months, building my case so I can bring him in quietly, without scandal and embarrassment to the realm.” Erwin raised his arm, indicating the wrecked dining hall. “This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.”
Richard reached them. “Where is Charlotte?”
George glanced at Charlotte’s table. It was empty. Charlotte was gone. So was Sophie—and so was Spider.
“She was just here,” he said.
“Jack!” Richard barked.
“I’m on it.” Jack dashed through the dining hall, crouched at the table, inhaled and pointed to the doorway. “Right hallway.”
Richard sprinted across the hall.
“MY lord!” Sophie called out.
Spider stopped and turned. He was midway through the gardens, and as he spun on his foot to face her, the gorgeous flowerbeds framed him. He seemed an elegant painting, drenched in sunlight. She let the dog off the leash.
“What are you doing here, Sophie?”
“I was scared when the screaming started,” she said. “I ran out and saw you walking away.”
He raised his hand, inviting her to walk next to him. She caught up, and, together, they strolled down the winding path. The dog ran sideways to investigate some flowers.
“I see you brought your dog. Have you finally settled on a name?”
“Yes. I think we should call him Callis.”
“After the Grand Thane?” Spider smiled.
“They have the same type of rough dignity. Where are you going?”
The stiff blade of her short sword, the only weapon that could be hidden in her dress, was warm against her thigh. Roses bloomed on both sides of the path, pink, dark red, and cream, their velvet petals sending a refined perfume into the air.
“I came here to disrupt this wedding,” he said.
“But why? Don’t you like the Marchesa?”
“I do. I’m very fond of her, in fact. She is a beautiful example of the best noble blood has to offer. But I’m a patriot, my dear. And sometimes the needs of my country conflict with my personal likes.”
“I understand,” she said. “Duty.” He wasn’t a monster by choice, oh no. He was a patriot. The only difference between a common psychotic sadistic murderer and Spider was he had Louisiana’s mandate to be one.
“Yes.” Spider nodded. “The Marchesa has great land holdings. It wasn’t in our best interests to let those lands fall under Adrianglian influence. I was planning something quite spectacular. But a true professional knows when he is beaten. They have created such a glorious chaos on their own, I can’t possibly contribute anything else to it. It’s time for me to walk off the stage.”
He stopped. They stood in the very center of the garden, where the path formed a ring.
“I very much enjoyed your company. You’re very intelligent,” Spider said. “You have the ability to reason and keep an open mind. If you develop ambition, it will carry you far. I wish you the best of luck, my dear. I will keep an eye on you if I can. I’m interested to see how far you will go.”
“How does one develop ambition?”
He tilted his head. “Have you ever wanted something? Something you know you can’t have? Something that is your heart’s desire?”
“Of course.”
“Convince yourself that you should have it. Realize that it is yours by the right of your might or intelligence or simple desire. Reach for it and take it. Do you understand?”
Oh, she understood. She understood quite well.
“Farewell.” He turned away. He was about to walk out of the garden. She might never get another opportunity like this.
“Lord Sebastian?”
“Yes?”
She sank her hand into the hidden fold of her skirt. “Would you like to know what my heart’s desire is?”
Spider turned to her, a light smile on his lips. “Very well. What is it, sweetheart?”
She thrust her knife into his chest, stretching the flash across the blade in a tiny fraction of a second.
Spider gasped.
She clamped him to her and tore the blade through his innards, mincing soft organ tissue. Blood poured from Spider’s lips, his face stunned with disbelief.
“It’s to watch you die, you piece of shit,” she said. “You fused my mother.”
He lunged forward, impaling himself deeper on the blade. His hand clamped her throat, squeezing it in a steel grasp. Her air vanished. Don’t panic. Whatever you do, don’t panic.
“Sophie Mar, I take it.” His voice was a ragged, inhuman growl. His eyes bored into her. The world was fading into darkness. “Well played, my little one. Well played.”
She freed the sword with a sharp tug. The air in her lungs boiled.
“You have no idea how much I loathe your family.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a black blur dart across the grass. Callis rammed Spider and clamped his teeth on his right forearm, adding his hundred pounds to Sophie’s weight. Spider groaned. His fingers opened, releasing her throat. She fell and landed into a crouch, gasping for air. She needed to move, but her body refused to do anything but breathe, wasting precious seconds.
Callis snarled, pulling at Spider, trying to yank him off his feet. With his left hand, Spider jerked a blade from the sheath at his waist and bashed the dog over the head. Callis growled. Spider sank his blade into the dark fur of Callis’s back, and it came out crimson.
He kicked Callis aside. The dog dropped to the ground with a vicious snarl and tried to lunge.
“No! Mine,” she told him.
Spider laughed. “Let’s see what you’re capable off.” He struck. He was fast, so fast; he might have been almost as fast as Richard.
She parried and slashed at his shoulder, cutting a gash in his doublet. Blood swelled. Not deep enough. Her sword was too short. He sliced at her in a vicious, horizontal cut. She had no way to dodge to the side, so she bent back. Pain seared her just under the collarbone. The tip of his blade had cut across the exposed top of her chest. Blood poured onto her gown. As he finished the strike, she grasped his wrist with her left hand and sliced across his chest. The flash-sharpened blade cut through his ribs.
Spider snarled. He was still standing.
“Not good enough, Sophie Mar.”
“Good enough for you. You don’t get to take anything else from me.”
He laughed.
“Die.” She cut him again. “Die, die, die!”
He stumbled back and kept laughing.
She slashed at him again and again, becoming a whirlwind, her blade an extension of her, bound to her by her magic. She cut him again and again, oblivious to the wounds she took.
Finally, he fell to his knees.
She stopped. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps. Callis whined at her feet.
“Not bad,” Spider said, his mouth dripping blood. “Look behind me. What will you do now, my dear?”
Sophie raised her head.
Monsters were climbing over the brick wall into the garden.
CHARLOTTE ran down the stairs. She’d lost track of things for a moment, watching Richard win, and when she turned around, both Sophie and Spider were gone.
The hallway ended in an arched entrance, flooded with sunlight. She dashed through it. A large garden
