Chapter 30
Thirty
Nobody says a word when I pass them in the halls. I keep my chin up and walk with purpose. Like I belong.
Legionnaires straighten their posture as I pass, but not a single one stops me.
My heart hammers and my palms are sweaty, but I have to take this chance. I might not get another one.
My old room isn’t guarded. The door isn’t even locked. I know it’s a risk to use the tunnel, but I can’t exactly walk out the front door. It’s too well guarded and too many people would see me. This is my only chance.
That is, if the tunnel is even open anymore. I know there’s a good possibility that it was walled off or the door was sealed. I’m hoping that since they moved me to my new room, they haven’t had a chance to do anything with it yet.
I slip through the door and close it behind me. After a quick check to make sure I’m alone, I drag the chair from the desk to the bathing chamber. After I close the door, I wedge the chair under the doorknob, taking a chance that it holds.
“This is so stupid. You’re going to get caught,” I whisper to myself. My self-scolding doesn’t stop me, though. I slide the panel, and like I hoped, it opens just fine.
Whatever dragged Brevan away needs to be something huge and distracting. Something that keeps him, and everyone else, occupied for hours. I need good fortune right now.
Thankfully, the lamps still burn. Whatever magic they used is strong. I grab one and carry it with me into the tunnel. I’m practically running, turning at all my markings and then following the rebel stars.
Finally, I find the ladder that leads to Silk Row. I stop at the base of the ladder and realize that I can’t go out there. It’s daylight, and my hair is going to give me away.
The dress I’m wearing has several layers, and it isn’t easy, but I manage to tear out one of the underlayers so I can wrap it around my head to cover my hair. It’s a poor substitute for a scarf, but it’ll have to do.
The rungs are cold in my grip, and when I finally emerge into the city, I’m instantly drenched by a deluge of rain. It pelts me like little shards of ice. My dress clings to my skin and my teeth chatter before I’ve even made it three blocks.
I can’t stop, though. I forge on. Thanks to the weather, I’m often alone on the street. A few people pass, their umbrellas shielding them from the storm. They give me looks of disdain, making assumptions about why I’m out here.
I don’t care. The more they dismiss me, the less likely they’ll be able to figure out who I really am.
The thought makes me slow my steps for a moment.
Who I really am. Who is that anymore? I’m hiding so they don’t see Sabina, the Princess of Iskvaland.
But I’m not her. I’m a refugee from Vailstad turned rebel, who lived in the Point, the poorest slum in Aurorium.
I’m nobody. But I’m pretending to be somebody.
And I can’t be seen as either right now.
A few carriages pass by, sending sprays of water up onto the sidewalk. I avoid most of them, but one hits a huge puddle, and I’m splashed with mud and water. It’s not like I can get any wetter.
I recognize the leaning structures and charred remains of the Point. Half the street burned down the night my brothers died.
I swallow hard. It’s the first time I’ve been back since that night. I don’t even know if anyone still meets in the usual places.
I avoid looking at the blackened, crumbling remains of the apartments and shops. Thankfully, Red’s Tavern is still standing.
I duck inside the dark and dingy building. Patrons look over to see who walked in, but they dismiss me instantly. I’m dripping on the floor, and my once-expensive dress now looks like something a peasant would wear. Maybe the rain isn’t such a bad thing.
I’m shivering as I approach the bar, but I stop before I reach a stool because the woman who just came out of the kitchen, two plates of food in her hands, is Anya. My best friend. The one I left behind to go on this insane mission.
She freezes, her expression pure shock, when she recognizes me.
It only takes her a moment to reset her face and continue toward the table where she drops off the food.
She smiles and jokes with the customers, then turns toward the bartender.
“Can you grab two more ales for these gentlemen? I’m going to take a quick break. ”
The bartender goes to work filling the mugs without question.
Anya walks over to me. “Taylan?”
I nod.
“Oh gods, what happened?” she asks.
Several people can see our interaction. “Is there somewhere we can go?”
She takes my hand and leads me to the kitchen. We pass by the warm fires and continue into a large storage room. She closes the door behind us.
“What is this, Taylan? You leave me a note saying you have to do something and that you may never see me again, then you show up like this?”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“No.” She holds her hand up in front of me. “Do not lie to me. Do not give me any excuses. You tell me the truth. Exactly what is going on. And then I will help you. Because I’m your best friend. Even if you shouldn’t have left without explanation. Without a goodbye.” Tears glisten in her eyes.
My vision gets blurry from my own tears because she’s not throwing me out. She’s not walking away from me. She’s mad, but I earned that. I don’t deserve the kindness she’s promised without even knowing the trouble I’m in.
“Knowing could get you killed,” I tell her.
“We both know it’s a miracle I’m even alive,” she says. “Tell me. Everything. Do not spare me. You owe me that much.”
I open the door a crack and peer out to make sure nobody’s listening. An older woman stands in the kitchen, stirring a pot over the fire. When she’s done, she sits in a chair near the fire and picks up her knitting.
I close the door. “Alright.”
Anya takes my hands in hers, then nods encouragingly. “Start at the beginning.”
So I do. I tell her about Lee coming to me, about seeing the dead princess.
About agreeing to take her place. Then I tell her everything that happened in the castle and how I still can’t find a way to kill the emperor.
I tell her about the relics, and the gifting ceremony, and Katherine.
Everything spills out until I have nothing left.
She’s quiet a long while, then she looks at me. “I know how to kill the emperor.”
“What?” How could she know that?
“You sure you want to go through with it? I could get you out of here. Get you on a ship. You could just disappear,” she offers.
“But Lee’s right. As much as I hate to admit it.
This is probably our best chance to end their rule.
It might be another five hundred years before someone gets this close again.
They already dismissed the possibility that you are a spy.
If they didn’t connect you to Katherine, they don’t want to see it. They want to see a docile princess.”
She’s right. And I came here to end them. “I want them gone. I want them dead.”
“Alright.” She smiles. “I love you, you know that, right? You’re the best friend anyone could hope for. Even if you did leave me with nothing but a note and the entire rent to pay on my own.”
“I’m sorry. But please, don’t say goodbye yet,” I say.
“I have to. We both know how dangerous this is going to be. But you’ll need to get back into the castle without them knowing to even have a chance at pulling it off.”
“I know. But I can’t do it if you say goodbye now,” I tell her. “I need some hope that I’ll see you again.”
She pulls me in for a hug. “Good luck, then. And I’ll see you again soon.”
When she releases me, she says, “You’re certain about the relics?”
I nod.
She grins, then she tells me exactly how to kill the emperor.
When I rush out of the tavern, back into the rain, I feel hope. Actual, real, true hope.
I just need to get close enough. I need to bide my time. And when Darkfall comes, I will kill the emperor.
The chair is still shoved under the bathing chamber door. I take a robe off a hook, hang my wet dress in its place, then pull the robe around me. With any luck, the dress will be dry by the time they find it, and they’ll think I left it before they made me change rooms.
The room is empty. Quiet. And two day dresses are hanging in the wardrobe. Nobody is going to notice I changed. Not when all my clothes are variations of the same colors.
I use the towel to dry my hair and hope that there won’t be anyone in the hall. Just as I’m about to reach the door, the handle turns.
I move fast, so I’m behind the door as it opens, praying they don’t press it all the way against the wall.
Holding my breath, I wait.
Brevan steps in, glances around the room, then leaves and closes the door behind him.
He didn’t check the passage. My shoulders slump in relief.
I wait until I hear footsteps fade, and then I open the door a crack.
“Hello, Princess,” Brevan says. “Enjoy your stroll in the rain?”