Accomplice to the Villain (Assistant and the Villain, #3)(3)

To make lecturing him more efficient. No other reason.

Gooseflesh rose on his exposed forearm, the chill from the room obviously setting in after the adrenaline fled his system. “Th-Thank you, Sage.” He pressed the bright cloth to his knuckles, the color contrasting harshly with his all-black attire. “I’ll return it promptly. Clean, of course.”

She shook her head, smiling gently. “Keep it. You need more color in your wardrobe anyway.”

He nodded, processing the words as if scribing updates to their inventory logs. “Very well.”

A small ribbit sounded from the other side of the room, and Evie’s eyes followed it until she caught the gleam of Kingsley’s shining crown and the glow of his golden eyes. The frog’s oddities had grown on her in her short time in the office, his charming little signs a darling addition to what was turning out to be rather bloody work.

Literally.

“Good morning, Kingsley. Aren’t you looking handsome today.”

Another ribbit followed her pronouncement, and her boss rolled his eyes in annoyance. Too many pleasantries, clearly. “He looks like he’s up to no good. What are you doing down here, Kingsley? Trying to make another escape attempt?”

“Maybe he was checking on you,” Evie suggested, the last word fading away slowly when the boss shot her a glare. She took a few careful steps back, veering closer to the stairs, closer to Kingsley, who was scribbling on his small board with a vengeance.

“Not likely,” the boss said flatly, moving around her and taking two large strides up the stairs, a creak following in his wake. Which, she mused, didn’t make much sense—there should be no creaking. The stairs were stone.

“What is that?” she asked, looking from side to side for the source. Foolish. She should’ve looked up.

“Sage!”

Before she could take another breath, she was being tugged forward like a rag doll, a startled scream leaving her lips when a large crash sounded behind her. She coughed at the dust that was kicked up and the sudden stream of light coming in through the roof.

“Are you injured?” the boss asked, the low timbre of his voice pulling her from the adrenaline making her mind race. His dark eyes were scanning her, his large hands on each of her shoulders. It brought her back to their first meeting in the forest. She’d thought the shock of his touch would fade as time trickled by… No such luck.

She only managed to nod before he pulled his hands away, stalking toward the ruined slab of roof that had nearly clobbered her. “Shall I send for someone to repair the roof, sir?” she asked carefully, amazed at how steady her voice sounded when her heart was beating out of her chest.

“You were nearly crushed, and you’re asking about the roof?” He stared at her, mildly outraged.

She shrugged. “Still not my most life-threatening day on the job, believe it or not.”

Something went dark in his face, darker than normal. He stared at the hole in the roof for a few seconds, taking deep, steadying breaths. “You’re still new, Sage. Worry not. There’s time.”

She laughed, and his face pinched the way one would respond to eating a sour grape. “So, uh. What happened to the roof?”

“The manor is old. It was likely natural wear. Some rusty screws probably giving. I’ll have it looked over by someone in the office and get the hole repaired. This won’t happen again.”

She hmmed. “Too bad. Near-death experiences are a very efficient morning jolt.”

“Stick to the cauldron brew, Sage. Specifically, for me. Even more specifically, on my desk, in twenty minutes. But be careful getting around this mess.”

He kicked at the broken piece of roof like it had deeply offended him, and Evie took it as her cue that she was dismissed. She lightly skipped around the debris, coughing a bit when her feet kicked up extra dust. Something slid under her shoe, a tiny ringing from it as it slid across the floor. She nearly stumbled over another as she leaned down to pick them up. The metal glinted in her hand. Screws. Not at all rusty. In fact, they looked perfectly intact.

“I told you to be careful.” The words stopped her, and when she turned to look at him, he appeared older than she knew he was. Weighed down by some burden he’d never share with anyone but himself.

She smiled brightly, trying not to take offense when he winced. “I’m a terrible listener.”

“That’ll get you into trouble someday, I think.”

She scrunched her nose before spinning around, her dress swishing about her legs as she made for the stairs to get them both a cup of cauldron brew. Kingsley hopped beside her, expertly balancing a sign in one webbed toe, whatever word he’d been trying to convey earlier written plainly.

Danger.

She smiled small. “Little late for that warning, Kingsley.”

Gently straightening his crown, she continued up the stairs. She called back cheekily, tossing the screws through the air, and the boss caught them with ease and frowned down at them. “I think my terrible listening will actually get you into trouble someday.”

She almost stopped again at a sound. It was as if The Villain was whispering something behind her.

Something that sounded an awful lot like…

“It already has.”





Chapter 1


Kingsley