Chapter 20: The Green Door

I showed Bram the message before I showed anyone else.

He read it once, and the muscle in his jaw jumped.

"No," he said.

"She wants me alone. If I don't go, she'll hurt someone."

"Then she'll hurt me," said Bram. "Not you."

"Together, then."

He stared at me.

"She's expecting one of us," I said. "She isn't expecting two, and she isn't expecting the royal guard."

I crossed to the captain at the greenhouse door and told him everything in nine sentences.

He sent six of his men around the glass in a long loop.

"Give us two minutes at the rose door before you show yourselves," I said. "If she sees armor, she'll run."

"Two minutes," the captain agreed. "Not one more."

Bram took my hand.

We walked down the empty side aisle between the rose trellises, past the white chair that still held my sister's folded glasses.

The rose door stood open on the back garden.

The cold air smelled of cut grass and oil.

Beyond the hedge lay a service lane, narrow and unlit, where the caterers had parked their vans.

One van sat at the very end with its engine running.

It had a green door.

My wolf went still inside me.

"That's the one," Bram said under his breath.

"I know."

Dahlia stood in front of it.

She wore a dark traveling cloak with the hood pushed back, and her pale hair was pinned up neatly.

Her eyes were naked and bright, and they landed on mine at once.

She was smiling.

"There you are," she said, in the low voice. "I knew you'd bring him."

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