CHAPTER 29
The side of my head hits the ground as I land, the impact briefly knocking every thought from my mind.
“Cursed Night! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Simon breathes heavily against my neck, so much like what I’d felt in my vision that I screech and throw him off. He rolls away and sits up, pulling his cloak back and panting.
“He was here! I saw him!” I shriek. Everything in my sight doubles as I look around frantically. Two Simons lunge at me, but only one takes me in his arms and pulls me into his chest. His heartbeat pounds in my ear as he strokes my hair and lays his cheek on the top of my head.
“You’re all right,” he whispers over and over, though it feels more like he’s assuring himself. “You’re all right.”
As my vision slowly merges into one picture, I focus on a man crouched on the edge of the grass, watching us. The shape of his eyes is strangely visible, hollow teardrops of black with the gleam of silver within. I shove Simon away. “Someone’s out there.”
“Where?” He releases me and looks around.
I don’t even have time to point before the man vanishes.
A lantern light bobs up and down from a street leading north.“It’s the city guard,” says Simon, lurching to his feet to wave his arm at the watchman, calling for him to come quickly. As the man runs toward us, Simon offers me a hand up. A moment of dizziness has me leaning on him for a second, and his lips graze my forehead, though I’m not sure it was on purpose. “What in the Sun’s name are you doing out here, Catrin? You promised you would stay home.”
I certainly did not promise that.
“Where wereyou?” I demand. “You said you were going to Emeline’s”
“Iwasat Emeline’s. We heard you at the front door. How do you think I got here so fast?”
The guard reaches us, gasping for air, and holds up the light. Simon squints and shields his face from the brightness, but not before the man identifies him. “Venatre! What’s happened?”
“There’s been another murder,” Simon tells him. “Sound the alarm and wake the provost, but give me your lantern first.”
The man relinquishes it and runs off, blowing on the horn he’s pulled off his belt. Simon rubs his left eye with the palm of his free hand and turns around. “Let’s look over the body before the crowds get here.”
I balk, mumbling, “I can’t.”
Simon takes me by the elbow and drags me toward the shape on the ground. “You will. This is why you’re out here after all, isn’t it?”
I can’t explain how looking at her will make me relive what happened. That I will know exactly which parts of his conjecture on the way she died are correct. But I understand his anger, too. Simon forces me closer without remorse as tears stream down my face.
He holds the lantern over the body. “Make your observations.”
My hands shake as I wipe my cheeks. “She’s lying on her back,but she was rolled over after her throat was cut. Her face was crushed…” I struggle to hold down what’s risen to the back of my throat. “With something heavy.”
Simon nods. “I don’t see anything obvious around here that could have done it, so he must have taken it with him again.” He glances at the people coming out of houses to see what the commotion is. We don’t have much longer to do this without an audience. “What else?”
“Her eyes are torn out, like Ysabel’s. And—and her shoulders look odd, like she was struck in the back. Maybe while trying to get away.”
Simon bends over her body, trying to see what I’m describing. “I don’t know what makes you think that, but maybe I’ll agree after looking at her later.” He pauses. “What else, Catrin?”
“Her skirts are pulled up to her waist,” I choke. “Exposing… everything.”
To my relief, Simon yanks her skirt back down to her knees. “Evidence of sexual invasion,” he says.
“After she was dead?” I’d thought nothing could be worse than what happened before she died.
My knees give out as I spin around, retching, and I find myself in the same position the woman was right before she was pinned to the ground. When Simon kneels beside me and places a hand on the center of my back, I panic and twist away, putting my hand down in grass that’s wet with blood.
I never thought it could be you.
The familiar thought sings through my mind. I gasp and grab at my throat to assure myself it isn’t cut open, smearing blood on my neck.
Never thought… never thought…