Even if the danger was Percy.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
My leg muscles were cramping, and I could no longer feel my toes. Tingling had worn away to numbness. My shoulder was wedged at an odd angle and the darkness was all-consuming as I focused on breathing. Timing each breath in and holding it before releasing it slowly, all while listening for the last of the guests to return to their room.
Bravado and Sorek had returned after the final performance of the evening and had carefully moved the props around the room, positioning the trunk behind a chair and covering it with a blanket.
“Good luck,” Bravado whispered, giving the trunk a light tap.
I tapped back once and then began the long wait, judging the passage of time by the breaths I took and listening for the sounds of feet moving down the hall. When all was quiet and nothing stirred for several candle marks, I pushed open the trunk and unfolded my body. I’d been stretching since my first attempt had failed, but I had finally mastered squeezing into the impossibly small trunk.
Saphira would be proud.
My back cracked as I stretched my hands above my head, and I delicately put pressure on my feet until the pins and needles faded away. It was painful, but I was in the palace. I pressed my ear to the door and listened before pulling the handle, pleased at the silence of the hinges that Sorek had freshly oiled just that evening.
Bravado and Nimm had given me all the information they could about the layout of the palace and had made a hastily drawn map, which I committed to memory. I knew precisely where the royal living quarters and the servants' hall were, but there was one wing that was heavily guarded against magic. Even the house-elves avoided that particular wing.
“There!” Bravado had tapped the map. “There is where you must go. Do you see how that area of the palace is over a ley line; do you see all the wards around it? There must be something hidden there. You must get here undetected. Can you do it?”
“I can do it,” I said.
“Then we must practice.” He’d unloaded a trunk from the wagon and opened it up, showing the many props within, but then he’d pushed them aside to reveal the false bottom. Just big enough to hold a very small person.
I wasn’t worried about making my way through most of the palace, as I easily slipped past the half-asleep guards who were positioned outside of the throne room. Twice I’d scaled a marble column while guards passed by me before slipping down and moving toward the forbidden wing.
I felt a tug on my leg and looked down to see Nimm frantically pulling away from the hall, pointing at the floor and then back at his neck. I gestured for him to wait before kneeling to examine the trap.
A ward was here. That meant magic, which meant I could either set it off or nullify it. I lifted my hand over it and felt the beginning of an electric shock, and I pulled it back to safety.
I chewed on my lower lip as I leaned close to study the ward. I knew nothing of magic or spells. I couldn’t even read the sigils on the ward, or decipher what kind of attack or blow it would do to me. But I had to remind myself, I wasn’t like my other sisters. I didn’t have magic. I couldn’t control it or manipulate it. I just nullified it.
I ran my fingers along the outer edge and felt the hum of magic. Like before, I pulled at it, like tugging on a string of a child’s top. Not so fast as to spin it, but slowly as to unwind it without making it wobble. I absorbed the magic, feeling refreshed, and I sensed a hum of energy as the ward slowly died.
I stood, preparing to step over the ward. My hands trembled. Had I done enough? Pushing one foot out, I brushed the edge of the invisible ward and felt nothing. The ward was cold and dead. Confidently, I stepped on it and turned to Nimm, who took more time working up his nerve to cross it. Once he put his boot on the ward, he did a little dance before scooting ahead to scout, disappearing before my eyes. I deactivated two more magical wards and felt full afterward—almost intoxicated and sleepy. I continued exploring the wing, making a mental map as I headed toward the special wing of the palace that was over the convergence of two ley lines.
This is it. The answers I searched for were just on the other side of those doors. A secret back way into Thornhaven. Or maybe I would be lucky enough to stumble into a secret lair of Allemar’s apprentices. In Florin, Rosalie had found a dungeon where Allemar had done blood sacrifices to amplify his power. I could only assume that the missing people of Sion were disappearing for the same dark purposes, which meant the apprentices were probably here.
I paused in front of a set of double doors with gold flowers. I kneeled in front of the door, staring into the heavy gold lock. As I was about to pull the lock and pick set out of my hair, Nimm came rushing down the hall, his hands waving in excitement.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
The gnome beckoned me to follow, and we slipped up a set of back stairs used by servants. It took us to a small balcony that overlooked the golden door, just as a retinue of soldiers marched down the hall.
Their captain, a man with a red cloak instead of black like the other seven guards, took out a golden key and unlocked the door, ushering the guards inside.
“Remember, no one leaves or enters these rooms, do you understand?”
“Yes, Captain Lathe,” one of the guards said.
“Protect them at all costs,” the captain demanded.
“We will,” a second guard added.
They saluted, and then the captain sent in five soldiers and locked them inside while two more kept guard outside.
I frowned.
This was an unexpected turn of events.
But now we were trapped. I couldn’t head back down without walking in front of the guards. It was time to wait until the guards changed. I curled up and felt Nimm slide into my lap for warmth as we prepared for the long night ahead.
My eyes were heavy, and my back was sore as I waited for morning. Soon the sun warmed my face, and I yawned. I rubbed my eyes and glanced over my shoulder to see that Nimm had dozed off as well. When I cast a look over the balcony, I was surprised to see the guards were gone. Before I could make my escape down the stairs, the hall echoed with the sound of armor and more guards.
We froze on our balcony as Captain Lathe and the king appeared.
“Where are the guards?” King Leonel accused.
“I don’t know, Your Majesty.” Captain Lathe turned in a circle, just as confused.
He leaned forward, pressing his ear to the golden door. “It’s quiet.” He gestured to his men and pulled out a key from his belt. He unlocked the door and flung it open. His soldiers went into the room, and from my perch above, I could see an opulent sitting room with green rugs and an ornate wooden table. I turned my head sideways to see another hall.
They went in quietly, swords drawn and ready to fight an army, but nothing happened. No fighting, no clashing of weapons, and no sounds followed. A grave-looking Captain Lathe came out and bowed before his king.
“How are they?” the king asked, wringing his hands.
“All the princesses are sleeping peacefully.”
“And their shoes?”
“Same as before. Destroyed.”
The princesses? These golden doors and this heavily warded hall led to the princesses chambers? They weren’t in the royal wing with the king?
I chewed on the inside of my cheek in thought. It would make sense that the king wanted to protect his daughters behind multiple magical wards. Maybe that was the reason he moved them to a more protected wing of the palace; for the ley lines to charge the wards. He was really terrified of my family.