✦Dolly✦
The room went terrifyingly quiet after I said it.
Seven.
One word, and suddenly every eye in Grayson’s office landed on me like I had dropped a blade onto the floor. My hands were still raised slightly, black marks curling over my fingers. They pulsed with every cold point pressing against Skaydal’s wards. I could feel them out there. Not clearly. Not like faces or voices. More like pressure. Like sharp teeth scraping against invisible skin. The hunters had brought blades for me.
Special blades.
Malachar’s words still crawled under my skin. My father moved first.
“Sit down,”
“No,” I said, and his eyes flashed.
“Dolly,”
“No,” I repeated, sharper this time. “I’m not sitting down while they are out there hurting the wards and looking for me,”
“You almost collapsed,” my mot
