She needed answers. And there was one place she would find them.
The Midlands had never been her home, but something in her called to it now.
Alora stood. “We’re leaving.”
A slow smile curved Caelum’s mouth. “I hoped you would say that.”
He went to his pack, slinging it over one shoulder as he gathered his shield and slid his sword into its scabbard.
Alora snatched up her satchel, slipping in the spindle she had stolen back from Rune. She shoved in clothing and fruit. Pausing, she glanced down at her dragon bracelet beforeremoving it, placing it gently on the table. There was no need for it anymore.
Nexus crawled out from beneath the bed with a sleepy meow, stretching.
Caelum shifted back instinctively.
“You must stay here,” Alora murmured, scratching the Vareth behind the ears. “I have to go.”
Those bright yellow eyes, glittering like galaxies, blinked lazily.
“Demons rarely walk the halls during the day,” she told Caelum. “Slipping out now is our best chance to go unnoticed…” She trailed off with a grim sigh. “I speak as though escaping will be easy. Even if we can escape without being caught, we won’t get far on foot.”
“I have horses waiting at the foothills of the mountain,” Caelum said. “The last of my men have a ship in Gloam’s Watch, ready to take us wherever you wish.”
Gloam’s Watch lay farther west, beyond Argyle’s city limits, tucked into sheer cliffs by the sea. The waters there were treacherous.
Would she be safe from Rune if she fled?
Unease buzzed beneath her ribs. There was no telling whether she would succeed… or what he would do if he caught her.
But she would not be caged any longer.
Alora slipped into the bathing chamber and changed into riding trousers, fastening a leather corset over a white blouse. The castle dropped a cloak gently onto her shoulders.
She smiled faintly, taking it as Karag Dûr’s blessing. It may have been threaded through Rune’s will, but it was its own creature too, in its way.
She sheathed the Sunstone dagger in her hip holster, stowing the others in her satchel. Last, she tucked the spindle into the boning of her corset, hidden from sight.
She would be long gone before Rune noticed it missing.
Alora returned to the bedchamber where Caelum waited. Taking a breath, she reached for the sconce above the hearth and pulled it.
It clicked.
A thin hiss of air slipped through a seam in the wall. Stone shifted, revealing a narrow opening wide enough for one person to squeeze through.
Caelum gaped. “How did you know that was there?”
“Nexus is smarter than he looks,” Alora whispered, and the kitten purred.
Torch in hand, she slipped inside. Caelum followed. Nexus led the way, wings fluttering every few steps.
The passage sloped steeply downward. The air was cold, but the walls glimmered with strings of iridescent worms, their light pulsing in soft waves like breathing.
Alora moved forward without hesitation.
At the sound of water, her pace quickened. She entered her garden cavern. The shrubbery was well kept, a thin cascade spilling from the opening above into a shallow pool. Her sapling stood at the center, its leaves bathed in golden morning light.
It reminded her of her mother’s workroom. The days they’d spent together, laughing, dancing, magic as simple as breath.
