“He must mean a lot to you.”
“More than I can express.”
Chapter forty-seven
The High Spire
Withhornsblaringandthe guards on high alert, we had to move more cautiously.The pace waskillingme.We stopped at each intersection, listening for footsteps.All I could think of, all I wanted, was to get to Darion.
“Now that all the guards are crawling around, there’s no way we can just go up the central staircase to get to the high spire,” Mrs.Crowe said.“But there’s another way: the service elevator.”
“I’ve climbed up elevator shafts before.”
“You won’t be able to climb up this one,” Mrs.Crowe said.When I shot her a skeptical look, she said, “You’ll just have to see for yourself.”
We raced down a long hallway lined with lavish oil paintings.As I ran, one particular painting caught my eye—a scene from over two hundred years ago.Queen Amara stood proudly in front of a sapling that would one day be the Bleeding Oak.Beside her stood her shadowlynx, a massive feline with glossy black fur, large white fangs, and golden eyes.I had never seen the queen depicted in the lush colors of oil paint.Her fire-red hair cascaded over her shoulders.
“We must hurry!”Mrs.Crowe said.
At the end of the hallway was a room that was hard for me to fathom.I had never experienced such an immense indoor space.A massive staircase wound up the middle, climbing more than a dozen stories.Walkways spidered out from the stairs to the far walls, which were lined with a myriad of balconies and doors.How was this building even standing?
And then we reached the service elevator, and I understood.There was no shaft to climb.The entire elevator was just a carriage topped with wire mesh, suspended by a rope.It ran on a track heading up this monstrosity of a room.The rope looked impossibly thin.Could that thing even hold me?
Mrs.Crowe saw my skeptical look.“Braided rope made from Vanara silk.It can carry the weight of a hundred men.No time to waste,” she said as she opened the door.
I was more than a bit doubtful, but as Mrs.Crowe had said, we had precious little time.So I swallowed hard and entered the carriage.On one side was a brass control panel with a numbered dial.She set the dial to the number eighteen on the far right and pressed a button.Then she stepped out and shut the carriage door.
“Aren’t you coming?”I asked.
She shook her head with the look of a woman facing her fate.“I have unfinished business.”
The door made a latching sound, and the carriage started to rise.What powered it, I could not say.I had made it only a few stories up when a sickening voice echoed across the room.
“Elandra Crowe, I’ve been looking for you.”Orlik Leonom walked directly toward her.
The cage hugged the outer wall of the chamber, rising slowly.I tried to open the carriage, but it wouldn’t budge and had no visible locking mechanism.I instinctively reached for my dagger, but I soon realized the wire mesh that covered the cage was woven too tightly to fit anything through.Powerless, I shrank into the shadows and watched from above as Orlik approached Mrs.Crowe.
“Orlik, how may I be of assistance?”Mrs.Crowe said, her voice steady and calm.
Several Royal Guards gathered behind Orlik, who now stood face-to-face with Mrs.Crowe.
“A curious thing, you coming back today of all days,” Orlik said with cold indifference.“The day after Syra died.”
Mrs.Crowe barely moved, but her jaw clenched.
“No reaction?”Orlik said, then nodded.“So you already knew.”
The implication went unstated.With Syra dead, they had no power over Mrs.Crowe anymore.She had nothing left to lose.This was why Orlik had summoned her.
In a flash, she pulled out a hidden dagger and lunged toward Orlik.But he was lightning fast and was clearly anticipating this.He grabbed Mrs.Crowe’s arm with one hand, and with the other, he slashed her throat with his own dagger.
I had to cover my mouth to keep from crying out.
Mrs.Crowe staggered back, grabbing at her throat as blood poured out.
Orlik simply shook his head and turned away.“A waste of a good mind.”
My nails bit into my palms hard enough to draw blood.I would remember this moment for the rest of my life.
