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“We enjoy the Citadelle, and Tempeste.” I murmured softly. “We keep ourselves strong and map out the palace and the city, so when the opportunity arises, we can find our way out of here.”
“I already memorized my way back from the throne room.” Em’s voice was barely a whisper. “But we’ve only seen a small part of the palace.”
I nodded in agreement.
We had to see the rest to know for sure.
Slaves might not be educated, but we could draw a map of every house we’d ever been in from memory. If we were tardy delivering morning coffee, we got our ears boxed. Late cleaning the dining table after banquet? You’d be whipped.
Our very lives depended on us memorizing the layout of every floor and hallway.
“So today, we explore the palace.” I pulled the dress over my head. The pale blue reminded me of a Ravenshade slave uniform, then wrapped a scarf around my neck to hide the iron collar. “Tomorrow, we venture into the city. We explore one level at a time.”
I met Ember’s silver-flecked eyes. “In four days, we’ll be able to find our way out of here blindfolded.”
Her tentative smile turned fierce. “And then we leave all this behind and start our lives.” There she was. My oldest friend. The one who never backed down from anything.
I couldn’t stop my answering grin. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard in days.”
* * *
A week later,we knew every floor of the palace and all four tiers of the city by heart, Ember had even located the entrance to the catacombs beneath the bustling streets of Tempeste’s lowest level.
The crumbling arch was engraved in the language of the Old Gods, the opening boarded up so long ago, the wood had rotted away. A stale, foul odor drifted out, and I wondered how far down those tunnels went.
Arm in arm, we strolled through Tempeste, which was absolute chaos contained within four levels of towering stone. The king and his inner court ruled from the highest level, the next was for members of the aristocracy, their walled gardens as dead as the land stretching out around us.
Tier two was the in-be-tweens, Fae who owned a decent house, but no courtyard, then there was the lowest level, filled with shops and commoners and the massive outdoor market, which teemed with wagons and farmers peddling their wares.
Everyone had pointed ears, still a novelty, after a week. Most Fae kept them pierced, from a single silver band to rows of dangling earrings that climbed the delicate arch, all the way to the top.
But these were not the Fae from my books.
These creatures were cunning and cruel, with devouring black eyes and razor-sharp teeth. I noticed how tightly the farmers gripped their children, and how voraciously the Fae watched them.
None had pale eyes like mine, either, though I didn’t know what to make of it. We were dressed as finely as any in the king’s court, with dressmakers to measure us daily for gowns, a jeweler for our tiaras and rings and bracelets, the cobbler fitting us for velvet slippers.
True to the king’s word, we were pampered like royalty. I couldn’t say I hated having enough to eat, clean clothes and shoes that actually fit, for the first time in my life.
But something was off.
I couldn’t put my finger on what, exactly, but there was an undercurrent of wrongness, as if the bustle and noise hid the ugliness beneath.
And where did the food come from, when everything around us was a barren waste?
The outdoor market’s displays were meager, as expected, but meals at the Citadelle were vast and lavish, even wasteful.
I wasn’t surprised, having starved most of my life while the Descendants gorged themselves, but all the excess just felt…even more ominous, somehow.
The Citadelle was a labyrinth of corridors and hidden chambers, twelve floors worth, and though every palace had a secret way out, we had yet to find one here.
There were two possibilities.
One constantly-guarded doorway on the second floor, and a hallway of locked doors near the kitchens. We’d been blocked from entering both areas, though the guard’s interference had been subtle.
Either one could be our escape from this place, so naturally, that was all I thought of.
Well, that, and the king and Solok’s exchange.
