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He knew too much. And yet, I still had one advantage. He had no idea who I truly was. Time to leave before my disguise faded and he figured it out. As if to reinforce that decision, an itch on the back of my hand showed the flesh changing color, returning to my usual golden tone. The hair tucked in my hood darkened. The potion was already wearing off.
I didn’t have anything to pack, so I headed for my door, only to pause as I heard a murmur. My ear to the portal meant I could hear the faint conversation between two people outside.
The King had placed guards at my door. There would be no escape in that direction. I paced, my feet flipping me around and around as I thought out options. I couldn’t climb out the window given the height and lack of handholds. Maybe I could arrange a distraction. Or…
Oriz had entered my room unseen and disappeared as well. There had to be another exit. Given I’d only turned my back for a moment, it couldn’t be far from where he’d been sitting. It had to be in the wall, but a section not covered by furniture—
I lifted the tapestry hanging by the bed, and while I admired the intricate scrollwork of the wall, once I knew to look for it, the well-hidden seam of a doorway was easily found. It took me longer to find the catch that swung it open.
With a final glance at the bedroom, I went into the secret passages.
A few hours later, I could admit to being lost. I’d thought myself clever. Finding a ladder down, then another. And another. The passages felt interminable, most of them dark and creepy. The faint skittering of living things in here with me had me nervous and afraid. What if I ran into a monster? Too late now. I’d never be able to retrace my steps.
I kept walking, choosing turns when I reached them, descending each time I found a ladder. The stone was rough under my fingertips, no markings, no indication of where I was headed. I began to regret my choice coming in here and found myself praying aloud, “Goddess Rotha, your not-so-faithful servant here asking for some help. I seem to have lost my way.”
Lost. Lost. Lost.
The word echoed, and yet it didn’t sound like my voice. A shiver had me hugging my body. To no one’s surprise, the goddess didn’t reply. A waste of my breath even trying. I kept walking and could have kissed the stone when I came across a rivulet of water trickling down. I pressed my mouth to the wall and lapped at the seeping moisture. Did it leak from the basin in the conservatory? It didn’t matter since it refreshed and my mind rebooted. I glanced at the water on the floor and saw it running like a tiny river down the hall. I followed it. It led me through some turns and then down one last ladder before the water disappeared into a crack in the floor right in front of a smooth section of wall that held a slight glow.
I noticed a slight depression. I placed my hand on it and pushed. Unlike the door in my room, there was a grinding noise and a cloud of dust as it opened.
I put my arm over my mouth lest I start coughing and closed my eyes. It helped me to listen. Since I heard nothing, I stepped into the room I’d discovered. Dark, with the only light the faint glow from the tunnel, it proved enough to see I’d landed in a storage room, or so I surmised by the sealed urns and wrapped packages. But the real find was the robes hanging on pegs. Much less noticeable than my Weztrogian-style gown.
I slid one of them over my head and pulled the hood over my features with relief. There’d been a liberation to not wearing one but a relaxation when I no longer had to monitor every facial expression.
I sealed shut the secret passage and exited the storage room to find myself in a kitchen, closed for the night, the fire in the hearth banked. Sleeping on the floor in front of it, a boy. He didn’t stir as I tiptoed past. I entered a dining room and, off that, a hallway with a large door. Some kind of private residence. The bar across the brackets came out silently, but I had no way of replacing it once I exited. Hopefully I’d be far from here before anyone noticed.
I recognized the area as being two tiers below the gradeena. I’d travelled farther than expected. Of more interest, the castle had secret entrances in less-than-secure places. It probably explained how Oriz got in.
The hour was late and the streets mostly empty. Until they weren’t. The sudden appearance of guards had me stumbling to a halt.
“Halt and state your business.”
I had to think fast for a reason for a woman to be out at night. “Tending a sick relative. I was just going home to my husband.”
“Lower your hood.” The guard with the massive beard tapped his spear on the ground for emphasis.
“That would be most inappropriate.” I pretended modesty.
“Inappropriate is a woman alone on the streets at night. Show us willingly or by force.”
“Are you looking for someone?” I asked innocently, trying to gauge if I could stall them enough to think of a way out.
“Now.” The second guard shifted to a spot behind me, and I tried not to grimace as I lifted the hood covering my face and hair.
I expected more yelling.
The bearded one shook his head. “It’s not the foreigner.”
Without apology they moved on, and I could only utter a soft, “Thank you, goddess.” I untucked my hand from my sleeve long enough to see my skin had returned to its regular shade.
Sharia was no more.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
The gradeena was close to my location, but the plan I’d hatched with the others to excuse my absence while at the castle was that I was recovering from an illness that kept me from the stage at Qynn’s. But first I had to get into her place without being seen. It required me to climb to the roof of the baker and then traverse it. Qynn owned a large apartment above a clothing shop—which she also happened to own. The peaked windows were locked from the outside unless you knew the trick to their puzzle.
I slipped in while it was still dark, unseen by anyone outside. The moment my feet hit the floor in Qynn’s main living space, a sword pressed against my back.
