Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,56

again, but no one was standing outside, so I waved my hand. The lock softly clicked, and one of the doors swung outward.

I left the chambers and slipped out into a gray stone hallway lined with fluorestone lamps. I quickly moved from that hallway to another one, then another one.

The corridors were sparsely furnished, with only a few paintings and tapestries adorning the walls, and the only sound was my boots scuffing along the flagstones. This section of the palace was also quite chilly, as though not enough people lived here to bother with heating it. I shivered, wishing I’d grabbed a cloak from the armoire before I’d bolted from the chambers.

Various presences started tickling my mind, like white dandelion puffs drifting along on a summer breeze, but I kept moving forward. It was better than going back to those chambers and waiting for death to come find me.

I eased down several flights of stairs and stepped into another hallway. No one else was on this level, so I tiptoed over to the stone railing. My eyes widened, and my body froze, stunned by the sight before me.

This second-floor hallway formed part of a diamond-shaped balcony that ringed an enormous seven-story rotunda topped by a glass dome. Seams of silver ran through the glass, forming pretty patterns, while a massive arrow-shaped silver chandelier dangled from a chain in the center of the dome. White fluorestones dripped down the silver like hot wax, throwing out sprays of dazzling light and giving the rotunda a pleasing warmth.

Down below, a stunning mosaic of a strix with its wings stretched out wide was embedded in the gray stone floor, the massive creation running for more than two hundred feet. The strix was made of polished purple marble so dark that it almost looked black, and every slice of sunlight made the marble shimmer, as though the strix was beating its wings and flying through the floor. Two giant amethysts bigger than my head glinted as the strix’s eyes, while slabs of onyx tipped its wings. More slabs of onyx made up the creature’s beak and talons.

The amethysts and the onyx in the mosaic actually jutted up out of the floor, although dozens of people moved around the gemstones with practiced ease, not even glancing down to see where they were putting their feet. Servants mostly, dressed in pale purple tunics, although palace stewards, merchants, and nobles also flowed across the floor.

My gaze skipped past them all and landed on the guards, who were wearing dark purple tunics with swords dangling from their belts. The guards were stationed all around the rotunda, although they didn’t appear to be searching for someone, for me. Still, I reached out with my magic, skimming everyone’s thoughts.

I hate working the morning shift . . .

Must get this breakfast tray to Lady Arrington before she pitches a fit . . .

Can’t believe Lord Dickson thought no one would notice the berry balm stains on his collar. Lecherous old fool . . .

The thoughts cascaded over me one after another, all completely ordinary and oddly comforting. But listening to the Mortans wasn’t furthering my escape, so I found another set of stairs and crept down to the first floor.

This level featured several archways, and I ducked behind a diamond-shaped column and watched the people moving through the openings. The servants scurried toward an archway to my left, probably heading toward the palace kitchen, while the merchants and nobles streamed through a different opening, most likely heading toward libraries and other meeting rooms.

I eyed several more archways, but a variety of people were moving through them, and I couldn’t tell where they might lead. A nearby guard kept glancing at me, clearly wondering what I was doing, so I picked an archway and walked toward it.

I was halfway across the rotunda when this . . . presence brushed up against my mind, stronger and sharper than all the others. The sensation was faint at first, like a light breeze tickling my face and warning of an approaching storm. Then my fingertips began violently tingling, as though I were trying to clutch a lightning bolt in my hands.

Someone very powerful was coming this way.

The last thing I needed to do was run into a magier, so I jerked back, but I wasn’t watching where I was going, and my boot scraped against one of the amethyst eyes jutting up out of the strix mosaic. I stumbled, although I managed to catch myself before