"Back to the doors collapsing," Mav said quickly. "What are the chances our firecracker did it when we brought her here?"
"Or when she woke up chained. She was very, very mad. And scared," Sang said, sounding worried. "She might have done it by accident, before she realised we weren't going to hurt her."
"Didn't you literally torture her?" Mav drawled.
"I only cut a little bit," Sang huffed, offended if his tone was anything to go by. "She barely even bled, and she only cried because I kept asking about the necklace. Likeyoutold me too."
I frowned, my thoughts whizzing round my head like ping pong balls. This was a really weird conversation.
"I thought she killed my brother," Mav snapped. "How was I supposed to know the little human who ruthlessly murdered me would be … sweet?"
My cheeks heated—and I rolled my eyes at myself. Why was I blushing over a monster's compliment?
"Ooh!" Sang said, sudden and bright and clearly insane. "We could watch cartoons in bed all day." He gasped. "We couldsnuggle."
Mav groaned.
"Sanguine," Void snapped, as close to a growl as I'd heard his cold raspy voice, "focus. Hala may not have killed Vann, but she knows who did. If Mav is ever going to uncover the truth, you can't treat Hala as if she's your girlfriend."
A whine answered Void, but it was drowned out by the ringing in my ears.
Hala may not have killed Vann, but she knows who did…
If Mav is ever going to know the truth…
I thought she killed my brother…
I covered my mouth with both hands, backing up down the hall. Vann was Mav's brother. No wonder they all hated me, and locked me up in their dungeon. No wonder they'd been so interested in the locket—it belonged to Vann's mum before he gave it to me and told me to run.
And no wonder I thought Mav had looked so much like Vann in his glamour, coming out of that shadowkind pub. He was hisbrother.
"Oh god," I choked out at a whisper, turning and running down the corridor now, completely aimless.
I couldn't escape my past, couldn't bury it where I wanted to. Mav would rake it all up. Part of me accepted that he deserved to know what happened to his brother. But I couldn't go back to that day, couldn't let its dark, hungry shadow rise up around me, or I'd fall into it and never get out again. I was lucky I'd climbed out the first time.
I can't stay here.
If I did, they'd keep pushing for answers. They wouldn't stop until my mind broke and I was the same frozen, catatonic girl I'd been when I first escaped the hutch.
"I'm not going back to that," I swore to myself, heading for the lift that spat me out on this floor yesterday.
The shiny metal doors opened with a quiet rumble when I pressed the call button, but not a single button lit up when I jabbed it inside.
"Fine," I breathed, trying not to panic. I'd find a way out. I would.
I left the lift on quick feet, not bothering to open the doors to Void's room or the bathroom where Mav and I had …nope, not thinking about that.Instead, I opened all the other doors, finding a clearly unused dining room, a cluttered library, a room full of beanbags and cartoon posters, two bland guest rooms, and another large bathroom.
It was in the last one that I finally found what I was looking for, but the window was small enough that I'd have to squeeze myself through. If I even fit at all.
"I really wish I wasn't doing this commando," I breathed, climbing onto the flat edge of the marble bath and stretching my fingers up for the window latch.
"Shit!" I yelped when my foot slipped on the shiny marble, frantically catching myself on the window ledge and plastering my whole body against the wall for stability.
My pulse pounded in my ears as I listened for sounds of monster feet racing down the hallway, but either the shadowkind didn't hear me or didn't worry about me escaping. I let out my breath slowly, regaining my balance on the lip of the bath and carefully pushing the window open.
Air trickled in, but instead of it being a cool relief in my lungs, it was hot and sticky, and so humid I could almost drink it. I groaned, not wanting to go out into that heat, butanythingwas better than these monsters ripping my worst memories out of me.
And with God of the Void, that was a literal concern.