Page 49 of Empire of Flame and Thorns

For a few seconds, all I can do is to stare at that piece of paper.

The silence in the dressing room is suddenly so loud that I can hear the blood rushing in my ears.

Soulstealer. Only one group of people here calls me that. Alistair and his friends.

Still refusing to believe it, I whip my head from side to side, searching desperately for my robe or a towel or anything that I can use to cover myself with. But there is nothing left.

“Fuck,” I curse under my breath.

Dread and panic swirl behind my ribs as I stare at the empty room around me.

Damn. Alistair is smarter than I gave him credit for. He’s right. He hasn’t broken any rules by stealing my clothes. He hasn’t harmed me or attacked me. But he has managed to successfully mess with my head right before the next trial.

Because there is only one thing I can do now.

Walk back through the corridors completely naked and pray to Mabona that no one sees me.

Mortification crashes over me, searing my cheeks. Goddess above, what if someone does see me? How am I ever going to live that down?

I linger in the dressing room, hoping against hope that someone will walk through the door and help me.

But no help arrives.

When my body is completely dry, and no one has miraculously appeared to solve my problem, I’m forced to admit that I’m out of options. I can’t stay here. I need to sleep. And I need to get my clothes before the next trial. Which means that I have to walk back to my room like this.

I glance down at the key that I kept tied to my wrist while in the water. At least that bit of paranoia served me well. I still have the key to my room. All I need to do is to make it there unseen.

Walking over to the door, I edge it open and peer out into the corridor.

It’s empty.

Slinking out the door, I hurry down the corridor and towards the open doorway to the stairwell. When I reach it, I pause outside and just stick my head through.

The wide stone staircase spirals both upwards and downwards. From my position, I crane my neck in every direction and try to see as far as I can. It’s difficult to tell, sincethe stairs are blocking a lot of the view, but I think it’s empty. At least I don’t hear any footsteps echo between the walls.

But my heart still pounds in my chest as I sneak onto the first step and start upwards on quick and silent feet.

The stairs wind around and around. I have almost reached the next floor. After that, there are only a few more corridors before I reach my room. Hopefully, Alistair and his friends have better things to do than to stand around in the corridor outside their rooms, waiting for me. But considering that he’s an experienced bully, it’s not an entirely baseless fear.

Only three more steps left, then I’ll be up and out of the stairwell. Just?—

A dark figure steps into the stairwell right in front of me.

I stumble to a halt and yank my arms down to protect my private parts. Bracing myself for Alistair’s mocking laughter and scathing remarks, I look up to meet his gaze.

Except it’s not Alistair.

It’s Draven.

The Shadow of Death stands frozen on the first step, his foot hovering halfway to the one below it. His eyes are wide and his mouth slightly open as he stares at me in utter shock. If I wasn’t so exposed and vulnerable right now, I would’ve laughed at the almost comically stunned expression on his usually so composed features.

His gaze darts down my naked body once. Twice. Then, reality at last seems to snap back into him.

“What thefuckare you doing?” he demands with such force that I actually flinch.

He at last slams his foot down the final distance onto the step below. The step right above mine.

Instinctively, I back away as he advances on me. But since I wasn’t looking where I was going, my foot slips on the edge ofthe step and I lose my balance. Throwing out my arms, I flail them desperately to try to get my balance back.

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