Chapter 105

Logan

The echo of approaching footfalls filled the space before I saw her. One of Emma’s rogues walked into view, her face drawn and pensive as she neared my cell with keys jingling in her hands.

“Emma wants to see you,” she muttered, like she couldn’t be bothered with me. Her thoughts were elsewhere. I wondered if something had happened to earn such evasiveness. She slid the key into the lock, and the click was sharp in the silence.

“Now what happened here?” she asked as she swung open the door. “Did you boys get into a fight?”

I knew that she was looking at Scott’s prone and bleeding body across from me. He was still breathing, though. For now.

And yet I refused to look up and acknowledge this, pretending that I was spent in the scuffle with Scott. It was easy to pretend that I was lost to the drugs and hunger and exhaustion.

I forced myself to slump against the wall. It was almost too easy to feign such weakness. I was exhausted, half-starved, and just coming out of a drugged stupor, and I exaggerated all of it to the most believable extent possible.

I knew that this was my one chance. I could sense it, how fleeting it really was. I wouldn’t let it pass by me.

I let my head hang heavy as though the drugs still had me under their full weight. She stepped in, careless, too sure of herself.

That was her mistake.

The second she leaned down to grab my arm, I lashed out with all the energy I had left in me.

I hooked my foot around hers and yanked hard. She stumbled, cursed, and before she could recover, I lunged forward. The manacles around my wrists made my movements clumsy, but rage sharpened me, as well as the fact that I knew that this might be my one and only chance at escape.

I slammed into her with my shoulder, knocking her to the ground. She went sprawling, hitting the warped floorboards unceremoniously.

In her fall, the keys clattered from her hands.

I snatched them hastily with my bound hands. Before she could even turn around or right herself from where she had fallen, I threw myself out of the cell so hard that when I hit the ground, all the air was forced from me. I twisted, kicking the door closed behind me.

Her scream rattled the stone walls as she hurled herself against the partition, but it was too late. I slotted the key into the lock and turned. The lock clicked, sealing her in.

For the first time in days, the air in my lungs tasted like freedom. I was breathless, panting in that sweet, sweet air as I paused to reassess my situation.

I was out of my cell, but where was I? Where could I go?

My hands were still bound, and my body was still depleted from the days of hungry drugging. It had been mostly luck that had allowed me to overcome this female rogue. I was not sure lightning would strike twice if another one came to check on us.

I recognized then that I couldn’t linger. I had to go. Now.

I didn’t waste another second. My legs burned as I sprinted down the corridor, chains weighing me down so that I was bent over in my ungraceful escape. I kept my steps as light as I could, forcing my body forward even as dizziness made my vision swim. The last few days were catching up to me. Fast.

When I broke into the open night, the air hit me like a slap. It must have been late, because the world was a blanket of blackness. It was cold and damp, threaded with the scent of pine and ash. I couldn’t see much of my surroundings in the darkness.

I pushed harder, branches tearing at my skin, breath ragged. Every sound was amplified in the dark. The chains made it harder to balance, and I often felt myself beginning to trip before I righted myself, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

Somehow, I had picked the right direction to run in. The trees eventually broke, and that’s when I saw it.

A house. Or perhaps it was an old abandoned barn. It was hard to see at such an hour, but it was lit up like a beacon against the endless dark, windows glowing with warm gold that pooled on the surrounding grass. My chest heaved as I crept closer.

If the lights were on inside, that meant someone was still occupying the structure. But were they friend or foe?

I got close enough to duck beneath one of the lit windows and peer in.

My heart stopped. My eyes found her immediately, like I had been searching for her in particular.

Evelyn.

She stood in the center of the room, her face pale, her shoulders squared in defiance, even as a knife was held to her throat. The blade was pressed against her by another female rogue.

So she was alive. Emma had lied. I had known she was being dishonest, and still, I exhaled a shaky breath at the sight of her, the relief washing over me like a wave. And I determined then that Emma would pay greatly for attempting such a deception. I would not allow her saying that Evelyn was dead to go unpunished.

And standing opposite her was the liar herself, Emma, looking smug as ever, like she was playing some sort of game of her own. She was sitting on a makeshift throne from some old chair that had been worn and weathered with time. In the empty space, she controlled the room and the narrative. She had us both in the palm of her hand.

Was this why the other rogue had sent for me? To bring me here? In the haze of my mind, this only confused me more.

All I knew for certain was that Emma had ordered a knife be held to Evelyn’s throat. Every muscle in me went taut, a growl clawing its way up my throat. I had to get to her. I had to save her. But how?

The drugs still fogged my mind, my arms were bound, and I had no weapon. My body screamed for rest, but none of it mattered. Because she was there. Evelyn was right there, and I’d burn the whole world down before I let Emma put her hands on her again.

This ended now. Tonight.

My thoughts raced, desperate, frantic. I couldn’t just charge in blindly, and especially not like this. Not with a knife against Evelyn’s throat. It would be so easy for them to drag the blade across her throat the moment I barged in. The risk was too great.

But I also didn’t have much time.

How could I burst in, overcome two people while I was restrained, and save Evelyn without bringing any harm upon either of us? It seemed impossible. Yet I had to try. Fleeing and leaving Evelyn wasn’t even an option.

I pressed closer to the wall, heart pounding, eyes locked on her. Whatever it took, I would find a way to get her out. These restraints and these unfavorable odds weren’t enough to dissuade me entirely. She was going to walk away from this.

Even if it killed me.