Her smirk seemed brittle as she turned to follow Célie’s voice, gifting me her back. Every fiber in my being longed to lunge. To attack. I even bent my knees, stopping only when a sapphire glinted in my periphery. I froze. From within a drawer of the wardrobe peeked the silver hilt of a Balisarda. It looked as if it’d been stuffed there haphazardly. Stowed away and forgotten. A jolt seared through my body. A lightning strike.

Carefully, quietly, I slipped the Balisarda into my bandolier.

We found Célie, Jean Luc, and Beau congregated beside the fire. Coco converged on them the same moment we did. Immediately, Célie thrust the unexceptional ring into her palm. “I found it,” she repeated, breathless with excitement. With something else. When her eyes flicked to Coco’s collar near imperceptibly, I followed the movement. A locket glittered there. “Here. Take it.”

Coco examined the ring for a long moment before she smiled. “You would be the one to find it.” With an appreciative nod to Célie, she handed it to Lou, who slipped it on her finger like it belonged there. I frowned. “Thank you, Célie.”

“We should go,” Beau urged. “Before Morgane comes back.”

In agreement, we retreated down the stairs, but it wasn’t Morgane who met us at the door.

It was Manon.

Ask Me No Questions

Reid

Feet planted wide—arms gripping each side of the threshold—she met us with a frighteningly blank expression. Trapping us here. All traces of her tears had been scrubbed away since the corridor below. “Chamomile tea, Louise?”

Lou edged to the front of our group, her hand brushing mine as she passed. The touch tingled. I jerked away. “You looked like you needed it,” she said, gesturing to Manon’s general dishevelment. Her airy tone felt forced, as did her smile. “I’m assuming you didn’t heed my advice and drink it. When have you last slept?” Manon didn’t answer. Shouts below wiped the smile from Lou’s face all the same. Her eyes flew wide. “You—did you tell my mother—?”

“Not yet. I had to be sure of the intruder. But I told others. They will inform Our Lady soon.”

“Shit, shit, shit. Shit.” Exhaling a harsh, incredulous breath, Lou clenched her fists before seizing Manon’s collar and yanking her into the stairwell. Beau slammed the door behind them. “This is fine. They don’t know I’m here specifically. We can still—”

“You will not escape again, Louise,” Manon said, her eyes still flat and unexpressive.

“Just—just—” Lou wrung a fist in the witch’s face, and Manon stiffened like a board, unable to move. “Just shut up for a second, Manon. I need to think.” To Coco, Jean Luc, and me, she said hastily, “We can’t go out the way we came in. Any brilliant ideas?”

“We fight our way out,” I said instantly.