Chapter 10 · Hounds in the Dark

The lights died. Not flickered. Died. The kind of dark that meant every breaker in the building just got fried.

Kane's hand was still on my throat. Not squeezing. Just resting there, cold as cemetery stone. I could feel his pulse under his thumb. Too slow. Wrong.

"Let her go." Finn's voice came from somewhere behind me. Shaky but loud.

The thing wearing Kane's face turned. His eyes caught what little moonlight bled through the window, reflected it back flat and silver. Not Kane's eyes. Not anymore.

"The boy," the dead queen said through Kane's mouth. "He looks like her. Your mother. Same stubborn jaw."

I tried to pull back. Kane's fingers tightened just enough to keep me still.

"You don't know anything about my mother," I said.

Her laugh came out wrong. Too high. Kane's vocal cords weren't built for it. "Oh, Evie. I knew her better than you ever did."

Then the windows exploded.

Glass blew inward in a spray of glitter and blood. I threw my arm up, felt something slice across my forearm. Kane—no, the queen—shoved me sideways. I hit the floor hard, shoulder first.

Finn screamed.

I rolled, tried to get my knees under me.