Page 5 of Knave

A light fog covered the cemetery and cracked headstones littered the area, not a fresh grave in decades.

Mouse knelt by one of the trees and crawled through the gaping hole. Before her, a mirror-like surface appeared, a glistening sheen reflecting her image. She pressed a hand forward, and a floral scent ignited as she was tugged through then spat out in the middle of a pathway, the stone medallion now across from her.

Rising to her feet, Mouse dusted off her hands. In front of her, the Ivory Palace loomed, beautiful and gothic, its towers massive with a silvery moat surrounding the castle. Once the new castle was built, she would miss the Ivory Palace dearly. But maybe she could still return here sometimes when she needed an escape.

The white daisies were in full bloom and a troop of bats beat their wings overhead. Mouse hurried around the palace to the back and slipped inside with her key.

Mock, a guard with dark irises and yellow hair just past his shoulders, stood at the foot of the stairs beside Didi, a newer guard. Her silver and orange locks were drawn back in a bun, and she smiled warmly at Mouse.

“The coast is clear.” Mock grinned, seeming to have noticed how she preferred sneaking in.

Taking a breath, Mouse nodded while staring at the floor, then bounded up the stairs to her room before someone else could round the corner. She didn’t want to answer questions, and she shouldn’t have to either.

Mouse should’ve been at the Ivory Palace, but she’d snuck away, claiming she was still tired. However, the truth was she hadn’t been able to sleep, not in months. Maddie always believed herself to be the strange one of the sisters, but perhaps it was Mouse because with each passing day, she’d found it harder to know what to say to anyone.

Except for the once-Knave of the Ruby Heart Palace. Her friend, Ferris.

Yet, she’d kept recent things from him too. She wasn’t ashamed—she didn’t know what she was. Most certainly she wasn’t that female who’d saved his life back at the club. The one who would dance to his music, the one who would laugh at his sarcasm. Two years in a prison cell could change someone, but two years tortured by Rav and Imogen would make a monster out of anyone. Even though she’d already been one.

But she wasfine.

Mouse left her door cracked open as she’d been doing since leaving her prison cell. On her bed rested a pale-yellow envelope. Mouse’s heart inflated at the sight, and with a smile, she scooped it up. She opened the envelope and fished out the paper. A rosewood scent drifted to her nose, and she inhaled the comforting smell as she unfolded it. Drawn across the page was a feminine hand holding several gems. At the bottom was a single sentence:You’re stronger than any diamond.

She smiled at it.Ferris.

Mouse refolded the paper and stashed it with the others beneath her bed. He’d snuck her drawings while she’d been in the prison cell and continued to give them to her afterward. She set Des on top of a green leaf on the bedside table then went inside her bathing chambers to wash.

The warm water calmed her until it turned cold—icy like it had been in the Ruby Heart Palace when Rav would poke and prod her with needles, drawing her blood.

Clenching her teeth, trying to forget those memories, Mouse toweled off and put on a fresh dress. She then padded to her bed and slipped beneath the silk covers.

It was still night and she shouldn’t be lying in bed, but all she’d been wanting to do was feed and rest. Des lifted her head for a moment before falling back asleep on top of her half-eaten leaf.

Imogen digging her nails into Mouse’s flesh, then shoving her head into a bucket filled with water drifted through her mind. Mouse hummed to make it stop, to goaway—it was something she’d started while inside the prison cell. She couldn’t breathe, the water filling her lungs.

Shakespeare.Shakespeare.Shakespeare. She thought about his plays, as she always did in times like these. Des had been named after Desdemona, after all. But Mouse had always felt something for Ophelia fromHamlet. What would have happened if Ophelia hadn’t killed herself? Sometimes Mouse thought about going to the mortal world and waiting for the sun to rise to see if she truly would die.

A light knock came at her cracked door, and Ferris’s hulking shadow crept up the wall. “Mouse?”

“Come in,” she whispered, inhaling his calming rosewood scent as he approached. Ferris looked striking, dressed in the white and silver Ivory guard uniform, the clothing hugging his strong arms, chest, and legs. His short dark hair was swept back, and his brown gaze latched onto hers.

“Hello, luv.” Ferris smiled softly. She loved that smile, loved seeing it on his handsome face. “Maddie returned from Scarlet.”

Her sister. She still didn’t know Mouse had slaughtered the donors. Ever and Chess had agreed to keep what she’d done a secret, as long as it didn’t happen again. “I’ll meet with her later.” She bit her bottom lip. “Thank you for the drawing.”

Ferris shrugged and stepped forward. “Do you want company?”

Mouse knew what that meant—he needed company but didn’t want to ask it of her and put pressure on her. Neither of them liked asking for things, yet she did want the company,hiscompany. She nodded, opening her arms to him. “Are you having a tedious day too?”

He took off his boots and his large frame slipped beneath the covers beside her. “It’s better now.”

She circled her arms around his neck and held him close. Ferris was her best friend. For centuries, it had always been Maddie and Ever—she’d never wanted to let anyone else in. Not until him.

As she breathed Ferris in, she remembered the days at the club when she would feed off him, giving him the high he needed, giving her the food she craved. Since the day they’d met, they’d never talked about their pasts, only the present, the future. But back then, Mouse had known he’d wanted to escape his demons, just as she’d needed to feed. The day she’d found him, almost dead, there was something about him she’d wanted to save. He’d thought her an angel while most mortals had believed her to be a demon.

As she listened to the rhythmic sound of his pulse, her fangs threatened to drop at the thought of what his blood would taste like in his vampire state. What would the high feel like to each other now that he was a vampire? She’d never tasted the blood of an immortal since being turned by Maddie. The hunger swirled in her stomach, her eyelids fluttering.

The sound of his voice snapped her out of the moment. “Are you all right, luv?”

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