“Well, I didn’t,” she says resolutely, and exhales.

“Do you know why he did it?” I ask carefully.

She shakes her head and her hair shimmers in the firelight. “Anyway…good night,” she says, and disappears back into her room before I can get another word out.

I stare at her closed door for a few seconds after she shuts it. In the short time I’ve known Layla, I can tell that’s all the information she’s going to give me, maybe all the information she has.

It’s 11:59 p.m. I drum my fingers on the rug, hesitate, and jump up off the floor. I’m not going to just sit around waiting for someone else to attack me. I’m going to get some answers.

I pull on my boots and tie my cloak around my shoulders. It’s bulky, but it’s also black and will help me blend into the low light. I lift the latch on the door as gently as possible and crack it open. The hallway’s empty and everything’s quiet. I slip out, closing the door gently behind me, and book it down the hall. I stop by the staircase and peer down it. It’s mostly dark and there are no sounds of movement. Although I wish my heart would shut up so that I could hear better.

I take the steps quickly, pausing periodically to listen for the guards, and slink along the wall toward the first-floor entrance. I grip the cold stone and anxiously peek around the edge of the archway. There’s a guard in front of the door that leads to the vine courtyard. Did they already change the post?

As I pull back from the archway, my shoulder collides with something. My mouth opens but a hand presses over it before I can make a sound, and someone turns me around. For a split second utter panic flashes through my body, until I make out Ash staring down at me in the near blackness. He’s so close that I can smell the scent of fireplace on his cloak. He puts his finger to his lips and then points toward the entrance hall. We look again just as the guard is opening the door to go into the very courtyard we were supposed to meet in.

Ash holds up his hand, folding his fingers over one at a time. Five, four, three, two, one. He walks straight for the door, silently, at full speed. Oh, this is such a bad idea. I can’t believe I’m doing this. Ash pauses midway through the room and gives me a demanding look. Someone clears their throat a flight or so above me.

Shit—another guard!

I’m out of that stairwell and headed for the door so fast you’d think I was on fire. Ash carefully lifts the latch and we slip through. The courtyard door closes just as the other guard walks out of the very stairwell we were just in.

Ash grabs my shoulders and pulls me to a halt before I can take another step. I can’t see a thing, not one thing, and I don’t dare move.