Page 11 of Queens Ride Horny Dragons
My seconds were limited.I needed to gogogo. I forced my muscles to work, tipping out more and more cases as quickly and quietly as I could. The handwritten dates were nearing last night's. Closer…
The chair squeaked again. Another cabinet opened.
Closer…
There. My hands shook so badly that I thought I'd made a mistake, but no. I could hardly believe it. It was dated yesterday’s date.
I flicked the flashlight back off. Secured it and the CD with my thigh tape, uncomfortable but I could deal. And peered out the tiny slit of the cabinet door.
Nothing. But I knew I wasn't alone. How to get out of here without a murderer seeing me? Unless I'd completely misread what had happened. I doubted it though. There were only so many things it could've been, and none of the others twisted panic through me as much as it was now.
The chair creaked. Soft footsteps padded across the floor directly in front of me. I jerked my head back, sealing my lips and the sound of my breaths. A cold sweat leaked down my spine. All I saw were black pants and black boots with striped gold laces. Was it the same guy who’d killed Oliver? Maybe, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
I adjusted my angle slightly and found the person paused by the door. A noise like crinkling paper sounded, and their arm moved as though they were smoothing something on the bulletin board next to them. Slowly, deliberately, like a loving caress. I leaned closer to get a better view, catching a black jacket. And then they were gone.
I didn't dare move or exhale. I didn't trust anything about this. Why had they been here? Had they taken something? More importantly, were they coming right back?
I waited a full thirty seconds before I thought I would lose my mind. With my heart riding into my throat, I touched the cabinet door open a little more.
Silence. And that was good enough for me.
I eased out, unfolding myself like a girl with spider legs, glancing everywhere as I did. The computer monitors above the desk had all gone blank. Odd… My gaze fell on something underneath the desk, so unnatural that I did a double-take. Something was stuffed there and knotted into a pretzel. Staring with dead eyes.
A body, I realized. Another one.Oh my god,anotherone.
My throat burned with the need to throw up again, but I only allowed a choked whimper to come out. Time to go.
I rushed out of there, snatching the paper off the bulletin board as I went, and then dive-bombed the button to the elevator across the hall. When it opened, I flew inside and stabbed the ground floor button again and again. Finally, the door closed.
A deep tremble rattled my shoulders to my knees, and it took several tries to read the paper I'd taken.
It was an advertisement. An advertisement for Madame Theodosia. My harem's seer.
As the elevator sank lower, I thought I heard a scream pierce the building. But I didn’t stick around to find out.
Chapter Three
I arrived at the castle in a chauffeured limo driven by a human. I'd asked, and that had put me at ease somewhat even as I’d wrapped myself up in as tight a ball as I could make myself on the seat and wept.
Following hood to bumper behind us was Vance, his handsome face tense. He was about to get a whole lot tenser.
We stopped in front of the castle, and Vance immediately stood outside my door and opened it for me, offering his hand to help me out. I took it, and the feel of his strength crumbled mine. I sagged against him and cried, and he held me to him with soft words and even softer kisses to my temple.
"Calhoun told us," he said into my hair. "About Oliver. About Rio and Petra."
That seemed like months ago, the way my life was going lately.
"There's more," I whispered.
He held me even tighter. "I was afraid you were going to say that."
"Yara!" Asa called from the front doors of the castle.
I pulled away from Vance and quickly collected myself. Vance touched his knuckles to my backbone as he so often did to help me straighten it even when it felt like splintering from all this stress. I gave him a nod of thanks and then faced my little brother, who was flying toward me with a big smile. His cheeks were already stained pink from the brisk wind blowing in off the ocean beyond the cliff.
His smile faded some as he neared, and then he tucked himself against me. "You've been crying. Is it bills again?"
"It's not."I wrapped my arms around his skinny body and planted a kiss on top of his head, breathing in his natural crisp fall smell and taking comfort from it. "It's fine. Nothing to worry your big brain about."
