Page 97 of The Devil

“Did you know?” Sev asks.

“I don’t even think she knows.” I shift my gaze to Severin’s. “I’m going to get my wife. I’m going to get her and we’re going to get the fuck off this island if I have to kill everyone on it to do it!”

“Wait, Jet.” Sev grabs my arm to stop me rushing to the door. “There’s more.”

“What more? Fuck it. It doesn’t matter.” I shove the diary back into my pocket as I pull free of Sev and rush to the door but as I pull it open, someone on the outside pushes against it and soldiers rush inside, four of them.

My brother mutters a curse as Senna follows the four men. If it was any night but tonight, it would be comical how small he looks in comparison to the soldiers. How almost serene with his arms folded beneath the cloak all Society men own.

“Gentlemen,” Senna says as hands close over my arms to keep me from pouncing.

Someone switches on a light, and I watch him take in the room, his head tilting in curiosity as he walks toward the intricate carving on the wall.

“There is something to be said for the old ways,” he says. He then turns to us. A soldier escorts my brother to stand beside me.

“What the fuck is going on?” I demand. Was it him in that mask? He who arranged for someone to wear it knowing it would pull the rug out from under me? Senna knows everything that happened. All the terrible details.

He shifts his gaze from the wall to the desk, takes in the ledger Sev was very obviously reading then looks back at us.

“Thought you’d gotten lost.”

“Was it you, you bastard?” I demand, tugging at the two sets of arms holding onto me.

“You are not guests here, gentlemen. Please do bear that in mind. Any courtesy extended to you is at my request. And trust me, you should be grateful. Robertson would just as soon see you both at the bottom of the sea and forget all about you.”

“Well, you’ll forgive us for not falling over ourselves with gratitude,” Sev says, surprising me and, apparently, Senna.

“Severin, you disappoint me. I thought you’d be the reasonable one.”

“Where’s the contract. We’d like to sign it and go. Let you all get back to your… celebration.”

“And that is exactly why I came to find you. Imagine my surprise to have to send out a search party.”

“Where’s Amal?”

Just then, a gong sounds loud enough to hear in this room. The music of the quartet stops.

“This way,” Senna says, and turns to walk out into the corridor.

“Where the fuck is my wife?” I bellow.

He turns, distaste or hate curling his lip. “You will see her momentarily.”

We follow him. Or, I should say, we’re made to follow him.

The corridor is empty but for a few stragglers hurrying toward the Great Hall. Two men stand sentry at the entrance of it, ready to close the door. I get the feeling even members of The Society aren’t free to roam the castle’s halls.

Senna gestures for the last of them to enter. I’m behind him so I can’t see his face but from the looks on the faces of the other guests, he’s not hiding his displeasure.

A moment later, he fumbles with his mask, pulling it over his face. I’m guessing he’s just realized it is on top of his head and people can actually see his true expression.

Once the last of the guests are inside, Senna gestures for us to enter. The soldier holding onto Sev releases him and Sev walks ahead of me. I follow my brother into the Great Hall where there must be more than two-hundred guests. As I take them all in, I realize how just as all the men are in various shades and fabrics of black, so are the women in creams and whites. This strange fact registers just as the conductor gives the signal, and the quartet begins to play a mournful, almost screeching tune. Something that would better fit a funeral than a festive event.

A sound draws my attention to the top of the grand staircase, its twin curves sweeping down to meet in the center of the room. I turn just as a collective gasp ripples through the crowd. Every guest seems to react at once, as though rehearsed. Only my brother, the soldiers and Senna remain silent.

I see why when two men wearing identical half-masks and black suits, the same suits and masks of every soldier, appear at the top of the stairs, between them the most stunning, unnerving sight I’ve ever seen.

A woman in a dress the color of blood.