Chapter Fourteen
I was already standing when Casteel turned to me. “We must go,” he clipped out.
I went to move around the desk but stopped. “Wait.” Spinning around, I snatched the book and shoved it back where I’d found it, behind the other records.
Casteel noted my actions in silence, and when I came around the desk, he took my hand.
How could they have known that I was missing? It had to be too soon, especially given the storm. It had only clipped the western sides, but they would’ve expected it to slow us down.
“They’ve already entered the yard,” Naill advised as we left the library, sending my stomach plummeting.
“Be smart,” Casteel advised. And with one curt nod, Naill took off. “Come,” he said to me.
Casteel led me in silence through the dimly lit, winding halls that felt like a maze designed to trap us. We reached an old wooden door that he pushed open with an arm, and entered the kitchens. The faces of those we passed were a blur as they stepped to the side, bowing at Casteel on sight.
“The Ascended are here,” he said, and several gasps echoed. “Hide the youngest below and warn the others. Do not antagonize the Ascended.”
An older man stepped forward, thumping his fist off his chest. “From blood and ash.”
Casteel placed his fist over his heart. “We will rise.”
The people scattered before we reached the doors that led outside.
We were near the stables, the air cold but still as I glanced up at the sky that had given way to night.
We headed for the heavily wooded area, neither of us speaking until we were among the snow-heavy limbs.
Only then did it strike me how much my life had changed.
I was running away from the Ascended.
Not toward them.
Casteel kept hold of my hand as he navigated the darkened woods.
“Where are we going?” I asked, my breath forming misty clouds.
“Just outside until I know for sure what is happening.” He caught a bare, low-hanging branch, lifting it out of the way.
I kept close as we moved along the fringes of the forest. I realized we’d moved deeper into the woods as we circled the keep and then started to move closer. Perhaps a half-hour passed before the cold began to get to me. I shivered as I curled my free hand so that it was hidden under my sleeve.
“Sorry,” he said gruffly. “I wish there’d been time to grab a cloak or at least your gloves.”
“It’s okay.”
He glanced back at me, but I couldn’t make out his expression. We continued on, drawing even closer to the keep.
Casteel stopped me. “Wait.”
The tone of his voice sent a wave of warning through me. “What?”
He jerked his chin forward. “Something is happening.”
“What?” I repeated and followed his gaze, struggling to see through the trees. “I don’t have super-special Atlantian eyes.”
“And I’m sure that fills you with wrathful envy.”
It did.
“We need to be quiet.”
I listened, which I was sure came as a shock to Casteel. We crept toward the edge of the woods, and as the trees thinned out, I could see that the yard was brightly lit, far more than I’d ever seen it.
And it wasn’t empty. Not in the slightest.
Casteel stopped once more, this time tugging me to my knees beside him.
Cold snow seeped through the cloth of my breeches.
Unease blossomed as my gaze roamed over the men on horseback.
There were dozens, with at least half of them stationed around a windowless carriage that was nearly black in the glow of the lit torches.
But I didn’t need special Atlantian eyes to know that the carriage wasn’t black, nor did I need better lighting to recognize the symbol embossed on its side.
The mantles draped over the armored shoulders weren’t white, they were black.
And the carriage was crimson.
The emblem was a circle with an arrow piercing the center. The Royal Crest.
These men weren’t Royal Guards—they were the guard. Members of the Royal Knights.
“They brought knights,” I whispered the obvious, mainly because I needed to say it to believe what I was witnessing. I’d never seen a knight outside of the capital.
“Yes, they brought out the knights,” the Prince replied, his tone flat but carrying a razor-sharp edge as he let go of my hand. “So, what are you going to do, Princess?”
I could feel the intensity of his stare as I watched the keep’s doors swing open.
Two knights appeared, their hands at the ready on the hilts of their broadswords as they led the inhabitants of the keep out into the cold.
A mixture of disbelief and confusion thudded through me as the knights lined everyone up.
I recognized Elijah and Magda immediately, as they were near one of the torches.
For once, the man was quiet as he stood there, arms crossed over his broad chest. I didn’t see Kieran, nor did I see Naill and Delano, but there were at least two dozen outside the keep, and there were…
oh, gods, there were children among them, shivering without their cloaks as a fine flurry of snow continued to drift through the air.
What if Alastir and his men returned in the midst of this?
They would have to see them before they were seen.
“Will you go to them? Shout and alert your presence?” Casteel demanded quietly.
“Why would I do that?” My head jerked in his direction. “I agreed to your proposal. I turned down Alastir’s help.”
“But that was before the Ascended were here. Right in front of you.”
“Yes, that was before,” I told him, my frustration forcing the truth out of me. “But that doesn’t change what I’ve decided. I have more of a chance of reaching my brother through you than I do them.”
Some emotion flickered across his features.
“I still can’t believe you were going to try to do that by yourself.
You would’ve gotten nowhere near him alone, Poppy.
” His head tilted as his eyes narrowed. “Unless you weren’t planning to do it by yourself.
Good gods, were you going to allow the Ascended to find you?
Was that what you planned on telling the first person you came across when you tried to escape?
That you were the Maiden? Did you think they’d take you straight to the capital?
To him? If so, then you’re far more reckless than I ever gave you credit for. ”
Air left me in a ragged burst. “I figured it would be easier to escape them than you once I got where I needed to be.”
He stared at me like I’d sprouted another head. “Once you got where you wanted to be, Poppy, you would be where they wanted you to be, alone and unprotected.”
“As if that is any different with you.” My lips thinned as I turned to the keep. One of the knights dismounted.
“You are protected with me, and you’ll never be alone,” he shot back.
There was a tug in my chest that I desperately ignored.
“And by the way, in case you were wondering, your plan would’ve turned out just as poorly as your little traipse through the woods did,” he growled.
“Do you think this is the best time to rehash something that doesn’t even matter?” I demanded.
“I think it matters.”
“Well, then you’re wrong.”
“I am rarely ever wrong.”
“Oh, my gods, I think I’d rather risk it with them than stand here with you for another second.”
“Well, it’s your lucky day. They’re right there. Go to them. Tell them who you are.”
“As if you’d let me do that,” I spat, twisting toward him.
“As if you have any idea what I would or would not allow.” His eyes were nearly luminous with his fury. “But you’re right. I wouldn’t allow that , because I refuse to carve your name into the wall down below.”
I shuddered as my wide gaze connected with his. Casteel cursed, looking to the keep.
The knight who’d dismounted spoke, apparently not one of those who’d taken a vow of silence. “Is this everyone who resides in this keep?”
“Everyone and then some,” answered Elijah. “We just finished dinner and were spending a little bit of time catching up.”
“Interesting,” the knight replied, stopping in front of him. “And yet the Lord who oversees New Haven is nowhere to be found inside that keep?”
They…they weren’t here for me? But rather to check on Lord Halverston? My gaze darted to the carriage. But why would an Ascended come? With knights?
“As I already said, Lord Halverston is hunting with several of his men,” Elijah replied, and I knew that was a lie. Lord Halverston, an Ascended, was dead, as were all the Ascended who once lived here. “He left a few nights ago and will be returning shortly. He has a hunting cabin—”
“We’ve checked the hunting cabin up by the moors,” the knight cut him off. “He wasn’t there. Didn’t look like anyone had been there in quite some time.”
“If he isn’t there, then he must be on a hunt and decided to camp somewhere else.” Elijah didn’t miss a beat. “He was excited to get out there. It was all he could talk about for several nights. Said he missed the thrill of the hunt.”
Elijah was a very convincing liar.
But not persuasive enough.
“Is that so?” Doubt dripped from the knight’s tone.
“It is,” Elijah bit out. “And to be really honest with you, I don’t appreciate the insinuation that I’m not being truthful with you.”
Well, he wasn’t being even remotely truthful.
“And I also don’t appreciate you and your knights with your fancy black armor and fancier black mantles showing up at this time of night,” Elijah went on. “Dragging everyone out in the cold—including the children, as if they could somehow be of assistance to you.”
“Careful, Elijah,” Casteel murmured.
The carriage door opened without a sound, and a voice spilled out, one that was smooth and almost friendly. “Everyone inside New Haven can be of assistance if given the right motivation.”
Magda placed a hand on Elijah’s arm, most likely silencing whatever it was that was about to come out of the man’s mouth.