Chapter Twenty-Five
Analleia
Ezrielle is keeping secrets. Find out what they are. The gossip states she is having secret meetings with a nobleman. Figure out who it is. I need an answer by tomorrow.
I wanted to crumple the note and throw it in the wastebasket. I didn’t have time to do the prince’s bidding, but agreeing to the ridiculous alliance was the only way to keep the assassination of King Zaricor on track, and I wouldn’t sacrifice everything we had worked for.
Desmond and Nadiyah all but exploded when I revealed the deal I had made, but they hadn’t put up too much of an argument after I explained.
We’d all been too relieved to have Nadiyah back.
She’d plastered an indifferent smile to her face, but I sensed the buried tension and saw the slight trembling in her fingers from being cramped in a small cell for an extended period of time.
She had infrequently had nightmares in the tower, but the more I had gotten to know her, the easier it was to see the signs in her day-to-day life.
Her avoidance of dark corners. The hesitation whenever we entered a tunnel.
Her always choosing to ride a horse whenever a carriage was involved.
She didn’t talk about her childhood often, but she had once whispered in my ear in the darkness of why she had come to the assassin’s tower.
Of why her fear haunted her. Why she had joined us to take her own vengeance during the Paravellian Balls.
Three days. Three days locked in a wooden box beneath a cabinet after her family had been murdered.
She said she still heard their screams in her dreams. At least I had my brother. She had no one.
Trauma attached itself to its victim like a shadow.
Nadiyah had learned how to handle hers. Even after being trapped in the dungeon she masked her fears well.
A brief jolt of jealously ran through me at her apparent nonchalance.
I, on the other hand, was rendered completely useless if someone grabbed my arm wrong or pounded roughly on the door.
I pushed the thoughts away, irritated with myself, and clutched the letter in my hand, reading over its contents one more time before clambering out the window.
Ezrielle is keeping secrets. Find out what they are. The gossip states she is having secret meetings with a nobleman. Figure out who it is. I need an answer by tomorrow.
I rolled my eyes. Such demands for a short time period. I worked my way down the wall of the Ferris Way Inn, clinging to the shadows enveloping the back side of the building. Two soldiers guarding the front entrance of the inn at night was the only security provided.
I sought out the nooks and crannies from when Desmond and I had scaled down the wall the night before, my movements easier this time. My feet sank into the soft grass as I reached the ground, and I followed a little ravine to a section of the palace wall overgrown with ivy.
A guard’s armor clinked as he patrolled the inside of the wall, and I pressed against the ivy, waiting for him to pass.
Once his footsteps faded, I climbed up the outer wall, slipping my hands through the ivy to grasp stone.
Fewer indentions between the stones made the task more difficult but attainable.
When I reached the top, I had to squat and balance on my toes, my feet shoved between the gaps of the spiked iron on top.
I untied a rope from my belt, lowering it behind the ivy where it couldn’t be seen and securing it to the base of one of the metal spikes.
The other end of the rope I dropped down the opposite side so I could quickly scale the wall from either side.
I maneuvered myself over the spikes, careful to not impale myself, then swiftly dropped to the ground with the ease of the rope.
Silence shadowed the palace courtyard, or perhaps the absence of a ball made it appear lifeless. A gentle breeze tickled my cheek, brushing the loose wisps of hair around my face, and I closed my eyes. I had craved this. The soothing calm of night. The feeling of being alone in the darkness.
One was hardly ever alone in the tower.
I crept across the grass like a cat on the prowl, stalking its prey and waiting patiently for the meal it would corner.
I knew exactly where Ezrielle’s rooms were in the royal apartments—the problem was getting into them without being seen.
They weren’t on one of the four outer walls of the palace but an inner courtyard.
I would have to sneak into one of the inner corridors and climb out a window, scaling the wall to the balcony outside her rooms.
If they were still her rooms.
The blueprints I had memorized were several years old. More than enough time for a princess to change her quarters.
I blurred through the shadows as if I was one, hiding from the palace guards, timing their patrols in the courtyard and outer lawns. Torches blazed every few feet, but I had to be hyperaware of my surroundings to not be spotted.
I shimmied up the side of a wall and hauled myself over the ledge into an open corridor.
A pair of voices threatened to turn around the next corner. I searched for a place to hide, panic rising within me. The decorative edges of the alcove created enough texture to climb on, and I worked my way up the side of it, my feet bracing on the ledge as two men rounded the corner.
I kept my gaze trained on the stones, afraid to breathe.
I was a good six feet above their heads, but they would see me if they looked up.
A dosage of Hrakka powder was tucked into a pocket, but the forgetfulness it caused only removed the six seconds of memory prior to hitting their skin.
If it took me ten seconds to get a decent shot, they would remember seeing my face.
“The steelmaster informed me there is a disturbance among the commoners, talk of an uprising. Have your people uncovered anything else?”
Prince Zandyr’s voice surprised me.
The man he was speaking with sounded like an official, a representative maybe?
“There are rumors, Your Highness, but I haven’t been able to gain any reputable information beyond them. Whoever the people causing the disturbances are, they are difficult to contact. Overly suspicious. I have a spy on the inside trying, but they have not been successful yet.”
I peeked underneath my arm, wanting to look but not daring meet them with direct eye contact lest they feel like they were being watched. Zandyr frowned as he glanced out the window.
“That will do for now, but let me know the second you learn anything. This could be the tipping point in putting me ahead of Ezrielle and Valeris. I can’t allow them to win. I am nothing if I don’t win this. My hope can’t rest in marrying the crown princess of another kingdom. I want Paravellia.”
A mutual understanding passed between them and they parted ways, disappearing down separate corridors. Just what game were the three siblings playing at? And why would one of his other siblings winning make him nothing?
I worked my way down the stone, creeping farther into the palace before slipping back out into the night where I could see the windows of the royal apartments.
One guard patrolled the queen’s garden, and I frowned.
I would have to cross a large stretch of wall to avoid him.
I watched his patrol twice, calculating how long it would take me to reach the princess’s balcony before he turned toward her wall again.
I scaled up the stone, counting the seconds in my head as I moved.
Sweat broke out across my brow, my limbs growing stiff as I worked my way across.
I gritted my teeth as weariness threatened to overcome me.
My foot slipped out of its perch, and I muffled a cry as the left side of my body pitched downward.
My foot dangled midair, my fingers grappling to hold my weight as I sought another foothold.
I found a tiny ledge, and I regained my position, continuing to make my way across to the princess’s balcony.
I pulled myself onto the railing around it, grateful to have something substantial to grip.
The night breeze coaxed the curtains away from her open doors, and light poured out from the room within.
I straddled the railing, hovering in place and listening for any sounds.
If she was having a meeting like Valeris said, it should be happening either now or soon.
Two plants growing out of large clay pots bordered each side of the door.
I maneuvered my way behind the right one to shield myself from anyone who might care to glance up at the balcony.
Muffled voices drifted from inside. I lowered to the ground, concealing myself beneath the billowing curtains, close enough to the hinge of the doors where I could peak inside through the glass.
“Have you completed your tasks yet?”
“No, milady, we are trying to gather more support.”
“Hmm.” Ezrielle’s shadow drifted across the floor, followed by the gentle whoosh of a body sinking into a cushioned seat.
“You have expressed I’ve obliged them of my support?
Of my hope for change? They will need a leader to look to once this is done, after all.
And we need to ensure I am the leader they trust.”
The other voice in the room cleared, but I couldn’t identify it. “All of the above, Your Highness. My people are working to ensure it is accomplished.”
Ezrielle sighed. “That is all. You may be on your way. I have other guests to entertain tonight.”
Footsteps traveled across the floor.
“One more thing, Chancellor.”
I screwed my face down in confusion. The chancellor?
“I don’t want my brothers to have any part in this. In the end.”
Silence stretched between them for a few moments. What was going on?
“As you wish, Your Highness.”
A door opened and closed.