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I drew back so he was forced to look up. “Without getting shot, please.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“That’s so comforting.” I sighed, looking around us. “And which way is your room again? I’m going to need a map for this place.”
He chuckled. “The wraiths will show you. Just ask them.”
I thought of those disembodied howls following me through the halls and cringed. “Do I have to?”
“They answer to you, princess.” His arm tightened around my waist. “There’s no need to fear them.”
“Debatable,” I muttered. I wasn’t sure that being Lach’s girlfriend earned me royalty status, especially where the wraiths were concerned.
His raspy laugh was cut short, fading as his eyes grew distant. A second later, he frowned. “Roark says the fighting has begun.” He gave me a swift kiss. “I’ll be back when I’m done kicking their asses out of New Orleans.”
He released me, and I fought the urge to grab hold of him. “Seriously, don’t get shot.”
His smirk did nothing to reassure me as he nipped to the Avalon to end this once and for all.
After he was gone, I wasted five minutes trying to remember my way around the Nether Court before I gave up. “Can you show me to Lach’s room?”
I felt even sillier than I’d expected, talking to an empty hallway—until a hollow moan answered. Icy dread dashed that feeling, but I paused and waited. Another moan sounded a few steps away as if the wraith was traveling. I turned toward the sound and froze as a shadow moved. The moans shifted and changed as it continued down the corridor.
It was guiding me.
I took a deep breath and followed, trying to ignore the way my hair stood on end at the keening sound. “Thank you,” I said when the shadow finally paused in front of a familiar door.
There was a soft moan, and the wraith splintered, dispersing into curling shadows that melted into the hallway’s black walls.
Lach’s room was more cluttered than I remembered, his crammed bookshelves in utter disarray. If he didn’t hurry, he was going to return to find them alphabetized. I scanned the room, picking up a few abandoned shirts and jackets as I tried to ignore the siren call of his bed. It was unmade like the last time I was in here, even though as far as I knew, he always slept in his quarters at the Avalon. But I suspected the black silk sheets smelled like him. I forced myself to turn away before I peeled my clothes off and dove in to find out. If the bed was giving me dangerous thoughts, I wasn’t certain I should risk looking at the bathtub. Not until he was here to join me. The thought stoked the fire already burning low and deep inside of me.
A bath might not be the answer, but a book might do the trick. I continued to the nearest shelf, bypassing books written in what I now knew was Theban. The door creaked open, and I fought a smile. Wouldn’t have to summon him indeed. I’d just thought about getting naked, and he had shown up. “That was fast.”
I pushed the book I was holding back into place and turned, but it wasn’t Lach.
“Making yourself at home, princess?”
Chapter Thirty-Six
I stared at MacAlister’s oily smile as he slithered into the room, my brain trying to process what my racing pulse already had. He paused in front of the door to block the only exit. I reached for my pendant, muttering a curse when my fingers found bare skin. I had no way to call Lach.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, my voice catching slightly.
He let out a low whistle as he peered around the room. “These are his private quarters, aren’t they? You have dug your claws into him.” MacAlister flicked his nails. “I’m impressed. I never thought I’d live to see Lachlan be fool enough to let a woman distract him. I thought he was heartless, and then he showed up reeking of you. He overplayed his hand. He exposed his heart.”
My own heart hammered in response, my chest constricting around it like a vice, but I planted my feet.
“Leave,” I commanded.
“Perhaps his little show earlier gave you the wrong impression.” Disgust curled his lip, and he bared his teeth with a rabid snap. “You are not in control. You have no power here. But you do have one use.”
A thin sheen of sweat broke over my forehead as my mind began to race. But I did have power. I had control. And I wasn’t going to let an asshole like MacAlister take it from me. “What do you want? Let’s make a bargain.”
I would find a way out of it. The Infernal Court penumbra wasn’t nearly as clever as he pretended to be. No, he was cruel, and cruelty was a fragile thing. I could break him.
But he shook his head. “I already have a bargain of my own to fulfill,” he explained. “I made a promise to bring Lach to his knees, to prove I could be his penumbra.”
My locked legs rooted to the spot, my stomach seizing as he stalked a couple of steps closer. I shook my head slightly to clear it. I fumbled for something to say to keep him talking. “You want to be Lach’s penumbra?”