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She lay on her side on the blanket he’d padded the bottom with, her knees curled up, feet bare.His heart was racing, fear and nerves prickling his skin, because he didn’t want to close the lid on her. It was too much like closing a coffin. “Ready?”
“Yes.” She caught hold of his hand, pulling him down and kissing him hard enough to bruise both their lips. “We’re going to get through this. All you need to do is ensure thatno onesuspects you, especially your father.”
Praying she was right, Keris lowered the panel over top of her, the latch clicking into place. Then he swiftly loaded the books inside and closed the lid.
It was time.
Taking a deep breath, he strode to the door and threw it open, leaving it that way as he hurried down the stairs, shouting, “Guards! Guards! They’re in the tower!”
He raced down the curved stairs. When he’d nearly reached the second floor, he rounded the corner and almost collided with the men running toward the sound of shouts.
Their eyes widened at the sight of his eye, which was nearly swollen shut thanks to Aren and his fist, and Keris snarled, “They’ve gone up to the top of the tower, you fucking idiots! Go!”
The men barreled past him, and Keris continued down to the ground level. “Let me out,” he ordered the men guarding the door.
“It’s not safe, Your Highness. The Ithicanian—”
“Is at the top of the tower, and he has my Valcottan prisoner with him! Where is my father? Where is Serin? Who is in command of this mess?”
Instead of answering, the soldier unlatched the door and flung it open, calling, “They’re in the tower!”
Pushing past, Keris ignored the dozen men who ran by him and strode into the gardens before looking up.
The air was thick with the misty fog emanating from the dozen canisters the harem had placed in the fountains, but the rising wind was whisking the cover away. And as he watched, Keris picked out the flash of a shadow flying down from the top of the tower and over the heads of the guards on the inner wall.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Shouts of alarm filled the air but were drowned out a few seconds later by a largeboom,a flash of light from the exterior gate illuminating the night.
All around him was chaos and confusion as the soldiers split their ranks, half mistakenly running into the tower and the other half, understanding that their quarry was outside the sanctum, heading to the gates to reinforce.
Get to the horses,he silently willed his sisters, running toward the sanctum’s gate, though he could do nothing to help them at this point.Get into the city.
Because if they got caught inside the walls, his father’s men wouldknowValcotta was still in here.
The elaborate gates to the sanctum were open, and Keris raced through, carnage greeting him. All around the large courtyard, soldiers screamed and clutched their blown-out eardrums, some—those closest to the gate—lying still, likely never to move again.
A group of his father’s men raced out of the stable, throwing themselves onto their horses and galloping off in pursuit of the decoys outside the wall.
Keris held his breath. Waiting. Waiting.
Then another group on horseback emerged. He clenched his fists, certain the soldiers milling around would see what he saw: figures too small and lithe to be men, and one overlarge form that bounced wildly in the saddle, reins flopping loose in his hands.
Bastard doesn’t know how to ride.Keris ground his teeth, praying that this small, yet critical detail wouldn’t entirely ruin their escape. Then they were gone. What Lara intended to do next, he didn’t know. And to be frank, as long as they didn’t get caught and betray Valcotta, he didn’t fucking care.
“What do you mean, they’ve escaped?”
Keris turned at the sound of his father’s voice, watching him storm out of the sanctum gates, soot staining his face and wine splattering his clothes. But still very much in command.
And very much fucking alive.
Girding himself, Keris approached, but his father was too busy shouting orders to acknowledge him.
“They went up the tower,” he interrupted. “The Ithicanian and a group of women, including Zarrah Anaphora.”
His father’s lip curled, eyes taking in Keris’s swollen face. “And I see you did little to stop them.”
Keris crossed his arms. “I wasn’t expecting to come face-to-face with a group of armed women outside my goddamned bedroom door. How did this happen?”
