my hand along his sleeve, earning a strange look from a nearby Draeganish knight. Ignoring him, I lean closer. “Then why do you look so tense?”
“I’m uncomfortable having you this close to the royal family,” Rhys answers quietly. “But if you swear you’ll stay here, then I will be able to breathe easier.”
“I will stay,” I promise. “I won’t leave the tavern until you return.”
Rhys looks like he’s resisting the urge to kiss me goodbye. He brings my hand to his lips instead, brushing a kiss over my knuckles.
“Be careful,” I whisper.
He nods, looking reluctant to leave, and then he drops my hand and walks out the door. As it closes behind him, my chest tightens with apprehension—exactly like the day in the meadow before I lost Braeton.
I have the worst feeling something terrible is going to happen. I just don’t know what.
41
“Your Highness, we’ve sent men ahead to announce your return to your father,” one of the knights says as I mount a borrowed horse.
“You told him?” I say sharply.
“Yes…” The man frowns, obviously expecting a different response.
“Did you also tell him I have returned with the princess?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the man says. “He will be most pleased.”
I let out a string of curses under my breath, and Lewis flashes me an uneasy look. I turn to him. “Stay with Amalia.”
Keep her safe.
“Of course,” Lewis says, immediately dismounting.
Aeron rides next to me, unspeaking until we’re near the castle yard. “What are you going to do?”
“I need to find Edwin.”
We dismount, handing off our horses to waiting grooms, and Aeron follows me up the steps.
A guard calls us back.
“We were ordered to bring you to the king when you arrived,” he says when I look over my shoulder.
“I’ve been gone months, not years. I can find my way around the castle just fine, thank you.”
“But Your Highness…”
“Do I look as though I need an entourage?”
The man flushes. “Of course not…”
I turn my back on them and continue up the steps. To Aeron, I say, “Keep walking.”
No one dares follow.
“Once we’re inside, we’ll duck through a passage that leads to the hall outside Edwin’s quarters,” I say quietly.
Aeron shakes his head. “You and Cassia are like spies. No one knows the castle as well as you.”
“We spent half our childhood exploring. It’s not like there was much else to do.”
We duck into a seldom-used room that contains stacks of furniture covered in dusty sheets. A table blocks the tunnel entrance that’s hiding behind an empty bookshelf.
“Help me with this, will you?” I ask, taking one side of the table.
I can feel the sun setting with each minute, and something internal yells at me to hurry. I must return to Amalia before dark.
The passage smells musty, and it makes my nose itch.
Aeron bats away a cobweb. “I don’t suppose you have a lantern?”
“It’s an easy passage,” I tell him as I step inside. “There’s only one turn on the right that we will need to avoid, and the rest is straight tunnel with stairs.”
“So we’re going in blind?”
I glance back at my friend, giving him a morbid smile. “At eight years old, Cassia darted through these like a mouse, but you’re scared at twenty-four?”
Aeron scoffs and follows me into the dark passage.
We’re just past the first flight of stairs when I hear footsteps.
“What’s that?” Aeron demands, yanking me to a stop.
We wait in the perfect darkness, listening.
“Voices,” he whispers.
Ahead, nearing the top of the next stairway, a bobbing light comes into view.
“Once we’re past the courtyard, we should be safe enough,” a familiar voice says. “I don’t often venture into the city, so few people will know my face. And they certainly won’t know yours.”
I wait at the bottom of the stairs, cocking my head to the side.
“Speaking of your sister darting through the tunnels,” Aeron whispers low, recognizing Cassia’s voice as well. “What do you think she’s doing?”
I shake my head even though he can’t see me in the dark. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound like she’s up to anything good.”
I wait for the pair to get closer, leaning a shoulder against the stone tunnel wall. As soon as she’s at the top of the stairs, the lantern’s light reaches us.
Cassia lets out a surprised squeal the moment she sees me, and she stumbles right back into the arms of her companion.
My mouth falls open when I recognize Amalia’s brother.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
Cassia steps forward, holding up the lantern. Her eyes flash in the firelight, irritated and