My cl*t pulsed and my lips parted.

His gaze came to mine and he whispered, “Come, dove, I’ll introduce you to Sinclair, Draven’s uncle.”

A diversion.

I nodded and gave him a different kind of smile.

He tucked me close, moved me through the crowd and introduced me to Walter Sinclair, who, like Norfolk, was also kindly and older. And, I found when I shared it openly with him, he was a man who very much appreciated the fact that I cared deeply for his nephew.

Chapter Twenty

Hewcrows

Creepy Castles and (mostly) Foul Families aside, as I moved down the front steps of Brunskar hours later, Apollo guiding me to our sleigh, I was pretty pleased the night went so well.

Actually, intrigue was kind of fun (though I wouldn’t tell Apollo that since he obviously didn’t enjoy it much).

And I noticed he had steered me clear of a variety of people just as he steered me to closer acquaintances who would not be unkind or inappropriate.

Always looking out for me.

Always.

It was a weird sensation.

But once I got over the weirdness, it was a sensation I liked.

We made it to the bottom of the steps and I pulled my cloak closer around me, noting, “Tonight was fun.”

He moved ahead of me, reaching out to open the door of the sleigh, but looked back at me, smiling a bemused smile.

“You have an interesting idea of fun, poppy.”

I stopped moving at the bottom step and tipped my head to the side. “I do?” I asked and didn’t wait for him to answer. “Champagne. Good food and lovely company. And you looking hot and me looking fabulous in a gorgeous dress. Isn’t that everyone’s idea of fun?”

“I may take this neck cloth off, guide the sleigh to a cliff and throw it over,” he said by way of answer and I giggled.

“Can I take it from that that you don’t like neck cloths?” I asked the obvious.

He lifted a hand my way, and chuckling, replied, “You can indeed.”

But I wasn’t paying attention to his words, his hand or his humor.

This was because I was trying to lift my foot but it seemed frozen to the step.

I looked down. It was freaking cold there but to have your foot freeze to a step?

It didn’t matter. I saw when I looked down that the black stone steps were cleared of snow and ice so this couldn’t be.

“Maddie, cease your play. It’s cold and I’m keen to get to the inn and get warm, but mostly get you warm,” Apollo urged, saying things I normally would like very much.

But this was lost on me because I tried lifting my other foot and that wouldn’t budge either.

Something was not right and that not right was really not right.

Panic surged inside me and I lifted my head.

“Ap—” I started but didn’t get it all out.

He was dissolving.

No.

Fear shot through me because he wasn’t.

I was.

I heard him roar, “Madeleine!”

Then I heard nothing. I saw nothing. I felt nothing.

I was surrounded in black mist.

Oh f**k.

Suddenly I was falling.

Falling through nothing.

Oh f**k!

I hit snow, the abrupt impact jarring my entire body, shooting pain through my legs and knees. Both crumpled and I landed heavily on my side in the snow.

Quickly, I lifted my head and looked around to assess the situation.

Moonlight.

Snow.

Trees.

Nothing else.

No light. No castle. No sleighs. No noise. No people.

I was alone in a forest somewhere and I had no clue where.

Well, I guessed Minerva and her minions had decided to use magic.

On me.

Shit.

I pushed up to my knees and brushed the snow off my thin gloves. Gloves meant to be worn to a ball. My cloak meant to be worn in a sleigh with a fur over me, curled into the side of a hot guy.

I was not prepared to be in the cold in the middle of nowhere.

This was not good.

And it got worse when I caught movement through the moonlit forest.

I shot to my feet, my eyes glued to where I caught the movement.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, moving in another direction.

I turned to that and started backing up.

Another movement from yet another direction.

I put one hand behind me in order not to slam into a tree and kept backing up.

One of the things moving stepped out from behind the shadow of the trees.

And at the impossibleness of what I saw, I went completely still.

It was a man, a sword at a slant on his back.

But his head was the head of a bird with a sharp, pointed terrifying beak and creepy beady eyes.

“What the hell?” I breathed.

He lifted his hand and went for his sword.

I saw another movement as another one stepped out of the shadows.

He was going for his sword too as I heard the hiss of steel when the other one drew his from his scabbard.

Another one appeared in the moonlight, his sword already unsheathed.

Okay.

Well.

I was so totally right.

This was not good.

And in my fabulous gown in the middle of a forest, not knowing where the heck I was, I had one option open to me.

Run like hell.

I took that option, turned, grabbed my skirts, yanked them up and did that like the devil himself was on my heels.

And, seriously, he was.

All four of him.

I didn’t look back. I was not going to fall over a fallen branch like some stupid bitch in a horror movie.

No f**king way.

If they were going to get me, they were going to have to catch me.

I had no idea where I was running and I didn’t care.

I just ran.

I heard them giving chase behind me and they seemed close.

Fuck.

Shit.

Fuck.

I kept going.

Then I heard something from in front of me. It sounded like someone (or something) crashing through the snow.

They were coming at me from another side.

Crap!

I shot to the side and kept going, my breathing labored, my slippers encased in snow, the tops of my feet covered in it. It was awkward dashing through tall snow, and thus not easy, but I kept right on going.

“Miss Maddie!” I heard shrieked.

I kept going but I knew that voice and I couldn’t believe I heard that voice where I was.

That voice was Loretta’s.

Then I saw her and Meeta racing through the snow ten feet to my left.

What the hell?

I couldn’t ask what the hell. I could only do one thing.

So I did it.

I ran their way, shouting, “Keep going. Go, go, go!”

They kept running as I ran to them and felt and heard those things chasing me.