Page 41 of Apprentice to the Villain

“Oh?” She’d seethed, clenching her fists.

“Do they always fight like this?” Gideon had whispered loud enough for all of them to hear.

“Always.” Tatianna had nodded gravely.

“Not true!” Evie had yelled at the same time Trystan objected, “Hardly!”

Gideon had nodded as well. “Excellent. You’ve convinced me.” They clearly had not.

“Might I remind you,” Evie had continued whispering to The Villain, “he helped me saveyourlife! And besides, if he steps out of line, you can just kill him.” She had almost done so herself, after all, not so very long ago.

“Heis sitting right here,” Gideon had said dryly.

Both The Villain’s and Evie’s eyes had darted for Gideon, who held his hands up in surrender.

“Look, for what it’s worth, I didn’t make this decision lightly. I’ve been planning on leaving the guard for years.” Gideon had grinned at her, keeping his hands up. “And I would never hurt my sister.”

Her boss had narrowed his eyes at her brother. “By my measure, you already have.”

So now, back at the manor, Evie left Gideon in a guarded room to change out of his Valiant Guard armor before any more of the Malevolent Guards saw him. It was a wonder Keeley didn’t string him up by his toenails in the courtyard, but the captain instead had offered to stand outside his door with another guard, Nesma, who had whispered to Evie that she’d keep Keeley from killing him.

Evie’s grateful smile carried her all the way back up to the office space, where Malevolent Guards and workers flurried about in a tizzy. “What’s going on?” Evie asked Becky as a pixie dove through her hair and three interns flew past her with stacks of paper and old-looking books. It was near the end of the workday, and the setting sun cast an orange glow over the room. This was usually when the office was at its calmest.

Becky sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “We’re takingcare of it,” she started. “But it’s the manor’s barrier. It’s become a little…faulty.”

Evie chewed nervously on her lip. That certainly didn’t sound good. “Shall I call maintenance?” Although maintenance was still repairing one of the walls the boss had tossed an intern through a few weeks ago—a not-irregular occurrence—and besides, if she was understanding Becky right, this likely wasn’t something the magical fixers could repair.

“Right now, it’s only a single door that’s visible,” Becky clarified. “Nothing to be overly concerned about, I’m sure, but I sent for an enchantress just in case. We’ll see if any of the ravens are successful in finding one.” Becky sighed again when Lyssa appeared, gripping the woman’s drab brown skirt. “Lyssa Sage, must you skulk about? I thought you were looking for your sister’s journal,” Becky scolded, but there was more warmth in that interaction than Evie had ever seen her display. It made her a little giddy.

“I can’t find it, Ms. Erring. I searched everywhere!”

Becky looked toward the ceiling. “I find it incredibly hard to believe you swept every nook and cranny of this office in such a short amount of time.”

Lyssa pulled some pastries from her pocket, handing one to Evie and then one to Becky—who held the powdered dough sphere like it was a dirty sock. Lyssa giggled at her expression, and Evie did, too. She’d let Lyssa stay innocent just a little bit longer before unleashing Gideon on her. Her little sister had been merely an infant when Gideon died—well,left—so Evie wasn’t sure exactly how she’d react, for one. But for another, she so rarely got to experience unfettered joy, and Evie so badly wanted to give Lyssa that—and so much more.

“There was one place I didn’t check, Ms. Erring,” Lyssa admitted as the three women walked farther into the office space, toward the boss’s closed black doors.

“Where?” Becky asked, lifting a brow.

The black doors were no longer closed. They slammed open, rattling the walls, rattling the workers, rattling Evie as The Villain walked out with her gold-foiled journal in hand. Opened right to the page she least wanted him to see.

The drawing. The sketch. The kissing.THE HORROR.

“Sage?” The Villain held up the notebook with a white-knuckle grip. “What in the deadlands is this? And why was it on my desk?”

Both hands flew over her mouth, one then coming down to grip Becky by the arm for balance. “He’s holding it.”

Becky said nothing, just stared at the journal with round, unblinking eyes, her usually stern mouth in the shape of anO.

“Becky, he’s holding it!” Evie hissed again.

Becky shook off Evie’s hand. “I have eyes, ninny!”

The boss pointed to the poorly drawn depiction of her, the doodled spiral curls giving her identity away. “This is supposed to be you, correct?”

Divert! Divert!“Um, sir, I have the stardust vial in my pocket—shall we get to work on using it to find my mother? The clock’s ticking, and the baby guvre is, um…growing.”

Becky brightened, which should’ve made Evie immediately suspicious. “An excellent point, Evangelina! I’ll go gather your mother’s letters at once! Come, Lyssa. I left them in the kitchens.” The HR manager turned to go, guiding Lyssa along with her—but not before throwing Evie a shrewd smile.