But then I realize I’m being foolish. It’s got to be Princess Sinna, awake and sneaking around. I have no idea how she slipped past the guards at the entrance to the royal suites, but I do know it wouldn’t be the first time.
I slip out from under my covers and put a stern expression on my face. In the other bed, Nora keeps snoring away. I creep over to the door and grab hold of the handle.
“You little sneaky sneak,” I whisper as I give it a yank, jerking the door wide. “Got you!”
But it’s not a four- year- old princess. It’s a man in the shadows.
I give a littleyipof alarm, then try to slam the door on his hand. “Nora!” I cry. My heart is in my throat. “Nora, there’s a—”
A hand slaps over my mouth, and the man wrestles his way into the room. “Callyn!” he snarls in an aggravated whisper. “What iswrongwith you? It’s me!”
Alek.
My thundering heartbeat won’t settle, and he shoves the door closed behind him. He’s still in the clothes he wore yesterday, right down to the weapons and armor, though he looks a little rough- and- ready, which I’veneverseen. A dusting of beard growth coats his chin, and his hair is a bit sweat- slicked along the temples. Exhaustion clings to his eyes, too, like he’s lived all the days of the week in the last twenty- four hours.
“What are you doing here?” I demand in a hushed voice. “How did you get into the palace?”
“I’m the lord of the Fifth House,” he whispers back, his tone full of arrogance. “I’mallowedin the palace.”
“You’re not allowed in my chambers!”
Nora’s bedclothes rustle, and then she sits up, rubbing her eyes in the moonlight. “Is someone here?” she mumbles.
“No,” I snap, annoyed. “No one at all. Go back to sleep.” I move to shove him back out the door.
“Cally- cal,” Nora says sleepily. “What is hedoinghere?”
“I have no idea. But he’s being inappropriate, and he needs to come back tomorrow.” I wrench at the grip on my wrist, then nod toward the door. “Go.”
“You could be dead by tomorrow,” Alek says. His tone is low and full of urgency. “You need to leave.”
I go still, frozen in place. “What?”
Behind me, Nora says the same thing. “What?”
“You need toleave,” he says again. “I’ve brought my carriage. You can—”
“I didn’t leave the first time you told me to,” I snarl. “What makes you think I’m going to leavenow?”
“I’m not the one threatening you this time, Callyn.”
Nora climbs out of bed to stand beside me. “Then who’s threatening her?”
She sounds so fierce that I regret thinking she would’ve talked the scravers to death.
Alek glances at Nora, and he hesitates.
“Just tell her,” I say. “She knows everything.”
He sighs. “I’ve seen Lady Karyl,” he says. “She is working with the scraver Xovaar.” He moves closer to me. His eyes catch a glint of light from somewhere and glitter menacingly. “He’s sensed the magic in the palace. I don’t know how long you have, but he’s rather determined to seek it out.”
My breath catches. He’s talking aboutmymagic.
Alek nods as the full weight of his words sinks in. “He and Karyl had a meeting elsewhere tonight, so I had to bide my time in Bexcona until it was safe to come to you. I was worried they would follow me back to the Crystal City, and I couldn’t risk them seeing me sneak you out of the palace. But this is theonlytime I know they are elsewhere. The only time I know you can leave without them seeing.”
Nora reaches out to wind her fingers through mine. When she was younger, she used to do this when she was afraid, but just now she gives my hand a firm squeeze of reassurance.
“I can’t justleave,” I say.
