The icy air seared my lungs with the force of a thousand needles. Every breath felt like swallowing broken glass. The snow, which just minutes before had been a thin layer on the cobblestones, now fell with a blinding fury, blurring my vision and making the ground dangerously slippery.
One hand gripped the strap of my backpack tightly, the other pressed firmly against my stomach. "Just a little longer, just a little longer," I pleaded mentally, feeling my legs, numb from the cold and the exertion, threatening to give way at any moment.
I didn't know how, but Sebastian had discovered my hiding place. Those words that had echoed through the wood of my door just before I jumped down the service stairs haunted me like a cursed echo in the middle of the storm. I had heard his voice, a voice I
