Page 66 of Down Comes the Night

Before he could protest, she heaved herself aboveground and crept closer to the tapestry. Hannah was shouting over the wind at someone on the front porch. Not Lowry, then. But who would come unannounced at this hour? Who would brave this weather?

Wren pressed her face to the window and peered through the thick layer of ice. Although she couldn’t see the guest at the door, she could make out a carriage parked in the driveway.

“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no.”

Nearly feathering into the snowstorm, the carriage was white and elegant. She would have missed it if not for an all-too-familiar crest emblazoned in black. It was a full moon flanked by a waxing and waning crescent.

The Queen’s Guard was here.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Wren couldn’t move. She could hardly think; her mind was nothing but a muddle of expletives and panic and bloody images. Why had she been so foolish to believe that Isabel would help her? Why had she been so careless and let Una see her leave? It was no surprise Isabel had sent a team to track her down, but Wren hadn’t expected them to arrive sosoon.The storm should have bought her more time.

A door groaned on its hinges. Then the steadyclick, click, clickof heels striking stone reverberated through the house and beat against Wren’s skull. They were inside. The Queen’s Guard washere,only feet away, and she was rooted in place with terror.

Move,she told herself.You have to move.

“You’ve some nerve demanding an audience with his lordship at this hour,” Hannah complained. “He doesn’t like to be disturbed, and we’ve a sick man who needs his rest.”

“So we’ve heard,” said a Guardswoman whose voice Wren didn’t recognize. “We only want to ask Lord Lowry a few questions.”

At last coming to her senses, Wren hurried back to the ladder. A sliver of Hal peered up at her, appearing and disappearing in the flickering light. He looked lost somewhere between befuddlement and concern. “What is it?”

She dropped to her knees so she could whisper. “The Queen’s Guard is here.”

Hal’s expression hardened into wariness.

“No, don’t look at me like that! They’re after me, not you. Please, Hal. I know this sounds bad, but you have to trust me. I’m not in contact with the Guard. No one in Danu has any idea where you are.”

It would be easy enough for him to seal the entrance and abandon her to her fate. But he didn’t. Wren could have cried with relief when he turned out the lights and stepped away from the ladder. “Quickly,” he said.

The sound of voices suddenly quieted.

“What was that?” another voice asked. Suddenly, Wren was thrown fifty feet above her body, tears burning in her eyes. She would know that voice anywhere.

Una.

“What?” said Hannah. “I didn’t hear a thing.”

“That’s an interesting design choice,” Una said dryly. “I’d like to take a look behind it.”

“It’s not safe to enter.”

“I suspect I’ll be fine.”

“Wren.”Hal sounded strained.

Wren snapped back to reality and slid onto the first rung of the ladder. It would make a noise if she covered the entryway again, but what choice did she have? As carefully as she could, she pulled the stone tile over their heads, wincing as it rumbled against the floor. She nearly lost her balance in her haste to clamber down the ladder, and Hal reached out to steady her. The brush of his hand against her waist caused the magical bond between them to flare like a live wire. They flinched simultaneously, and if she didn’t know better, she’d say Hal looked flustered.

She mouthedsorrywhile he blew out the candles.

They were plunged into darkness just as the sound of footsteps echoed above them. Una was only feet above her, and the pain of that nearly knocked her breathless. She hadn’t realized how much she missed her until now. How unmoored she’d been without her lead. More than anything, Wren wanted to go home. But home had never been a place for her. It had always been her team. That warm glow of belonging.

The way Byers snorted if she made him laugh too hard, or how he could provoke her into a yelling match over completenonsense.How she could get Una to crack if she imitated their old drill sergeant’s droning voice. The tender look Una reserved only for Wren when they were truly alone.

But after Byers had disappeared and Wren had left Una in the snow that night, any home she’d ever had was gone. She would never get it back. She could hear it now, the glued-together pieces of her heart coming undone. Hal clamped a hand over her mouth, and Wren nearly gagged on the effort of not snapping at him. Then she realized—she’d let out a whimper. When she whirled around to face him, his eyes pinned her in place.

Steady,they said.