He bowed and hurried back the way he came.
“Excellent work for today, Kiera,” she said. “After you’ve changed, you can wait for your escort in the front lounge.”
I nodded, my thoughts racing too fast to form an answer. If she was meeting with Garyth in the front lounge, then that was the last place I wanted to be. Being a High Councilor for years, he had frequented the palace enough to remember what Princess Emilia looked like. I couldn’t have him wondering what I was doing here when, as the princess, I hadn’t stepped out of my rooms since my mother’s death.
But why was he here in the middle of the day? And why did Melaena look so worried?
I walked back to the dressing room and changed in a daze. The other dancers had long gone.
I hesitated at the door. I could wait here or... I could poke around that sitting room and find the entrance to the secret tunnel.
Swiping a few hairpins from a makeup table, I hurried to the door Melaena had pointed at earlier. It swung open soundlessly and let me into a familiar hall—the same one I’d walked with Aiden last night. Which meant the door opposite me led to the sitting room.
Glancing up and down the hall to make sure I was alone, I inserted the pins into the lock. The tumblers fell into place within moments. Ever the same, a smile curved my lips at the sound.
I doubted Melaena would be amused if she knew one of my little joys was lock-picking.
I opened the door and closed it quietly behind me. A softsnicktold me the door had locked itself behind me. Good. That would slow someone down, even if they had the key.
The room was darker than before, with no windows and the candelabra unlit. Only a small oil lamp on a low table shed any light. But that would have to be enough. Snuffed candles left smoke and scent.
Leave no trace, Renwell’s voice instructed me from a dozen memories.
Willing my eyes to adjust to the shadows, I approached the wall that likely faced south, toward the Old Quarter and, therefore, the tunnel. I gently pushed tapestry after tapestry aside, skipping the ones that were blocked by couches or tables. My fingers painstakingly crept along the surface underneath. But I found nothing but smooth wall. No cracks. No indentations. No weaknesses.
I huffed in frustration, gazing around the room and trying to remember. Aiden and I fell when we’d exited the tunnel. My blindfold had slipped. What had I seen before he forced my attention back to him?
Feeling only a little ridiculous, I laid on my stomach on the plush carpet. Something fluttered in my chest at the memory of lying on his chest. I’d felt his heartbeat. His breathing. His firm grasp on my chin as I stared into those unnerving green eyes.
I shook myself.Focus. Someone might enter this room at any moment.
I turned my head at awkward angles until...there!I’d caught a glimmer of the strange, clawed foot of a sofa when I fell. Which meant...
I repositioned my body to put the clawed foot to my left, meaning my feet were now pointed at the tunnel.
My sore muscles protested as I flipped over and approached the west wall. I dug under the nearest tapestry. My fingertips brushed over a sliver of a crack. A grin split my face. Yes! This was it! My fingers traced the line as high as I could reach while my other hand searched for its twin.
My heart pounded with triumph. This was the door. But there was no handle, no latch.
Frowning, I swept my hands over the whole wall. Nothing.
Gods damn it! There must be a trigger of some kind out here, not as close as I’d hoped. Gods alone knew how long it would take me to findthat.
Muffled voices filtered through the locked door. I grew still as stone. The jingle of keys.
Someone was coming in.
Chapter 13
Kiera
Curses explodedthrough my mind as I let the tapestry fall back to the wall and dove for the sofa in the darkest corner.
I dropped to my stomach again just as a key embedded in the lock. I shimmied under the couch, hugging the wall as much as possible, praying my boots weren’t visible.
The door opened, and footsteps whispered over the rug. Light flared as someone turned up the oil lamp.
“You know better than to cause a scene in my lobby,” Melaena said, her voice low and tense.
