The Queen's Assassin (Queen's Secret #1) - Melissa de la Cruz Page 0,46

a lot. And there’s that card game in the dining hall tonight . . .”

He nods; he’s been keeping tabs as well, and he memorized the map of the castle he’d made when he first arrived. “This way,” he says as he leads them out toward the back.

The sound of out-of-tune instruments playing disjointed songs floats into the dark hallway. “Good,” she says. “They’ll never hear us over all that racket.”

Curious girl, he thinks to himself. The way she’s taking charge, it’s almost as if she thinks she’s the one saving him. Entertaining as it is, he supposes she is sort of rescuing him, even if he could have overtaken the guards and been on his way out of Deersia on his own. But his orders were to wait. Regardless, he’s rather enjoying the charade.

They back up against the wall and inch toward the dining room. Cal nods at the swords leaning against the wall outside the entrance. Shadow nods in agreement. They will take them.

She studies the open doorway and closes her eyes for a moment. Then she opens them and urgently waves her hand down. They both crouch just as a guard walks into the hall. The man glances in their direction but doesn’t see anything amiss. He turns and heads the other way.

Shadow puts her hand over her heart and exhales softly. Cal’s not worried, though—amused is more like it.

They continue sliding along the wall until they get close to the door.

Now they just need to slip past the doorway without being noticed. Shadow gets down on her hands and knees and peeks into the room. Then, in a flash, she’s on the other side, grabbing a sword. Cal stays low and moves next to her, then chooses a blade for himself.

They move quickly through the hallway until they reach a side entrance off the kitchens. Cal’s about to open it but Shadow puts up a hand to stop him. He rolls his eyes and tries not to sigh. He can tell no one is there. He’d hear boots stomping. As he pushes the door open, she grabs his arm, for all of a sudden he’s face-to-face with the guard who’d left the dining hall earlier.

Without thinking, he drives his sword through the man’s stomach, then yanks it straight back out. The man’s exclamation gurgles in his throat, arms flailing wildly. Cal steps away as the man collapses.

Shadow’s breath hitches.

Cal walks through the doorway and continues on the path leading away from the building. He is clearly out of sorts from day after day of insufficient food and movement. If she hadn’t warned him, it might have been him lying crumpled on the floor with a sword through his belly, blank dead eyes wide-open in shock. He looks back. It won’t be long before someone finds the body. But they don’t have time to hide it.

He shakes off the thought, and they creep down the path toward the stables. Shadow leads them around the side. “The stable boys sleep in the loft, so try to stay quiet. We’ll take the horses closest to the door and head straight down the path to the main road. We should make it all the way to Alvilla before anyone notices.” The village is far enough away to make a safe haven.

He nods. They creep inside the barn, trying not to make any loud noises or sudden movements that would startle the horses.

They begin to saddle up when a whiny voice calls out from the far end of the loft. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” An angry blond boy is peering down at them over the loft rail.

“Luce,” Shadow snarls.

In the time it takes her to yell, “Go! Now!” Luce is already climbing down the ladder. He gets about halfway, then jumps the rest and chases after them.

Shadow has already mounted her horse and started for the lane leading to the gate, but Luce catches up to her and pulls on her leg.

Cal leaves his horse and runs after them, then tackles Luce to the ground. But the boy kicks him hard in the ribs and gets up first, so Cal grabs