were in excellent shape. It swung open without a creak, so she scrambled into her makeshift harness, then looked out. Still no movement. Why were there no patrols? Where was the overly paranoid Garimoran security? Or was that simply a boast on Melger’s part that he had no idea how to follow through on?
All the better for her. With one last glance at the sleeper, she stepped out, let the rope take her weight, and began the descent to her—thankfully—still open window. Without looking down. She didn’t want to know how far away the ground was this time.
There were still no lights burning in her room, so it seemed as though her absence had not yet been discovered. Only a few more feet and she would be safe. Mostly.
A light breeze stirred the edges of Leisa’s hood, jerking her gaze to the open window above her. For a moment, the window hesitated, and then, unmistakably, moved with the wind.
She moved faster—down, then in through the window feet first. The moment her feet hit the floor, she dropped as silently as she could, which wasn’t all that silently. The thud made her wince, but she was too busy shedding her harness and pulling at one end to free it from the bedpost upstairs.
Hand over hand, she reeled it in until a fresh gust of wind rushed along the side of the castle, and one of the window panes upstairs swung shut with a loud, hearty crash.
Leisa heard swearing.
Praying the man wasn’t yet awake enough to know what he was seeing, she pulled harder, and was rewarded by the sudden drop of the second end out the window.
Footsteps upstairs. Footsteps in her antechamber. Footsteps approaching from the end of the hall outside her suite.
She’d never moved so fast. The end of the rope shot in through her window just as she heard both panes of the upstairs window pulled shut. She stuffed the rope into its pocket, then ripped off her vest and shoved it into the bed, followed by her shirt and trousers. Her boots went back into the maids’ trunk. Leisa ran to the mirror in nothing but her underthings, gazed for an instant at her wide blue eyes, then watched her reflection ripple and change until Evaraine’s emerald-green eyes stared at her once more.
The belt of her dressing gown was already tied neatly around her waist when the tentative knock came at her door.
“Your Highness?” It was barely above a whisper.
“One moment,” Leisa called, trying to sound sleepy and running her fingers through her hair to muss it before she opened the door. “What?” She didn’t even have to try to sound irritable.
“I’m so sorry, but…” Lady Piperell couldn’t even finish the sentence. Just jerked her head to indicate the anteroom behind her.
The Raven was waiting.
Chapter 9
He could sense her unease, though she disguised it well behind a frown and fluttering lashes.
“Why am I being disturbed?”
He didn’t say anything, just took two steps closer, wondering what it would take to break her facade. To make her admit to the startling truth of her earlier activities.
“I believe there was an intruder,” Lady Piperell said to the princess in a quiet voice. “Perhaps he means to ensure that you are unharmed.”
Perhaps… and perhaps not. Perhaps she was not even a princess. Would a princess be so adept at spying? Would a princess have the ability to pick locks, leap off balconies, and rappel down walls? It seemed unlikely, especially given what he’d overheard about the princess from Farhall.
Sickly. Shy. Underwhelming in looks and personality. This woman’s face matched her portrait, but nothing else matched what King Melger had expected to find in his son’s prospective bride. Especially not the magic that lurked beneath her skin.
If King Melger knew what the Raven now knew, he would likely demand the girl’s execution. Or at least that she suffer an unfortunate accident. But the king didn’t know, and he hadn’t commanded his bodyguard to tell him.
And yet, neither could the Raven simply stand by and watch as this disaster unfolded. He was… curious. For the first time in years, he felt another emotion balancing out that burning desire for revenge, and it was strangely unsettling.
The princess finally seemed to gather her courage. She straightened her spine, folded one arm across her chest, and let the fingers of her other hand fall on the gem around her neck.
Then she pulled it free and rolled it around in her fingers, touching it to her bare skin