We burst from the room, and turned, running away from the Throne Room.
I caught sight of a soturion down the hall when I rounded the corner.
“Faster,” I hissed.
We raced down what felt like an endless corridor, until we reached another, and then burst into a stairwell, hidden behind a door. It was one used by servants that led down to the kitchens. Lyr looked back up at me, her face anxious, and I nodded, urging her to keep running, to go faster, and to not look back.
She did, picking up her speed, running at a pace that made me so fucking proud. The issue though was quickly becoming Aiden, Tristan, and Meera. All mages. None trained to run.
We reached the bottom of the stairwell, and then another. Windows allowed moonlight and the glimmer of nearby moontrees to enter.
Windows meant outside. There was no door here. We still had too far to go to get out. Meera was tiring. Everyone was, but if we reached the bottom floor, we could escape out the window. I was sure they were warded, and there were guardsoutside—but right here according to all the schedules, they were on rotation, because there were no doors.
We’d never make the rendezvous point. But we didn’t need to. We were all here.
We just needed a way out. And we had one.
“Lyr!” I called out. “Bottom of the stairwell. All the way. To the window. Go!”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yes!” Meera shouted. “Yes. I remember. There are stables nearby.”
Gryphons. Fucking gryphons. Of course. My heart leapt, and I swore, even though I was exhausted and all my muscles were burning, I felt light. I felt energized.
Because suddenly, I felt hope. A memory of escape once before, of fleeing on gryphon-back, of getting to safety in the middle of the night.
We were going to do this. We were going to get out of here.
I clutched Jules closer to me, trying not to rattle her. She was still crying, still mumbling “I was right, I was right,” and wincing in pain with every bump and jostle.
My legs were burning. My arms ached, but I kept going until we were all crowded at the bottom.
I gave Aiden one more look. He let the illusion of our armor fall again. But he was exhausted, and I didn’t know how much more magic he could muster.
Meera stepped forward instead and looked at the window. “I’ve got this,” she said, and pointed her stave at the glass. “Lumir dorscha!” she yelled. Blue light burst from her stave. And suddenly, the faint buzzing that we’d grown so accustomed to, stopped.
She’d undone the wards.
There was another noise starting. It was a few rooms away from us. It sounded like a bell. A warning bell. Someone knew, and they would be heading this way any minute.
Meera wiped sweat from her forehead, and then she pointed again, gripping her stave tightly, slowly turning her wrist as she muttered to herself.
The glass shattered, spilling like rain across the floor.
“Meera!” Lyr yelled, her voice full of emotion and pride. Everyone began climbing up to the sill and then out. I was last with Jules, hoisting her higher in my arms, and careful we didn’t touch any broken glass.
I barely dared to breathe as I touched down on the dirt outside.
But already I could hear the soturi running from within, yelling. Meera wasn’t moving fast enough. Taking down the wards had weakened her. And neither was Tristan while he supported Galen. Out in the open now, we’d be an easy target once the soturi came close enough.
“RUN!” I roared. They did, everyone picking up their speed. But they were still moving too slowly.
We weren’t going to make it all the way to the stables.
Unless …
“Dario,” I said, “Here, take her. Keep everyone heading for the stables!”
