Half a dozen soldiers in red uniforms stood outside the door below. She drew back, keeping out of sight and sucking in a breath.
Had Gideon summoned the Blood Guard? Had they come to arrest her?
It made no sense. If he wanted her arrested, he should have let them discover her on theArcadia. They could have taken her straight to prison from there.
“What…” Gideon emerged from the hall, his shirt half-unbuttoned, his feet bare. He glanced at Rune, heading for the window.
His mouth thinned into a grim line. “Damn it.”
The pounding increased.
“How do they know I’m here?” Rune backed away, nearly tripping over the coffee table.
“They’re not here for you,” he said, re-buttoning his shirt and striding across the room to check the windows on the other side. “They’re here for me.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“It’s what Ididn’tdo.” Gideon unlocked the pane, then swung it out. “They’ll want to search the apartment.”
Rune joined him at the open window, peering down into an empty alleyway below.
“I’ll help you up.”
She frowned at him. “Upwhere?”
“Onto the roof.” He took her hips in his hands and lifted herinto the pane. With no other options, Rune got her feet under her, then gripped the pane. The roof was directly overhead, a little slanted, but not enough to be steep. “Here. Take this up, too.”
Gideon left and came back with her suitcase as the pounding on the door down below grew more insistent. Grabbing the leather handles, Rune hefted it onto the tiles overhead, then crawled up after it.
“Stay there until I return.”
“And if you don’t return?”
“Then you’re on your own,” he said, before swinging the pane shut.
Wonderful.
A moment later, muffled voices entered the apartment below. Rune took off her shoes to ensure she didn’t slip, then kept low to the rooftop tiles as she scurried toward the roof’s peak, lined with chimneys. Keeping herself hidden, she peered down to the street below, watching as two Blood Guard soldiers brought Gideon out, his hands bound in front of him.
They forced him onto a horse, and then rode toward the palace.
She heard booted footsteps inside as the remaining soldiers searched his apartment. Only when they, too, left, taking their horses with them, did Rune relax. Pressing her back to a chimney, she sank to the sun-warmed tiles and let out a breath.
Feeling a sudden roughness beneath her palm, she lifted her hand. Three names were scratched into the tiles:Tessa. Alex. Gideon.The Sharpe siblings must have played up here as children.
That’s how Gideon knew where to hide me.
Nan would have killed Rune if she’d ever tried to climb onto a roof.
Her fingers traced the names, lingering on his. Wondering what trouble he was in, and if he would return—or if she’d be forced to find her way down and rescue him.
THIRTY-ONEGIDEON
IT WAS ALWAYS Ashock these days, stepping into the Good Commander’s gaslit study. The room itself hadn’t changed. Familiar leather-bound books lined the walls, and a solid mahogany desk stood on the carpet with a wingback chair behind it.
The sight was almost comforting.
It was the man seated behind the desk who was not.
