to it that made her spine stiffen.

Why do I have the feeling he knows what I did? “Coming!”

She pulled open the door to find Bael standing in the doorway, his hands clamped tightly on either side of the door frame.

He gazed down at her, a cold fury flashed in his eyes. “Where have you been?”

Ursula’s mind raced. How much did he suspect? She could lie completely and say she’d been in her flat all evening, but he must know something.

“I took Sotz for a ride.” The best lies always have a hint of truth.

“Did you open the door to my quarters?”

Once you start a lie you cannot budge.“No.”

His gaze trailed over her bare shoulders. “I smelled you.”

Her cheeks warmed. “What? I don’t smell that strongly. And anyway, I wasn’t anywhere near you.”

Bael studied her for a long moment, then his fingers lifted to her face, cupping her chin. “What happened?”

Ursula brushed her fingertips over her cheek. “I hit a moth when I was flying.”

He stared at her for a long moment before grazing his fingertips over the bruise. A rush of shadow magic kissed her cheek, soothing the dull pain below her skin.

He dropped his hand. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

A million dirty jokes raced through her mind, but she didn’t think Bael would react well to them. Instead, she mutely shook her head.

“I believe someone broke into my quarters.”

She bit her lip. “That’s terrible,” she blustered. “Do you think whoever it was is a threat?”

His icy gaze rooted her in place. “No. But when I find the intruder, I will deliver a painful death.”

As Bael turned to leave, ice shot through Ursula’s veins.

Absolute, complete fuckwit.