Benjy’s hand froze. “You kissed my girlfriend?”
I heard Knox clear his throat. “This isn’t the time to discuss it, Benjy—”
“Technically they’re engaged,” said Greyson timidly, and Benjy growled.
Satisfied they would all have something to focus on other than following me, I started the agonizing crawl through the vent, and this time I didn’t bother setting the grate back into place. Either I’d return or I wouldn’t, and the secret of how I traveled around Somerset unde-tected wouldn’t matter anymore.
Chapter 19
Lila sat alone in her suite, her arms crossed and expression sour, and she didn’t look the least bit surprised to see me as I dropped from the vent.
“It’s about time. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?” she said as she stood.
I blinked. “Uh, I’m sorry?”
“Whatever. What was that shot about?”
“You mean you don’t know?” I said. “It sounded like it was coming from your room.”
“Right outside,” she said, gesturing to the door. “It’s locked, so I can’t check and see.”
“We don’t need the door.” I pointed to the ceiling.
“We can get out that way.”
Lila looked up at the open grate and made a face.
“You’re joking, right? I’m not crawling through that. It’s tiny. I’ll get stuck.”
“Doesn’t me being Masked mean we have the same body now?” I said impatiently. “If I can do it, so can you.
Unless you’d rather go out through the locked door and face whoever’s out there.”
Lila sighed dramatically. “So I’m just as stuck as I was before you got here. Great.”
“You’re not stuck. I told you, we’re the same size—”
Without warning, the door opened, and I jumped.
Augusta.
She stared at the pair of us, standing side by side and as identical as ever. Shutting the door calmly, she said, “I see you survived. Pity. It does explain why I am hearing reports of Celia running through the manor, though.”
She glanced between us, and I saw the confusion in her eyes. She didn’t know which of us was which.
“If you’re going to kill me,” said Lila, “you’re going to have to do a better job of it.”
My brow furrowed a fraction of an inch before I could control myself, but it didn’t matter. Augusta wasn’t looking at me anymore. She focused on Lila, who glared back defiantly.
“Is that so?” said Augusta, stepping toward her. She reached out, but Lila slapped her hand away.
“Don’t touch me,” snapped Lila in the same accent I spoke with when I wasn’t imitating her. “You had your chance, and you failed.”
“Not yet I haven’t,” said Augusta, advancing on Lila, who shuffled back. “With one word, I will have a dozen guards in here to arrest you.”
“Then do it,” she said viciously. “Arrest me, send me Elsewhere, do whatever you want. But when you do, the whole world’s going to know that Augusta Hart destroyed her entire family. Your son’s dead, your daughter wants to kill you, and you had a stranger Masked as your granddaughter, who wasn’t nearly as dead as you thought.” This time Lila was the one to step forward.
“Tell me, Augusta, how does it feel to know you’ve let your family fall apart? How does it feel to know Greyson will never, ever love you because of the monster you really are? How does it feel to fail?”
My blood ran cold. For all her bravado, Lila was still a Hart, and she didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.
“I haven’t failed, not yet,” said Augusta. “Guards!”
Two guards burst into the room, and I shrank back against the wall. Lila stepped forward and held out her wrists, as if she expected them to be cuffed, but I knew better. When the guards looked to Augusta for direction, she gestured toward me.
“Arrest her.”
They advanced, and I glanced up at the ceiling. I could try to escape through the vent, but the guards stood between me and the end table I’d always used before. I was trapped.
“What?” said Lila, stunned. “But I’m Kitty. Why are you arresting her?”
“I’m not the idiot you seem to think I am,” said Augusta. “That’s why.”
Bang.
The shot echoed through the room, and I ducked and covered my head as a second one followed. Lila screamed, and I peeked between my arms.
The guards slumped to the floor, and I saw the telltale blue plumes sticking out of their necks. Tranquilizers.
Knox stood in the doorway, and this time the gun he pointed at Augusta was real. “Let her go.”
Augusta pulled Lila against her, using her as a shield, and she wielded a glowing poker from the fire. “I don’t think so,” she said, holding the poker an inch from Lila’s chin. “Put down the gun and kick it over, Lennox, or I’ll burn her pretty eyes right out of her head. Then we won’t have any trouble telling these two apart, will we?”
Lila shrieked and struggled against her, but Augusta held on tighter. My heart pounded. She had to be bluffing. She wouldn’t hurt her own granddaughter like that, would she?
Knox hesitated. At last he slowly set his gun down and stepped away, holding up his hands in surrender. “All right. You win. Now let her go.”
Augusta shoved Lila away and crossed to the center of the room. Picking up the gun between her finger and thumb, she wrinkled her nose as if it were some kind of dead animal. “So unpleasant, guns. Far too violent and bloody for my taste. Now, you’re going to leave, Lennox, and you’re not going to interfere again. If you do, I won’t bother sending you Elsewhere. I will have you and your entire family publicly executed for treason. Do you understand me?”
I touched the metal handle of my own gun underneath my sweater. Augusta didn’t know I had it, but Knox did.
I watched him for any signs of what I should do, but he stared straight ahead and nodded. “Of course, Augusta.
You win.”
Augusta smirked and started to turn. “Of course I win.
I always do. Are you listening, Lila, or do you need another lesson in how to respect—”
A second poker sliced through the air, heading straight for Augusta’s chest. Lila cried out, and for one terrible second, I thought she was going to run Augusta through.
At the last moment, Augusta pivoted, and Lila missed.