“You’ll need to come with us, Princess,”the guard said and gestured to the tunnel they’d exited from.
Panic spiked in her veins, but she went willingly, through the twisting corridors all the way back to the palace. As they marched two in front and two behind, she tried to think up an excuse for why they’d been there and what they’d been doing, but as they exited the tunnel, passing by barrels of wine and out a servants’ entrance, she knew she had no choice but, to tell the truth.
Mother would be furious when she found out she’d snuck out of the masquerade to hunt smugglers, but there was no escaping punishment now. The midnight tower loomed against the night sky, and her throat tightened.She’d never entered it before but often envisioned what secrets it held. The Midnight Guards operated in secret, hunting the corrupted and keeping the city free of magical corruption. She should have known when they’d raided the tavern that they were onto the same trail as her.
The first floor of the tower was a large, circular room, the mosaic floor embossed with the blazing sun crest of the Church of Sol. At the back of the room, a locked door presumably led down into the dungeons, and she might have imagined it, but she swore she heard a roar come up from the ground. Her escorts led her toward the spiral staircase that led up to the officers’ quarters.
By the time they reached their destination, Liane was panting for breath, and her back was aching. They knocked on the door, and a muffled voice answered.Inside,a crackling fire cast a warm glow upon sumptuous stuffed chairs and a plush burgundy carpet. Captain Rosen, head of the Midnight Guard, sat at her mahogany desk and rose as they entered.
“Please make yourself comfortable, Princess Liane. And your guard can wait outside with Fynn and Arne.” She gestured to the chairs beside the fire.
“I’ll stay with the princess,” Ludwig said.
“I assure you she is safe with me.” Her smile was stiff, as if she were unused to it.
“I’ll be fine,” Liane assured him.Typically, when she was being punished, she wasn’t told to make herself comfortable, nor was she taken to what appeared to be the captain’s personal quarters.
Ludwig scowled, clearly unconvinced, but he followed the guards out. Liane took a seat in one of the squishy chairs as her back pounded.
“Comfortable?” Captain Rosen asked with an arched brow.
“Am I in trouble?”
“You’re a princess; I don’t think I have the rank to punish you.”
Liane’s face burned. They’d never spoken before, but she’d been watching her career with interest. Captain Rosen was the first woman to rise to the rank of captain of the Midnight Guard, and to say she admired her was an understatement. Had illness not stolen her stamina and ability to join the Midnight Guard, Liane would have liked to be someone like her. Now, the first time they’d spoke, she would be scolded for wandering around the forbidden ruins like a wayward child. Straightening her shoulders, she met her gaze, trying to muster what little dignity she had left.
“Then I would like to know why you brought me here,” Liane said.
“You’re direct. I admire that. I’ll get straight to the point then. An elf got into the palace tonight. We don’t know how. But while searching for them, my men found you and your guard wandering in the tunnels and out into the ruins.”
An icy chill swept through her. The elves had gotten into the palace. It was worse than she thought.
“I saw four elves in the ruins, and they were exchanging information with members of the Onyx Gang for stardust.” The words poured out of Liane. Even if she couldn’t be the one who made the arrests, at least she could provide valuable information.
“We know,” Captain Rosen said, drumming her long fingers onto the arm of her chair as she stared into her empty fire.
Liane’s shoulders sagged. Then she’d done nothing but get in the way again.
“What I want to know is how did you find that tunnel?”Captain Rosen asked, turning her hawk-like gaze back on Liane.
Liane blinked. “I discovered it when I was a girl. My friend and I used to play in it all the time. Surely you were aware of it?”
“My men have combed every inch of those tunnels. We thought we had found every entrance and exit. And somehow, you found one even we could not detect.”
Liane leaped at the chance to be of help. “I can help you find more. There’s many underground tunnels and rooms, perhaps hundreds of them. I could take a map maker down to help them draw a map.”
“That isn’t why I wanted to speak with you. I know you were there the night we attempted an arrest upon Niklas Ehrle, and as you must have noticed, City Watch continues to turn a blind eye as the problem grows. I have petitioned the palace multiple times to no avail.” Captain Rosen frowned as the pace of her drumming fingers increased.
“Surely you have enough power to arrest him and bring him into the midnight tower?” Liane said.
She’d gladly see Niklas and his ilk locked away in the dark for the rest of their days.
“If only it were that easy. I suspect someone at court is supporting the gangs, to keep the stardust flowing into the city.”
“But why? It’s killing people. Who would do such a thing?”
Captain Rosen turned back to look at her, gaze assessing.
