Page 22 of All Hallows Masque

“She’ll kill you,” I hissed at the woman, who clearly had no self-preservation instincts.

Moth rolled her eyes and tried to stand again.

Fingers latched around my wrist and I jumped, my heart crashing into the cage of bone folded around it when Cruelty pulled me away from Moth and the ghosts, back into the gilded fold of the courtiers. As if that was their cue, the robed spirits cried an unfamiliar word over and over.

And Ifeltit. A sharp yank in my chest made me gasp, pain striking my heart like someone had made an incision and ripped out something essential.

“Stop,” I growled, guttural. “Cruelty,enough.”

I slammed my hand to my heart, my beast side rising in response to the threat, pricking my nail beds as my nails sharpened into claws, my gums throbbing as my teeth sharpened. Shit, I couldn’t change forms here. I couldn’t risk losing control when Cruelty was playing mind games and reaching into my chest to rip pieces out.

A snarl tore from my lips as the pain rushed in a higher wave, spiking until tears veiled my vision. I wasn’t the only one crying out. A woman’s scream pierced the hall, as sharp and clear as broken glass. Moth. They were stealing her magic to crush my connection to Madde. Oh, god. I tried to find the place in my chest where the tearing began, tried to stop the flow of cruel magic, to hold onto my Madness.

I pushed my hand harder against my chest, claws slicing up the grey dress as the pain made tears slide down my cheeks and stopped as abruptly as it had started.

I panted, my head spinning. Silence fell across the hall, and then the perfectly level murmurs of courtiers rolled back in,followed by the clinking of glasses and the slow distorted sound of the string quartet as they struck up a haunted version ofwaltz. no 2.

“What did you do?” I rasped, staring at Cruelty as she squeezed my shoulders, giving me a soft look.

The absence of pain left me cold, hollow. Or maybe that was the loss. The emptiness where my darkness should live.

“I fixed it,” she replied, tucking a stray lock of hair back into my updo. “Now you can spend all your time focusing on your best friend!”

You’re a monster,I wanted to snarl, but I choked down the words and nodded, tears burning my eyes. “How do I get it back? When I master control over my creature. How do I get my connection back?”

Cruelty batted my shoulder like I’d said something funny. “Whyever would you want it back?”

Breathe. Choke back the hatred. Breathe.

Through gritted teeth I asked, “What if you and your brother had a connection, and you lost it?” I looked beyond her, unsettled by how the dancers had gone right back to twirling and spinning, the dark-robed cultists gone. Like it never happened.

But I heard Moth scream, even through my pain; I knew they’d hurt her. Yet, where she’d been slumped on the floor, now there was only a swath of red velvet.

“I’d burn the whole world to get it back, I suppose,” Cruelty answered contemplatively. “But you won’t burn the world, Kitty, you’re too nice for that.”

She didn’t know me at all. There was nothing I wouldn’t do, no one I wouldn’t destroy or bleed or torture if it returned me to my husbands. Instead, I nodded and asked, “What happened to Moth?”

“Oh, that dreary little insect.” Cruelty clicked her tongue. “Back to her cage, back to her tower. But enough about her—didyou find him yet? Your bonded one?” She spun in a circle, her arms thrown out and her light blue dress twirling around her thighs. “Which one is he, Kitty?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t let go of my chest, hadn’t stopped feeling that slice of pain as she cut Madde out of me. He’d been my darkness since my lowest, most depraved moment. He’d been with me every moment since then, comforting, encouraging, corrupting. My protector. My darkness. Mine.

Now he was gone.

I had to choke down a sob to speak. “None of my men are here. I don’t know any of these people.”

I’d spoken to every man in the room, looked into their eyes, drawn their scent into my lungs, soaked in their presence and aura. None of them were Miz, Tor, Madde, or Death. None of them.

Cruelty gave me a wicked little smile.“Are you su-ure?”she sang.

“It’s a trick,” I said, rough with emotion as I stared at the masked people, searching, searching. “Like when you tricked me by pretending to be Honey.” My voice cracked, but Cruelty ignored it and patted my arm.

“You’re wrong, Kitty.” She flung her arm across my shoulders and ignored the way my whole body shook with rage and fear. “One of your husbands was here. You weresoclose to finding him. Poor darling.”

No.I would have known. She had to be lying. But I didn’t think she was; I looked in her crystal blue eyes and saw only honesty.

Oh, god. Someone I loved was really here, and I missed them. I moved my hand from my chest to my stomach as it revolted, curdling.

“Not to worry. I have an evenbettermasquerade planned for next week. I can’t spoil the theme, but it’s going to be bloody anddecadent.”

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