Ruby Red

Chapter Sixteen

For the day after the ball, Alana and Indigo decided to lay low. They were both cooped up in their room above the tavern all day so no one would spot them, but there was an unspoken tension between them that made the whole ordeal a nightmare.

Indigo didn't come back from their "walk" until late the previous evening and had said nothing before climbing into bed. Alana didn't know what they had actually been doing, but the fact that they had changed demeanor so quickly scared her. They had just killed eight people. She knew what they could do, and she didn't want to stick around to have it done to her.

Two days after the ball, gossip was starting to die down. People were more concerned about where the Scepter was now and how the Vault ceremony would go this weekend than what had happened. There was still some talk, but it was safer for Alana and Indigo to be in public.

Alana was messing around with Etta at the bar, talking and laughing and pushing each other around, when Indigo stepped out from the inn part of the building. They fastened a cloak around their shoulders and glanced over at the girls. "I have some errands to run. I'll be back later."

"All right. Be careful," Etta warned. "You're not off the hook with the queen yet."

"Do you need help with anything? Is it for the ceremony?" Alana asked.

The corner of Indigo's mouth twitched into a half-smile. "I've got it, thanks. This is something I need to handle by myself. Just watch the Scepter and make sure everything stays the way it is." They started to walk away, pulling their hood up over their head as the door slammed shut behind them.

Alana looked over at Etta. "They're being really cryptic again." She raised her eyebrows. "Should I go and figure out what they're up to?"

"You could do that. They would hate it if they found you sneaking around after them, though," Etta said with a grin. "Although they did tell you to watch the Scepter."

"Let me take care of it, and then I'll go." Alana came out from behind the bar and went back up to their room.

The Scepter was laying across the desk chair where they had been keeping it wrapped up in a protective cloth. Alana picked it up and the gray cloth fell back from around it. She admired it for a moment, how the rubies caught the sunlight and darkened the gold like blood. No one other than the royals had ever held the Scepter before. They had made history in more ways than one.

There had to be someplace around here where she could hide the Scepter so no one could find it. Alana glanced around the room and scanned up and down for a place she could easily access, but where no one else would think to look.

Alana decided to feel along the wall the headboards were against for anywhere she could hide the Scepter. Sometimes homes had safes built into the walls, so maybe the inn had something like that, especially with a retired pirate as its owner. It was unlikely, but it couldn't hurt to try.

As she reached up to start searching the wall, something sharp grazed her forearm. Alana looked down and saw a corner of the wood had poked up from the side of the headboard. Rubbing her arm, she suddenly had an idea.

She set the Scepter down on the bed and used both of her hands to pry the board away from the bedframe. Between the sides of the headboard, it was an empty space. It stretched for the entire width of the bed. Perfect.

Alana grabbed the Scepter again and slipped it inside of the headboard. When she put the board back, she made a notch in it with her dagger to mark it, but then shoved it back into place. No one would ever think to look there, and if they did, it would seem as if nothing was amiss. It was the best hiding spot she could find on short notice.