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Lina scrambled up the wrought iron without a problem, spider climbing down the other side. She dropped into the grass and looked at Odette through the bars.
“I stayed here for several nights, remember? In order to allow me to stay on the premises, Rothbart had to adjust his spells.”
“Do you know where he hides his beans?”
Lina nodded. “Zoya told me. Unless he’s moved them since then.”
“The servants probably won’t like you being there.”
She gave Odette a condescending smile. “You may be in charge, but you forget that the most elite assassins in the kingdom also trained me.”
And with that she dashed away, scooping up two large boulders while she ran. Odette watched as she moved to the left of the house and hurled one through the window, then dove into the bushes lining the manor.
Shouting sounded from inside, and the front door flew open. Servants raced into the night and ran around the manor’s side. The bushes along the house moved, as if Lina was running toward the back of the manor. The two men who came out shouted and bolted after the moving brush.
Meanwhile, Lina slipped out of the bushes, the second boulder no longer in her hands, and crept up the front steps. She peered carefully in through the entrance before slipping inside.
Only a few moments later, she dropped out of the lower floor window on the manor’s right side. A shout indicated that someone had seen her. She dashed to the gate.
“Here,” she gasped, shoving three beans at Odette and keeping one for herself. “I grabbed what I could. Don’t wait. Go. Save Zoya.”
Odette shoved the marriage certificate back between the book’s pages and fumbled with the diary as she tucked it under her skirts. “You should come with me.”
“I’ve never been to the castle.”
That was the catch with the beans. She couldn’t go anywhere she couldn’t picture in her mind. Odette took the beans, and Lina began to climb.
“Go!" Lina directed. "I’ll wait for you at the lake.”
The servants were already at the gate. Backing up, Odette threw the bean, and it opened.
“Go!” Lina tossed a bean from the top of the gate and a portal opened as soon as it hit the ground. Lina released the wrought iron and dove. Odette watched, wide-eyed, as she fell into the portal. It slammed shut.
She hoped Lina was okay. Steadying her breathing, she walked through her own portal, now focused. Getting into the ball shouldn’t be a problem. After all, she was the prince’s special guest. She’d just say she’d stepped out for a moment for fresh air and misplaced her mask.
Once she was inside, she had one goal.
Save Zoya before the queen killed her.
Chapter 22
Rothbart
Rothbart didn’t like having Zoya out of his sight. What was more, he hadn’t prepared her for a meeting with the queen. If she discovered Zoya-disguised-as-Odette was his sister, what would she do? Had Prince Torsten even told his mother that Rothbart was the one holding his so-called love captive? Did she believe it?
People milled about in their finery, shoving past him. The heat of the party caused sweat to break out along his forehead, the lilting music an unnecessary distraction. He wanted to break that door down and see what was happening.
But he dared not approach. Guards kept watch at the room that Zoya had entered, plus Prince Torsten lingered nearby. The mask did its job in hiding him, but if he had to interact with anyone, he’d be identified in an instant.
A figure in white made her way through the crowd nearby. Despite her mask, he recognized her mass of curls. She came like a shadow, sliding between people, moving on bare feet. He frowned. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought that Zoya had somehow escaped her interview with the queen.
But Rothbart knew better. The clench of her jaw, the stealth of her movements, her single focused determination told him it could be only one person.
Odette.
He shoved his way after her through the bodies of lace and silk.
When he reached her, he grabbed her arm from behind, spinning her around and tearing off her mask. “How the hell did you get here?”
