He wound his hands around her neck. Suddenly, painfully, she couldn’t breathe.

“Nomi,” Asa growled. “Good. I so wanted to kill you myself.”

Nomi’s fingers scrabbled uselessly at her throat. She wriggled beneath him, but his legs and the billows of her cloak pinned her to the ground. Black spots danced across his twisted face. She should have slashed his throat, she should have…

Maris threw herself at Asa. Her weight toppled him, and for a few seconds, Nomi could breathe. Maris tried to scrabble out of the way, but Asa crawled after her, the knife still buried in him, still not slowing him down. Maris sobbed as she tried to escape.

Nomi clambered after them and shoved Asa as hard as she could. He listed to the side with a furious groan. But he recovered quickly, backhanding her across the face. Nomi fell to her knees. He got his hands around her neck again and drew her up.

“You know,” he grunted, pulling her closer to him, “I really did want you as my queen. My beautiful queen, kneeling at my feet.” His eyes, those eyes she’d once thought gentle and mischievous, added a perverse cast to the image. “But then you backed out of our plan. You turned on me.”

His face twisted, the murderer showing through.

Nomi raised her knee and slammed it into his groin. He wobbled, but he didn’t let go.

Her right hand knocked against her cloak. No, something in the pocket of her cloak.

Hand shaking, she drew out the pencil, sharpened savagely to a point, and drove it into Asa’s eye.

He fell back, ramming into the balcony railing. A strange, savage moan left his lips. His other eye stared at her fixedly. Slowly, its light went out.

His body tipped backward, overbalancing. Nomi gave him an extra, furious push.

Time seemed to slow as she watched him fall, his black silk dressing gown fluttering all the way down.

A moment later, a percussive thud. No screams or shouts of alarm. No one had seen him.

They would soon enough.

Nomi coughed weakly, her throat burning. She collapsed to the floor next to Maris and took several deep, painful breaths.

“Nomi, Nomi…” Maris put her arms around her and held on tight.

“We need to get away,” Nomi murmured. “His guards will find us. I don’t know if I can fight them off.”

“I’ll help however I can,” Maris said, her voice surprisingly steady. “I helped on Mount Ruin.”

They staggered toward the secret panel. Nomi had expected Asa to be guarded, or to call for Marcos when he saw her. She hadn’t expected the chance to walk away. This time, before his men found his body, this was a gift. She needed to use it to find Serina and get the women of Mount Ruin out.