AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The girl rolled her eyes. “I didn’t realize new maids were brought to you for inspection before starting work.”
The man bristled, clearly not appreciating her tone.
“Unapproved people are not permitted to wander the law keepers’ hall,” he said pompously. “If you are who you say you are, I’m sure you’ll have no problem coming with me to—”
The girl put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Of course I have a problem with it! We’re behind work for the morning as it is. If you have an issue, you can go on your own.”
The man swelled with wrath, his eyes bulging, but before he could say anything, another woman appeared from a side room.
“Where are—oh.” She gave the man an unimpressed look. “It’s you. I should have guessed. Stop harassing the new maid and let her get back to her work, or I’ll have to report you again.”
The young man drew himself up to his full height, but he couldn’t entirely hide his chagrin.
“It is the duty of all law keepers to question the presence of anyone who might not belong in the hall,” he said. “I was merely doing my duty.”
“Well go do your duty on someone else’s time,” the woman said tartly. “I’ve had enough of your nonsense.”
The girl with the duster laughed and hurried into the room behind the other woman, leaving the young guard sputtering alone in the corridor. I whisked my head back around the corner, my heart racing.
He was clearly the last person I wanted to run into, even before he’d been embarrassed and enraged by the two women. If he caught sight of me, there would be no one to shield me from his pompous meddling, and I might actually find myself dragged off to whatever authority figure he’d been intending to appeal to.
I glanced around wildly, my eyes landing on the smooth door used for storage closets. Prying up the ring that lay recessed in the wood, I pulled the door open and propelled myself inside, gently closing the door behind me.
It was nearly pitch-black inside, but I ignored the closet’s contents, my attention on the door as the sound of the man’s footsteps resumed. My breaths kept pace with his steps while my heart raced wildly ahead, pattering away as if I was already in his clutches.
Thank goodness he’d been held up in the other corridor, and I’d had the chance to see who I was dealing with. If I hadn’t hidden myself away—
My thoughts cut off as the speed of his steps changed. Surely it was coincidence he was slowing down so near my hiding place. There was no way he could have seen me from around the corner.
“Why am I being asked to fetch supplies?” The indignant mutter reached my ears through the wood of the door. “It’s a waste of a soldier and an insult to my dignity. If they knew what they were doing, they wouldn’t—”
The door swung open, and the law keeper cut off mid-sentence. Taken by surprise, we both stood frozen, staring at each other.
ChapterEighteen
“What…?” the guard spluttered, his eyes roaming over the closet behind me. “Why are you in here in the dark?” A suspicious look descended over his face, and he lunged for me.
I moved at the same time, making a grab for his wrist. He was obviously inexperienced because he hadn’t even considered the possibility I might be a healer. By the time he realized what I was doing, I had already latched onto the exposed skin.
For half a second, I considered the option of mesmerizing him. All I had to do was convince him he’d seen me cleaning the hall previously, and the problem would be solved without harm to anyone.
But before the temptation could properly set in, I rejected it. During the weeks I had spent purging the minds of the islanders one by one, I had made myself a promise. I was never mesmerizing anyone again, no matter what the reason. Reaching into someone’s mind by force was a line that should never be crossed, no matter what.
If I decided it was all right to do it now in order to save lives, where did the argument end? Would I one day find myself enthralling my children to keep them away from any possible dangers?
But even without mesmerization, I was still a healer. As soon as I made contact, I pushed my power into his body. With only a small effort, I could easily end his life or even leave him permanently incapacitated. But this guard, no matter how officious, was not my enemy.
Instead of harming him, I used my power to put him to sleep. His eyes drifted closed mid protest, and he slumped forward onto me. I staggered back into a row of shelving, only just managing to catch him under his arms.
Struggling with his weight in the small space, I managed to get him down onto the floor and then onto his back. His legs sprawled out into the corridor, however, where they would draw the attention of anyone walking by. Leaping over him, I propped both of his knees up, but his legs immediately flopped back down.
I stepped back and considered the problem, my eyes landing on the door. Closing it part way, I wedged his feet against the wood so that as I pushed it closed, his feet moved back as well, pushing his knees up into a steeper angle.
I barely managed to get the door latched, stepping back with a sigh of relief. I had no time to waste, though. He might wake at any moment, and he would instantly raise the alarm when he did. I had to find Miro immediately.
Abandoning subtlety, I took off down the corridor at a sprint. When I tried to stop outside a door with an elaborate handle, I was moving so fast that I continued to slide forward. Spinning, I leaped back toward the door and pulled it roughly open.
Gasping for breath, I stumbled inside the room, pulling the door closed behind me. For a blank moment, I thought I’d come to the wrong place. The dark wood desk I had expected to see was nowhere in sight. Instead, an enormous, carved wooden chair with a high back and thick arms stood on the far side of the room. A row of simpler chairs ran down the room to the left and right, creating a space that felt far more like an audience chamber than an office. Even more shocking was the change from the familiar red carpet and curtains I had grown used to in Anka’s office. In Eldrida, they had been replaced with a deep purple—a shade whose use was forbidden beyond the royal family and Royal Mage.
