Page 18 of Accomplice to the Villain

The hairs on the back of Evie’s neck stood on end, and she turned her head slowly in the direction of the open side doors. Her mother stood there, dark eyes round with horror.

Benedict called up, “Pity. It appears you have a ghost problem after all.”

Evie’s heart stopped, and her boss went rigid behind her as they exchanged a glance that said something unmistakable.

How did the king know about that?

The clomping of hooves signaled their departure, but Evie hardly noticed—she was too fixated on her mother.

“Mama? It’s okay,” Evie said carefully, reaching for something to hold on to so she could step down. Her hand closed around the boss’s gloved fingers, his strength supporting her weight as she left the parapet’s ledge. As soon as her feet were back on solid ground, he released her.

“Mama?”

Nura stood there, staring in horror, watching The Villain’s death magic swirl around Evie with an accuracy that could only mean one thing.

The Villain’s magic was visible.

“What. Is. That?” Her mother’s voice was tainted with fear.

The Villain boomed. “Gideon! Someone get Gideon! Right now!” The shuffle of footsteps sounded behind her, and Evie knew the urgency. She’d seen this look on her mother’s face before, but unlike the others she’d come to know, this was a look Evie had only seen once.

In the dandelion fields.

Evie walked toward her mother slowly, as if approaching something wild, something delicate. “Mama, it’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.”

Her mother’s dark eyes were spilling tears freely, her whole body shaking with a force that made her teeth rattle. “My poor daughter. My poor Evie. My sweet girl, what has happened to you?”

Evie flinched, her hand going to her chest like her mother had just run her through the heart. It would explain the pain, the tingle from her dagger in her palm, the scar glowing on her shoulder. “What’s. Happened?” Anger burned behind her eyes, blurring her vision. “Isurvived. I did what I had to without any help. Withoutyou.” Evie’s voice broke, and she closed her hand over her mouth to stop herself from going any further.

But The Villain’s power seemed to sense her distress anyway. It seeped closer, and then, much like the pumpkin Evie had just thrown, Nura Sage glowed brighter than a firework. A beam of starlight was about to shoot from her chest.

“Mama, no!” Evie ran for her mother, but her boss grabbed her by the waist and threw them both to the ground, covering her body with his.

“Stay down, Sage!”

Under The Villain’s protective arms, Evie watched in horror as the same beam of light that had destroyed their family all those years ago shot out toward the manor.

Toward the stained glass window.

And worst of all?

Toward Lyssa.

Chapter 9

Gideon

Gideon Sage had awoken that morning with a raging headache and a sickly feeling that his day would somehow only worsen as it went on.

As it happened—though not often, of course—Gideon was correct.

“Gods damn it!” Gideon cried, sprinting into the office space at full speed, watching in horror as the beam of light—the same one that had once knocked him into a different identity—barreled for the window, right toward his youngest sister. The next few moments happened in the time it took for a heart to beat or a bead of sweat to form at his brow. “Lyssa!”

Gideon lurched for her, projecting his shielding magic—magic that had saved him from perishing due to his mother’s starlight the first time. But it was too late. The beam would hit Lyssa. Gideon and his magic were too far away. They were all too far away. All except…

Keeley. The head of The Villain’s guard, the woman who Gideon had spent the better part of their acquaintance detesting, dove in front of Lyssa without a moment’s pause, taking the beam of starlight at her back with a gut-wrenching scream.

Though it was Gideon’s ears that were ringing, he oddly felt that scream burrow both deep into his chest and down into his gut. The light faded just as fast as it had shined, desks and plants throughout the room singed from the blast.