And if itwasthe way out she’d been searching for, and it had been filled in, she had nothing to tell Theo.
Panic squeezed her heart.
But the longer she stayed, the more her candle burned down, and if she didn’t turn back, she’d be finding her way in utter darkness.
This time, Roa did kick the door.
Pain shot through her foot at the same time somethingclicked. Musty air rushed into her face, following by a softcreeeeeeaaaak. She hissed in pain, grabbing her toe, just as the wall in front of her swung open. Roa slowly lowered her foot, staring into the passage beyond, illuminated by her candle.
She ignored her throbbing foot and crouched down, examining where she’d kicked the wall. There was a circle impressed into the plaster, close to the floor. She could tell the circle normally sat flush with the wall, but when she’d kicked it, it sank in. And inside the circle was a familiar pattern, though Roa couldn’t remember where she’d seen it before.
Two knotted dragons.
Roa ran her fingers over it. Then pushed.
The door swung closed.
She pushed again; the door swung open.
Grabbing her diminished candle, Roa rose, her heart thumping.
She followed the new passage for a hundred-hundred heartbeats, until she came to a set of steps. These led up to a wrought iron gate. The filigree twisted and coiled in that same knotteddragon pattern. From somewhere beyond it, she heard the rumble of carts and the chatter of voices.
Roa touched the cold iron. Through the space in the twisting dragons, she could see a wall opposite, maybe five steps away. It wasn’t the reddish gold hue as most sections of the city. This one was washed in green.
The new quarter.It had been rebuilt and painted after Kozu burned it to the ground.
She saw no stalls, no passersby. This alley seemed barren. But from somewhere nearby, Roa could hear the clang of a hammer on steel. A blacksmith’s forge.
She might not know where, exactly, it came out. But she had a rough idea.
And it was a way out.
When Roa reached for the tarnished knob, though, it didn’t budge. She tried to turn it, tried to tug, but the gate held firm.
What is it with draksors and their damn locks?
Bending down, she looked through the keyhole, trying to memorize the shape of it.
Roa needed that key.
Who would hold the key to a door leading straight to the royal quarters?
Roa paused then, remembering the key Dax kept on a cord around his neck. A key as black and rusted as this door lock.
Of course he would have it,she thought.
But the key wasn’t her most pressing concern. Looking through the gate, she caught sight of the late-afternoon sunlight creeping in.
Roa promised to find Rebekah the way out in three days.Here it was, the third day. And here Roa stood, staring at the way out. Only it was locked. And Theo was halfway across the city. And the palace was impenetrable.
Roa gripped the iron and pressed her forehead against it, trying to think.
As she did, her candle flickered out.
Roa decided to find Theo and Rebekah, tell them she’d found the way out, then ask for more time to obtain the key.
She made her way to the palace gate and stared up at the four massive bolts—each of them thick as a horse and twice as long—keeping the huge doors buckled tight. The soldats along the gate had been tripled and all of them stood straight as arrows, staring warily at Roa.
