“Well, go on and check down the creek then, Knotty! We’ll find her.”

Bas’s companion grunted and hobbled away. Without a backward glance in our direction, Bas rejoined Bone White.

“What was that?” I whispered, confusion heightening to panic. None of this made sense. Even Bas wasn’t this good of an actor. He’d stared at me—through me—without giving a single indication he saw me. Not a wink or brush of his hand. Not even eye contact, for shit’s sake. And why hadn’t Madame Labelle yet trounced these idiots? “What just happened?”

The pressure at my back relented slightly, though Claud still didn’t release me. “Illusion.”

“What? They—they think we’re part of the tree?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

He fixed me with his gaze, uncharacteristically serious. “Shall I explain now, or shall we wait until the imminent danger has passed?”

I scowled at him, returning my attention to the others. Bas had started helping Baldy with the ropes. When Baldy moved to bind Reid, Bas stopped him with a nasty smile. “I’ll take that one.”

Reid returned the smile. In the next second, he thrust his head backward—breaking his first captor’s nose—and rolled to his back, kicking the second in the knees. I almost cheered. With uncanny speed, he snatched his Balisarda from the howling man and exploded to his feet. Bas reacted with equal swiftness—as if he’d expected the attack—and used Reid’s momentum against him.

Though I cried out a warning—though Reid tried to correct—it was too late.

Bas plunged his knife into Reid’s belly.

“No,” I breathed.

Stunned, Reid staggered sideways, his blood spattering the snow. Bas grinned triumphantly, twisting the knife deeper, slicing upward through skin and muscle and sinew until white glinted through crimson. Bone. Bas had gutted him to the bone.

I moved without thinking.

“Louise!” Claud hissed, but I ignored him, throwing off his arm and scrambling to my feet, racing to where Reid fell to his knees. “Louise, no!”

The thieves gawked as I sprinted toward them—probably stupefied at seeing a tree transform into a human—but I couldn’t think past the blood roaring in my ears.

If Reid didn’t—if Coco couldn’t heal—

I would kill Bas. I would kill him.

Throwing my dagger at Coco’s feet—praying she could reach it—I dropped to my knees in front of Reid. Mayhem erupted around us. Finally, finally, Madame Labelle burst free of her ropes. With each flick of her hand, bodies flew. A small part of my brain realized Toulouse and Thierry had joined her, but I couldn’t focus, couldn’t hear anything but the thieves’ panicked cries, couldn’t see anything but Reid. Reid.

Even injured, he still tried to push me behind him. The movement was weak, however. Too much of his blood had been lost. Decidedly too many of his innards were on display. “Don’t be stupid,” I said, trying to hold pieces of his flesh together. Bile rose in my throat as more blood spilled from his mouth. “Keep still. Just—just—”

But the words wouldn’t come. I glanced to Coco helplessly, trying to summon a pattern. Any pattern. But this wound was mortal. Only another’s death would heal it, and I couldn’t—I couldn’t trade Coco. It’d be like ripping out my own heart. And Ansel—

Ansel. Could I—?

Lou is different when she uses magic. Her emotions, her judgment—she’s been erratic.

No. I shook my head vehemently against the thought, but it lodged there like a growth, a tumor, poisoning my mind. Reid’s blood soaked my front, and he slumped forward in my arms, pressing his Balisarda into my hand. His eyes closed.

No no no—

“Well, looky ’ere.” Bone White’s snarl sounded behind me. Too close. His hand fisted in my hair, ripping my head back, and his other tugged aside the ribbon at my throat. He traced my scar. “My little witch has finally come out o’ hidin’. Yeh might’ve changed yer hair, but yeh can’ change yer scar. Yer comin’ wit’ me.”

“I don’t think so.” Coco descended on him like a bat out of Hell, my knife flashing, slashing his wrist.

“You stupid bitch.” With a howl, he released my hair and swiped furiously at her. His fingers caught her shirt, and he pulled her to him, forcing her back against his chest. “I’ll drain yeh like I drained yer kin, sell all this pretty blood to the highest bidder at the Skull Masquerade—”

Coco’s eyes widened, and her face contorted with rage. Bringing her own dagger up sharply, she plunged it deep into his eye. He crumpled instantly, screaming and clutching his face. Blood poured between his fingers. She kicked him once for good measure before dropping to her knees beside Reid. “Can you heal him?” I asked desperately.

“I can try.”

..................................................................

Blood and Honey

Reid

I slammed back into my body with excruciating pain. Gasping for breath, I clung to the first thing I touched—brown hands, scarred. Distantly, the sounds of men shouting and swords clashing met my ears.

“We have to move,” Coco said urgently. She pulled at my arms, trying to lift me. Blood trickled from the crook of her elbow, and charred, bitter magic burned my nose. I glanced down to my stomach, where the flesh had begun knitting itself back together. “Come on. My blood won’t hold it closed without honey. You have to help me. We have to get to the wagons before the Chasseurs show up.”

I looked up, disoriented, and took in the field for the first time. Chaos reigned. Someone had freed my throwing knives, and everywhere I turned, actors and thieves battled.

Deveraux chased one into the trees with a bejeweled rapier. Toulouse and Zenna fought back-to-back against three others. Toulouse’s hands blurred in the air, and the thieves fell to the ground instantly. Ansel tackled the knees of another—this one descending on Seraphine. When the man disarmed him, Thierry rushed in, but he needn’t have. Ansel nearly bit off the man’s ear, and Seraphine kicked in his teeth. Madame Labelle and Beau fought together against the others, the former incapacitating them and the latter slitting their throats.

I tried to sit up, stopping short when my elbow met something soft. Warm.

Beside me, their leader lay still with a bloody hole where his eye should’ve been.

I pushed him away, scoured the scene for Lou. Found her mere feet away.

She and Bas circled each other like wolves. Though blood oozed from Bas’s nose, it soon became clear Lou was on the defensive. “I don’t want to hurt you, Bas,” she hissed, deflecting yet another of his attacks with my Balisarda. “But you need to stop being an idiot. It’s me. It’s Lou—”

“I’ve never met you before in my life, madame.” He lunged once more, and his blade caught her shoulder.

Her mouth flew open in disbelief as she clutched the wound. “Are you kidding me? I saved your fucking skin in the Tower, and this is how you repay me?”

“I escaped the Tower on my own—”

With a shriek of rage, she launched herself at him, swinging up and around until she clung to his back. Her legs encircled his waist. Her arms encircled his throat. “This isn’t funny. We’re trouncing your motley crew. It’s over. It’s finished. There’s no reason to keep pretending—”