Despite her agreement to complete the Masque, Rena had been distant, her focus appeared to be taken by the Abbey renovations. In his gut, he wondered if she was planning to leave when they were done. There was no reason she couldn’t hire someone to oversee the boarding house business and move back to Maryland. His chest tightened. Would she? Two days had passed and still Rena was hesitant to enter the Black Room. They hadn’t found Eric, so he couldn’t promise her the lickfinger wouldn’t watch, but his friends were running out of time. In another couple days, they would begin to disappear. He had no idea if that would matter, but they didn’t want to leave half-formed. Synn rubbed the back of his neck. First, he had to be sure Rena enjoyed the Bondage Room. When he thought about having her tied and blindfolded and— “Blast!” A loose stone almost sent him over the edge and he caught himself against the battlement. After taking a deep breath at the near miss, he squatted to examine the area.
