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Fabric swirled around Sienna's ankles as she twisted to watch the disturbance. Hollis stepped up behind her, his muscular chest firmly lining up with her back, hands hovering near her waist.

Music continued in the background, the musicians unbothered by the commotion. As the door was flung open, a man barreled through it and a girl sent one last fleeting look at the guards who charged in her direction.

Queen Sienna Havlock met her gaze and swore she saw a ghost.

Ace

The feeling of the prickly brush jabbing her in the back still hadn't gone away even as Ace started up the rocky path to the queen’s castle. A cold front had come in from the east causing the long line of caterers, musicians, and other citizens coming to work for the queen to tug their cloaks a little tighter.

Excitement made the people jittery and preoccupied with their crafts as they waited to get into the staff’s quarters to begin preparing for the event. This made it easy for her to slip in line behind a cart stacked with trays of small cakes and pastries. She placed her hand on the back of the cart, saving the delicate desserts from falling over.

Sneaking by with the food seemed like an obvious choice for criminals but because it was so predictable, the guard never even considered it a real threat. They never caught on to the lax security and Ace took full advantage of that. This was the only way she could get in to see the queen; however, that wasn’t the reason she came so early. She needed the spell room where the books that held the magic were kept.

She came to steal. With her unnatural features, she knew there was no way for her to make it through this party unnoticed. The castle would be crawling with people, it already was. What she needed was to be someone else, or at least to look like someone else for a little while.

Her cloak matched those that waited to be let into the castle. They all wore similar clothing, black pants with a black shirt covered by the midnight blue cloaks. Blue was a common color for people in a position to be serving others. Like a particular shade of purple was a sign of the queens’ ownership. While the cloak Ace had stolen was fine enough to match theirs, the black clothing she wore underneath, if they looked closely, was faded and tattered. Nothing a spell book wouldn't fix.

Ace had tried to take in the castle from a distance. It was new—built within a month of the queens taking over for the Fae king. Tall towers stretched for the heavens, to the gods they could never reach. Stone was only broken up by small slit-like windows and a handful of large arching windows. Balconies jutted off of several windows to overlook the forest on one side and the view of the city on the other. All of it was a fancy show of magic that disgusted Ace. The stone was all still incredibly white which made it hard to look at when the sun was directly on it. It wasn’t the largest castle she’d seen but it was still a work of art nonetheless.

The cart behind them with all sorts of decorations packed into it was pulled by a man who remained busy trying to keep bits of ribbon and what looked like paper streamers from trailing out and tattering in the wind. A nervous flutter built up inside her stomach as the wagon rolled forward and stopped at the gate. The person in the front, the head baker who’d been invited to share his food for the event, talked quietly with a guard.

A second guardsman placed his hand on the hilt of the sword and strolled around the wagon. He took his time looking each person up and down before moving on to the next. He didn't speak but when he got to Ace she could tell at first he was already not approving of her. The rapid beat of her heart leapt into her throat.

When Ace felt like the guard looked at her for a moment too long, she noticed how his eyes glazed over as if he’d just remembered something incredibly important to him. Ace wasn’t the only person the gods could talk to and she got the distinct feeling they were whispering his thoughts into existence. He gave her a short nod and continued around the wagon.

She slowly let out her breath. The gods remained quiet, not speaking to her as they had promised in return for her appearance tonight, but she could still feel their presence, heavy around her like a fog. They were always watching.

Leather creaked as the driver gave a snap of the reins and the horses whinnied before the wagon lurched forward again. Ace kept her hand on the crates filled with desserts as they rocked back and forth keeping her attention pointed forward. Since returning to the land of the living she’d done many stupid and dangerous things, but this had to have been one of the riskiest to date. At the very least she knew it was god sanctioned.

It was easy to keep pace with the wagon as they moved slowly with the line of vehicles up to the entrance the staff could use. On the way, she could feel every rock she stepped on through the thin shoes she wore. She ground her teeth and when they reached the door she made sure the hood of her cloak was pulled forward enough to shadow her face, her glowing orange eyes, and her lightning white scar. Ace picked up a crate of what looked like cream filled donuts. The sweet smell rose to her nose and made her mouth water while she followed the other blue cloaked figures into the castle.

Stepping through the small, wooden door Ace was quickly greeted by the bustle of servants and staff moving from place to place. She found herself facing a long hall that diverted into several rooms. One of them had to be the kitchen because she could smell the meat that was being cooked. The way it mixed with the sweets in her arms made her crinkle her nose.

Following the person in front of her, she kept her head pointed down, entering a room connected to the kitchen. There was a door propped open where she could see someone busy cutting, dicing, and cooking away. Carefully she set the crate down and as the others left she turned in toward the kitchen. She’d taken her time before coming, preparing for this event as best as she could. Her preparations included sneaking into one of the guards’ keeps to get a good look at the blueprints of the castle. It was a surprise what could be heard when people thought you were a ghost.

Through the kitchen, there was another hallway that connected to where the warlocks worked and from there she had access to other parts of the castle, like the main dining hall where the party was being hosted.

Ace hesitated by the door, listening for a minute. The moment the main cook quit talking to himself and was called out of the room by another for assistance she moved into the kitchen. She took three steps toward the door on the left, ignoring the boiling water over the crackling fire, the towels draped across cabinet doors, the knives left out next to the chopped vegetables, and the food she had never been rich enough to eat.

A loin of cooked pork that had been thinly sliced sat still steaming. She cocked her head toward it, feeling her mouth water. With half a thought she reached for the food, taking a bite and tossing it in her mouth. The moment the meat touched her tongue it tasted like ash. No, not in the sense that she was eating something wrong or that she shouldn't have eaten it at all. No this was a feeling from the gods themselves, a warning to her. And had she not been so consumed with her thoughts maybe she would've noticed the warning sooner.

"May I help you?" a deep voice said behind her. "You do know that the punishment for thieves is to lose a hand, correct?"

Muscles tensed along her spine. Maybe the cook had never been talking to himself. Ace cleared her throat, keeping her back to the person talking. They couldn't see her face and they didn't need to.

"Oh? And are you going to turn me in for my small act of thievery?"

There was a brief pause for contemplation before he started again. "I should. It would be the right thing to do. And they would probably reward me greatly."

“So, you're not going to turn me in?"

He chuckled and the way he laughed reminded her of a warm spring day which wasn’t too hot, not too cold, and the sunshine was so bright you couldn't help but smile. "I didn't say that either."

"Well, is there anything I can do?” She didn’t know exactly what she could do but she knew this question would give her a greater sense of what sort of man she was dealing with and that could only further help her figure her way out of this now sticky situation.

There was a small whisper of fabric as the man moved from wherever he had been. She grimaced to herself.

“By law, I have to turn you in otherwise I am guilty by association."

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