Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4) - Kendare Blake Page 0,53

it sounds any good. But before the guard’s suspicions can be raised any further, another soldier pulls Arsinoe along to clear the path for the woman behind her.

“That’s the armorer,” he says. “They’ve been waiting on her. Get her through.” He nods to Arsinoe. “Get on.”

Arsinoe walks through the raised gate and into the interior of the castle, falling into step with the rest of the line as they meander through the corridors. She takes a deep breath. She feels safer now in the shadows of the torchlit hallways. But she has to find an entrance to the passageways soon or a discreet staircase to slip up or down. If she does not, she will wind up nose to nose with her little sister, and a pair of buns is not a good enough disguise for that.

The good news is the queensguard escort seems to pay little attention to the merchants now that they are in the Volroy proper. So when they turn a corner, it is all too easy for Arsinoe to slip out of line and dash quickly around the next corner, moving so smoothly up a staircase of the West Tower that it is like it was meant to be. From there, it takes only a few moments to find the right ancient tapestry and open the right stone, allowing her into the walls to move about undetected.

All of that time she spent living Daphne’s life in the Volroy, dreaming those long-ago dreams, has finally come in handy.

Far up in the hills, the rest of the rebel party lies in wait, blended into the trees and snow-covered stones. They will wait there undetected until Arsinoe returns from the city, and then they will wait longer, until the parade is under way and Billy’s party springs the diversion.

“Do you think you kept me far enough back?” Jules asks sarcastically. From there in the hills, Indrid Down looks like a play city made of blocks. Something for a child to build and knock down on a whim.

There are not many there, tucked into their cloaks behind the rocks, sharing plates of bacon and barley mush. A small faction of soldiers, totaling twenty-five, not counting those six who went with Billy to hide for the night along the parade route. They are mostly warriors, but a few naturalists and giftless as well.

Jules growls deep in her throat. “We’re too far away.”

“We will move closer on the day of the parade,” Emilia says. “There is no reason to endanger you yet. You should have listened to me and not come at all.”

“Arsinoe and I never listen to anyone. Didn’t we tell you?” Jules pats the neck of her own mount, who is actually Katharine’s old gelding, and the horse flinches. Since Jules’s return, he has been shy of her, and only her naturalist gift allows her to come close enough to mount. She must have given him such a fright that day when she lost control at Innisfuil Valley.

Emilia pokes Jules hard between the eyebrows.

“Does all of Wolf Spring raise its children to be so stupid? You must fight smart, Jules. Fight to survive the war.”

“But it won’t really matter, will it? The memory of the Legion Queen is enough to unite the cities and the new council. You won’t need me.”

Emilia’s chestnut horse stomps closer at her urging, to bump against Jules’s gelding. “We won’t. But I will.”

Jules looks away, back toward the city. Thinking of Arsinoe alone in the Volroy makes her stomach clench in knots.

“I don’t like this plan of hers.”

“It is not a plan at all.”

Jules smirks. “That’s what all of Arsinoe’s plans are like.”

Emilia laughs. “Someday I must explain to you naturalists the difference between recklessness and calculated sacrifice.”

Emilia’s dark eyes sparkle. She referred to Arsinoe as a naturalist. Not a queen or a hated poisoner. The moment is warm, and Jules reaches out to touch Emilia’s cheek.

“Don’t be afraid.” Emilia covers her hand with her own. “You and I are tethered now. And I will never let you fall back into darkness.”

Jules takes her hand back.

“If I’d been fully myself, I never would have let you do that. To take on this burden.”

“You are not a burden.”

Emilia looks over her shoulder, back to their makeshift camp and Mathilde, who has polished a piece of ice to blow smoke across for visions. “We always knew it would not be easy. But it will be worth it.”

THE VOLROY

Katharine catches Rho as she is returning from her morning