Disappointment flooded me. I let up on the pressure of the cord around Melinda’s neck, taking a step back from the table as I rewrapped the garrote around my wrist. Melinda collapsed forward on the table, a sobbing, gasping mess.

“Let the others go,” Constance said. “It’s me you want.” Damn, but just when I was ready to write her off as a genuinely bad egg, she had to go and do something noble. She was making this really hard on my conscience.

My eyes met Nik’s, and when he nodded, the corner of my mouth lifted. “Sure,” I said, looking back to Constance. “We’ll let them go.” I made my way around the table as I secured the slipknot on my bracelet, holding out my hand when I neared Nik. He reached into his jacket and pulled out the rolled-up sheet that had been tucked into his back pocket. “Thanks,” I said when he handed it to me.

I shook the doorway-sized fragment of gray bedsheet open, pleased to see that the gateway I’d created back in the apartment was still active. I hadn’t been certain it would survive a trip through another gateway, but it had. Good to know.

Under the tense, watchful stares of the terrified board members, I grabbed a stapler off a side table and used it on the wall to hang the sheet. The scene on the other side of the gateway was gray and dismal, as any good dungeon should be. I couldn’t see any of the Bainbridge Nejerets at the moment, but I knew Heru was there in that dank underground space, waiting with a handful of others for the arrival of his newest guests.

Once the gateway was up and running, I tucked my chin to my chest and whispered, “Alright, Dom, let Lex know they’re on their way—ten to start with, but three more should be following soon.”

“Very well,” Dom said. “I shall return shortly.”

I turned around, facing the rapt room. “As your oh-so-courageous leader requested, I’m letting the rest of you go.”

I looked at Melinda. Her neck was red, raw, and oozing blood where the leather cord had bit into her skin, and she sat a little slumped in her chair, bloodshot eyes puffy and cheeks tear-streaked. I thought it was best to start with her. She already knew, firsthand, the consequences of pissing me off; I doubted she’d risk it again, even if the task I gave her seemed utterly impossible . . . like walking through a bedsheet hanging on a wall.

“On your feet,” I said, drawing Mercy and pointing the blade at the traumatized woman. “You’re first.”

Melinda stood, movements wooden, and looked at me without really seeming to see me.

“Walk,” I said, flicking the tip of the At blade at the gateway.

She moved like she was sleepwalking, only pausing when she was a few inches from the sheet. I gave her back a firm smack with the flat of my sword, and she stumbled forward through the gateway. And once again, Melinda was the cause of the gasps filling the room. Lucky girl.