“No, that they’re here at all. This is the servants’ hall that leads to the west gardens. Guards don’t patrol here, though the western barracks are in the direction they came from.”
“Is that bad?”
“Well, those two did just run toward our destination.” Mr. Boris paces on the stair, a worried whine humming in his throat.
“I’ll go see what’s happened,” Minka says, and pads down the stairs.
“It’s dangerous,” Mr. Boris hisses.
She cuts him an irritated look. “I am stealth incarnate. Do not doubt me.” With that, she slinks the rest of the way down the staircase and rushes down the hall.
Mr. Boris and I retreat up the steps, keeping close to the wall to evade the notice of any other guards who might follow after the first two. The wait sends my stomach roiling, my already ragged nerves fraying further.
“Why are you doing this for me?” I whisper, eager for a distraction.
“Hmm?” Mr. Boris glances up at me before returning his attention to the hall below. “You mean why am I helping you escape? I took on the duty as your bodyguard, and you have yet to dismiss me.”
A small smile forms on my lips. “Technically, I appointed you as my butler, remember?”
“Yes, well, I took it upon myself to act as your bodyguard, Highness. I will not let you down now.”
“What about your standing with my parents? If they find out you aided my escape…I fear what they’ll do to you.”
He’s silent for a few moments. Then, “I have no intention of getting caught, Highness. Nor will I serve them if this is how they treat you. I…I have always respected and obeyed them, even trusted that the darker rumors about their actions were untrue. But this is where I draw the line.” He glances over his shoulder. “I’m very fond of you, Highness. I have no children of my own, but…but I think this might be how it feels to have one. I cannot let harm come to you. Once we escape, I hope you’ll allow me to remain in your service.”
Tears prick my eyes. Mr. Boris cares for me…like a child of his own. We aren’t related by blood and yet he’s the one protecting me where my parents are not.
Is this what family truly means?
Is this what it’s been all along?
“I have good news and bad news.” Minka appears on the stairs before us, making both me and Mr. Boris jump. Stars above, she really is stealth incarnate.
“What’s the good news?” I whisper.
“While there are plenty of guards down here,” she says, “they are distracted. If we’re quiet, we can skirt behind them and escape to the garden without being seen.”
“And the bad news?” Mr. Boris asks, his tone brimming with trepidation.
Minka tilts her head in a questioning look. “Well, this might be good news too, come to think of it. I suppose it depends how Miss Rose feels about her former enemy-turned-ally-turned…whatever they became after that.”
My heart skitters. She must be referring to Thorne. “What do you mean?”
She angles her head toward the end of the hall. “That’s the reason the guards are so distracted. They’ve captured Mr. Blackwood.”
48
THORNE
My demand for an audience with the king is granted, but instead of being escorted into the throne room where a proper audience would be held, I’m taken just beyond a plain door that leads from the garden to the palace. A servants’ entrance, based on its innocuous appearance and almost-hidden location. We enter a dim narrow hallway that confirms my assumptions, and the guards order me to halt once we pass an empty corridor. The placement is strategic. Servants’ halls. Windowless. A corridor behind and before us, allowing reinforcements to enter from both sides should the guards need them. The perfect place for an unseen execution.
The guards surround me in a circle, their swords pointed at my neck. I stand with controlled calm, my hands folded behind my back just under my wings, chin lifted as if to aid their desires to sever my head from my neck.
“Don’t move,” one of the guards shouts.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I say with a wink. Everything inside me rages at being surrounded like this. I’m desperate to break free, to storm the palace and search for Briony. But I have a plan. One that requires a lot of risk and just a little more patience.
After what feels like a too-quiet eternity, footsteps sound from the hall ahead, and I see the king and queen sweep toward me, flanked by several guards. Horus’ small black eyes narrow on me, his gray lips pulling back from his serrated teeth. “What is the meaning of this threat on my daughter’s life?”
