Page 16 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

“Shouldn’t is a matter of perspective, I suppose. But you certainlycan... at least for the time being. I wasn’t lying when I said I didn’t mean you any harm.”

“So, for the third time, what are you doing out here, Camille?”

“I was praying.”

That brought him up short.

She laughed softly, the bell-like peals floating out into the night. “There is a temple on the bluff. A perfect place to view the stars and worship the darkness’s sacred gifts.”

Ronan continued to stare at her.

“What? Were you under the impression a whore can only worship on her back?”

“No, of course not—”

Camille laughed again. “I’m teasing you. Come, it’s best not to linger. I know of someone who can aid you.”

“I’m not sure...”

She reached out and placed a warm palm on his slick forearm, the overworked muscles jumping at the light contact. “She is a mutual friend of ours. You can trust her. She will help you get away from here. But we must hurry.”

“Why?”

Camille tilted her head, a serene smile tugging her lips and making her appear positively angelic in the moonlight. Instead of answering, she asked a question of her own. “Did you know we refer to the moon as the Mother?”

Ronan went utterly still, his breath seizing in his chest. The Mother... surely the mention of his goddess at this exact moment was no coincidence. Clearing his throat, almost afraid of the answer, he haltingly asked, “Was she... the one you were worshipping tonight?”

“Yes.”

He could have dropped to his knees in relief. She hadn’t forsaken him. The Mother was still here, still watching, guiding him on what had started to feel like a doomed journey. “Is that normal for you?”

“It’s not a daily occurrence, if that’s what you’re getting at. But I felt a strong pull to be here tonight.” A strangled sound escaped his throat, and she waved a hand, the loose sleeves of her gown fluttering in the breeze. With her long curls and white dress, she could have been a young priestess in the midst of a sermon rather than an unexpected ally in an impromptu kidnapping. “Why does that surprise you, Butcher? I am a servant of the goddess, as are we all. When I hear her, I answer. Only a fool ignores the Mother’s call.”

Wasn’t that the fucking truth. He’d never communed with the Chosen’s creator directly, not like Helena and Effie, but he’d seen the reality of her power far too many times to discount it. There was nothing in all existence quite like a mother’s wrath.

Except, perhaps, a father’s.

The unwarranted thought made every hair on his body stand on end.

“So, are you coming with me, or are you some kind of masochist hoping to get caught?”

He blinked, mind emptying as he snapped back to the present. “Sorry?”

Camille gestured to him and Shadow. “Are you a glutton for punishment, Ronan? Or do you actually mean to get away with your prize?”

His grip on his would-be murderess tightened, and her head pressed more firmly against his shoulder. “I mean to take her to the ends of the earth if I have to. I won’t stop running. Not until I’m sure he can never lay another finger on her.”

Camille beamed. “Then come with me. Your ship sets sail before the dawn.”

“My ship?”

Ignoring the question, she glanced at the horizon. “Hurry. We don’t have much time.”

Ronan tracked her gaze, but the sky seemed just as dark to him now as it had since he’d set foot on the balcony, so it was hard to know what she was using to track the time. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Camille tilted her head toward a path he could only just make out in the moonlight but didn’t say anything further as she picked up her skirts and started to run.

With no option but to give chase, Ronan adjusted his hold on Shadow and did just that, his abused muscles screaming in protest as he pushed himself to the very limit keeping up with her. He wasn’t out of shape by any means, but after the weeks of trials, back-to-back battles, and then scaling a damn tower—not to mention the emotional toll all of the above had taken—he was down to the very last dregs of what his body could physically handle.

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