But Meg’s face rose in her mind, fierce and laughing and stubborn, the way she’d always been. Her big sister, who had joined her in getting into trouble a hundred times without hesitation.
Sisterhood burned hotter than guilt, and Mallory moved as soon as all was silent again.
She returned to her chambers and had to force herself not to run. Inside, she shut the door and leaned against it. Her chest heaved and her hands shook as she pulled out the thickest coat she had and tied her hair back. She slid into her boots and grabbed her gloves and scarf and cracked her door open. Every sound outside made her flinch.
Dusk had fully bled into night and the shadows in the hallways had grown long and frequent. Mallory slipped out into the corridor and moved like a ghost. She chose servants’ passages and narrow stairwells that she had memorized during her wanderings and time spent with Jakob.
Her heart hammered so loudly she was certain it would give her away.
At the gate, she paused and pressed her palm to the cold stone. For a fleeting second, she imagined Jakob when he discovered her absence, again. She could already feel his fear, his anger, and the way his voice would break when he said hername. Out of habit, she patted her pocket. And realized she had set her phone down when she grabbed her gloves.
“What an idiot,” she whispered to herself. She started to turn back to get it, but she couldn’t risk it. She was free at that moment, and she didn’t need to ruin the opportunity because of her forgetfulness.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to the dark. For a moment she contemplated her plan. She really should get Jakob.
But then she pulled the gate open and stepped out into the night.
The gate closed softly behind her with a quiet click, a sound that echoed in her head as she vanished into the shadows. Right or wrong, she headed straight toward the danger, toward her sister, and toward whatever waited beyond the castle walls.
CHAPTER 23
Jakob
The war room hummed with low voices and restless energy. Maps were spread across the table like open wounds. Jakob stood with his hands braced against the polished wood with his eyes fixed on a charcoal sketch of terrain that had already cost too much blood.
Across from him, Sven, King of Stagholt, pointed to the mountain scenes on the maps. His sharp eyes missed nothing.
“Their movements make no sense,” Sven said and tapped the map. “Ruecrags never commit this much force unless there’s a spectacle involved.”
“They aren’t an army,” Jakob replied. “They’re a sleeper cell of a greater group. They don’t normally go this far with their terrorist activities.”
A renegade group with no banner worth honoring and no land to defend. Ruecrags existed for one reason only and that was to disrupt, destabilize, and disappear before consequences could catch them. Chaos for its own sake just because.
An advisor shifted uneasily. “Their latest raids suggest they’re drawing attention east, but that leaves their southern flank exposed.”
“Which means the east is a lie,” Jakob said without hesitation.
Sven’s gaze snapped to him. “You’re certain?”
Jakob nodded even though his focus was already slipping. “Ruecrags don’t want territory. They don’t even care about it. They just want reactions and panic. If we chase shadows, they win. We just don’t know why or what their end game is in all this.”
Sven grunted softly. “So, then the question becomes what they’re really after.”
Jakob opened his mouth to answer but hesitated.
The feeling hit him again, stronger than before. A tightening in his chest. A wrongness that had nothing to do with troop placements or false offensives.
Mallory.
He’d felt it all morning, a quiet unease he’d tried to bury under distraction and discipline. She’d agreed too easily when he told her to stay put. Too calm and too accepting.
She’d been hiding something and he had let her get away with it so that he didn’t feel like he was pushing her too hard.
Jakob straightened and forced his attention back to the room. Sven and the others were debating routes and the maps. It all blurred together.
Jakob checked the time. Too much had passed.
“I need to step away,” Jakob said abruptly.
