CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE ISI
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ISI
“Actually,” Kerralyn said with a rueful laugh, “I probably shouldn’t try to burn the castle down. But a fire in the servants’ quarters, smoky enough to cause alarm without being dangerous.”
I ran through scenarios. “That could work. The smoke will trigger panic and pull guards from regular patrol routes.”
“Including the dungeon entrance nearby,” Trew said, nodding slowly.
“I can handle the second diversion,” Lexie said. “A false emergency in the upper castle levels. I’ll say I saw a suspicious person lurking near Isi’s chambers.”
She was right. It seemed my father’s fear was making him see danger in every shadow.
Derren cleared his throat. “I’ll make sure I’m scheduled for dungeon rotation tonight.
No one wants to do it, so they won’t deny my request. I can position myself at the entrance and redirect any guards who don’t respond to the other diversions.
I’ve already mapped exit routes through the lesser-used passages.
If something goes wrong, I can get you out. ”
The pieces were falling into place, but the risks still made my belly clench.
“I’m going to bring healing supplies to Eva,” I said. “Herbs, bandages, pain remedies. Food and clean water. Blankets. Clothing, since what she’s wearing is little more than rags.”
I fingered the soft hem of a blanket lying on the arm of the sofa.
The prisoners slept under coarse scraps, if anything at all.
The woman and the others had been suffering in that dungeon while I’d slept on soft sheets and ate elaborate meals.
I remembered the cold bars and the despair in the air when I’d escaped the last time, and guilt hit me hard.
While I couldn’t help them all tonight, I’d find a way to get supplies to everyone soon.
“Gather it together, and we’ll put it in a pack I can carry,” Trew said.
“We need to put a lot of things in place for a narrow window of time,” Derren said in a soft voice. “But we’ll hold them off for as long as we can.”
I thought about what I needed to ask this woman, assuming she’d talk to us at all. The questions tumbled through my mind, each one more crucial than the last.
“I’ll keep it quick,” I said, ticking items off with my fingers.
“I need to know who pushed my mother. Why Eva was meeting with my mother in secret all those years. What she knows about Velacross, about veil-travel, and about the place south of Syllavar that might’ve belonged to my mother. Why my father imprisoned her.”
“And who the red-haired woman was,” Trew said, his voice tight.
“What my mother was planning before she died,” I said. “Why this woman helped me escape when I searched the cells.”
Derren spoke up. “Find out what she knows about Addie, about why your father imprisoned her in the dungeon, and your sister’s physical state when she was taken to the west tower.”
Trew’s hand tightened on mine. “Ask if she knows how to close the veil.”
Would this woman be able to help us with any of this?
“While there are many things we could ask her,” Kerralyn said. “Time will be the issue. So keep it brief and prioritize what you ask.”
I nodded.
“What about the route?” I asked Trew. “You’ve been studying the castle layout.”
Trew released my hand and rose from the sofa, collecting parchment and a pencil from my desk.
He returned to sit beside me and with quick strokes, began sketching.
“Servants’ stairs from this level, through an old storage corridor that’s rarely used anymore.
Down to the first floor, bypassing the kitchen. ”
“Wait,” I said. “We can go through the wine cellar. There’s an old door in the back. Addie and I discovered it when we were children. Unless it’s been sealed, there’s a tunnel inside that brings you out near the dungeon entrance and the kitchen staff quarters.”
Derren stood. “I have to go, but I’ll verify that it still exits near the dungeon. If so, that’s where I’ll be positioned.”
Trew adjusted his drawing. “There are two unavoidable guard stations, here and here. Derren can handle one, and I’ll use minimal magic to create a distraction for the other. I’m sure I can draw them away long enough for us to slip past.”
“When should we do this?” Derren asked, glancing toward the door.
“A few hours after dinner,” I said. “The guards will be relaxed, settled into their routines. But before the midnight shift change. Darkness to work with.”
“How will we communicate if something changes?” Kerralyn asked, hesitating as she rubbed her hands together. “We can’t use magic. Our king has been fully trained; we just started. We need to stick to non-magical ways.”
Pherin launched from the sofa back and landed on my shoulder.
Carry messages, she said.
I rushed to my bedroom and returned with my sewing box, opening the lid and pulling out ribbons I handed to my friends. “We’ll use a color code. Different ribbons for different signals and in specific locations on Pherin’s body.”
“Red for abort,” Lexie said. “Blue for proceed. Green for hold off. Yellow for complications but continuing?”
We agreed, and I committed the code to memory.
Smart bird, Pherin said.
Very.
She preened.
“If the guards can’t be diverted,” Derren said, “we’ll stop what we’re doing and come up with a different plan. This only works if we can do it cleanly.”
“Agreed,” Trew said.
Derren eased Lexie off his lap. “Once we’re in the dungeon, we’ll go directly to her cell. Question her, give her the supplies, and reverse the route to escape.”
“What about after?” Kerralyn asked. “Once you have the information, assuming she provides it. Will you leave her there?”
This was the question I’d been avoiding. Leaving her in that cell felt unconscionable.
“We’ll move her if we can.” I met Trew’s gaze. “My nanny’s old room on this level is rarely used. Lexie and I can take care of her and keep her hidden.”
“That’s additional risk,” Derren said from the door, Lexie standing beside him. “She’ll be weak, possibly unable to walk on her own.”
“I’ll carry her if necessary,” Trew said. “But Isi’s right. We can’t leave her there.”
Lexie and Derren kissed, her hand gripping his tighter for a moment.
“Be careful,” she said.
He cupped her face and kissed her quickly again. “Always.” With that, he left, slipping out into the hallway.
Lexie turned back to face us. “I’ll prepare the suite this afternoon, make sure it’s stocked with everything she might need.”
Trew tossed his drawing into the fireplace and the flames consumed it. “We should gather supplies now.”
Over the next hour, we compiled what the woman might need. Mae brought herbs and bandages under the guise of restocking my personal supplies. Kerralyn brought food from the kitchen. Lexie provided clean clothing.
Trew packed everything into a leather satchel and shouldered it.
He slipped out into the hall to return to guard duty, and I went to my bedroom to prepare for dinner.
The meal that evening was a complete waste of time when people were in danger.
I sat with Lords Alfred and Finley on either side of me, stabbing the food on my plate while Alfred leaned close and whispered veiled comments about hidden doors, his gaze probing as if testing me.
Then he’d lean back and blandly discuss his horses.
A total facade.
My father drank heavily, his eyes distant and brooding. He kept peering out the windows and twisting his head to study the door as if he expected a sudden attack.
I counted the minutes until I could excuse myself, my nerves tightening with each forced smile and careful well-thought-out response.
Finally, my father dismissed us with a distracted flick of his hand.
Back in my chambers, my ladies helped me prepare for bed, their familiar attention soothing despite my racing thoughts. After they’d left, I paced the room alone for at least an hour, going through our plan again and again, until Trew slipped inside my suite.
“Almost time,” he said quietly, waving toward the darkness outside.
I nodded and moved to my wardrobe, pulling out the leathers I’d worn for training sessions with Commander Thorne. Black pants, a fitted tunic, and soft boots that would make almost no sound on stone floors.
Trew checked our weapons while I changed. Sword, daggers, and throwing knives. We’d turn ourselves into walking arsenals.
Getting ready for potential violence made the danger of what we were attempting feel even more real.
When I emerged from behind the dressing screen, heat flared in his golden eyes.
“You look like the woman who tripped and stabbed me,” he said. “Dangerous and beautiful and utterly unafraid.”
“Actually, I was terrified back then and I am now. Not for myself, but for you and our friends. If we lose anyone to this, I…”
He crossed to me and braced my shoulders before adjusting a dagger strap at my waist. “You may be afraid, but you’re doing it anyway. That’s what courage is, Minx. Not the absence of fear, but the refusal to let it stop you.”
“We need information. We can’t let this chance slip by.” I buried my face in his chest, breathing in his scent, letting his strength flow into me, but stepped away quickly, this time me adjusting a weapon strapped to my thigh.
While time ticked down and my anxiety heightened, we perched on the edge of the bed, holding hands.
“This will end, and when it’s over, I’m going to show you Syllavar in the spring,” Trew said, his voice low. “When the valley flowers bloom and the air smells like honey and new grass.”
“I want to meet your people properly,” I said.
“They’ll love you.” He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles. “How could they not?”
He leaned in, his lips brushing mine in a kiss that deepened. But a flutter of wings at the window announced Pherin’s return, cutting it short. She swooped through carrying three ribbons.
Blue from Lexie on Pherin’s left leg. All teams were ready.
Right leg: Blue from Kerralyn. The fire was ready to be lit.
And tucked close to her right wing, another blue ribbon from Derren, telling us the hidden passage from the wine cellar would work for our plan.
I slid off the bed. “It’s time.”
There was no turning back now.
We arranged my bed to make it look like I was sleeping underneath the blankets. Trew added a touch of magic that would mimic my soft breathing.
“Even a snore,” Trew said with a sly smile. Another sweep of his hand, and my hair splayed across the pillow.
“That’s unsettling,” I said.
“Effective though.” He offered his hand.
I took it, and we strode to the window.
We climbed out onto the narrow ledge, the night air cool against the exposed skin at my neck. Below us, the courtyard lay empty and dark. Above, stars scattered across the sky, white specks on midnight cloth.
Trew went first, scaling down the stone wall. I followed, my fingers finding holds in the familiar stonework. I couldn’t count the times Addie and I had snuck out like this to run through the gardens or to go into town and stroll through the market.
We reached the window of the empty suite below mine, and Trew pried it open. We slipped inside, moving silently across the floor.
The rooms smelled like dust and stale fabric. Furniture had been draped in cloth, portraits were covered, and everything looked abandoned and forgotten.
Trew pressed his ear against the door to the hallway, listening. After a moment, he cracked it open, checking the corridor beyond.
“Clear,” he whispered.
We stepped out into the hallway and hurried down the hall, ghosts in my own home moving through shadows while the castle settled into its evening routines around us.
Pherin landed on my shoulder as we reached the servants’ stairs, her tiny body tense.
Trew’s hand found mine in the darkness, and he gave me a quick squeeze before releasing it to grip the hilt of a blade.
We opened the door and descended into the depths of the castle.