Page 109 of The Puppet Master
Safe. That’s how I once felt enveloped in Thorne’s warmth, and I’m taken there now. To the empty forest on the coldest of nights, the moon full and beaming in a starry sky.
I was eleven. He was fifteen, just a boy I watched through a window, and the first boy, the firstpersonto catch me alone in the trees—my home, my sanctuary.
Like the little girl I was, I turned to run from him, but he caught me with his voice.Wait!A voice sweet as cherries, with kindness belonging to the purest of souls.
I waited.
He crept close, hands out. “You’re Aurelius’s daughter, right?”
I’d had no idea my father claimed me as his. Though, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Even Thorne was old enough to remember my birth. It’s hard to forget the Shadow Sanctum bearing ademonchild, as much as the people desired to.
Reluctant, I nodded.
He smiled. Then, his eyes locked onto my hands shaking at my sides. He took off his coat. Offered it to me.
“I’m Thorne,” he said, coat outstretched, unaffected by my eyes darting between him and the meager cloth. Cloth I would have bled for. “What’s your name?”
“Daemonium.”
Demon.
He frowned. The sight was so unsettling, I took the coat, pulled it on, and stared at my toes while awaiting judgment.
Father had warned me of the people’s disgust. They didn’t know me like he did; they demanded I be put up, out of a sight—a doll whose eyes never glowed red beneath the protection of the Keep.
When I found the courage to peek, Thorne was smiling again, though it was somehow sad. Huge boyish hands tucked inside his pockets while he braced the cold.“You look like a…” When he looked up, the milky moon cast a glint over brown eyes made so beautiful in the glassy light. “Luna. You look like a Luna to me.”
And because the boy said it first, it was so.
My throat clears as I come back to the present, shaking away the memory. These past few weeks have made me soft. The price of summoning vulnerability.
I pull the jacket tight and cross my arms. “I’m assuming Mr. Hansley is on the move?”
Thorne nods. “The drones are tracking him as we speak. You were right. Someone erased the swine’s profile from our database.”
“But it’s fixed now.”
“Yes. As of this morning.” When I don’t look relieved, he goes on. “I’ve been watching him myself.”
“Have you seen him with anyone since? He made contact with the traitor less than an hour ago.”
Thorne winces, face pinched with an apology. “He climbed through a window into the Grove’s basement a little while ago, but when Zephyr went to check it out, she didn’t see him.”
Shocking.
“You senther?”
“I…” His lips fumble. “Well, I mean, she volunteered. She was watching the cameras with me.”
Of course she was.
I look away as a pin stabs my chest. Small but sharp.
Get a hold of yourself.
“Should I send the Keepers after Hansley?”
“No.” I shake my head. “If we send them now, we risk never knowing where he’s escaping from… Have all drones directedtoward him and make sure the Keepers are ready for retrieval. He’ll lead us right to the exit… And to the traitor.”
