The Reckless Reign (Book 3, The Culled Crown Series)

Chapter 63

Oredison Palace, Gazda.
The Gown Tour.
The afternoon.

We were halfway through dressing a mannequin in the ballroom when I felt it—just the slightest tug of heat from the western wing of the palace. I sought out the fire, casting every ounce of my ability out from me, allowing invisible hands to comb each cold hearth, every burnt-out candle, until it collided with two pinpricks of flame. One of oil and one of kerosine.

I exhaled and glanced to where Birk stood arranging a sash over the fake woman's torso. "What—Remind me how the lanterns work again."

He didn't look up from his task but anxiety laced his voice as he asked, "Um...why?"

"Because Arden's just lit both lanterns."

He froze and glanced up at me, then to the pocket watch pinned to his vest. Birk narrowed his eyes at the little time piece and shook his head, as if it were a liar. I stepped forward, glancing at it too. We had just a little under hall an hour until two o'clock. And the lanterns were already lit. That earlier than we'd expected.

Birk and I caught gazes.

Em pursed her lips and crossed the room towards us, keeping her voice down as she asked, "What is it? What's happened?"

"Just..." He hesitated. "Just that we need to hurry."

"What does it mean?" I asked again.

Each of his movements was rushed, his fingers shaking as he finished with the sash and moved to arrange the skirt of the dress. With one hand, he pushed the cart towards me. "I need the sapphire necklace." He snapped his fingers in impatiences.

I did as he asked, shuffling through the wooden jewelry box on until I found what he had requested. "Has it started?"

His voice was almost too quiet to hear as he explained, "The diversions in the city has started, that's what it means. Keep an eye on the oil lantern—when it goes out, we'll know Caine's troops have left."

"And when the kerosine goes out..." I trialed off, turning to look at the row of gowns still hanging on the rack. "We need to split up. Doing it together like this, it isn't working." Before he could say anything else, I'd already grabbed three of the gowns. I held them up for him to see. "Where do these go?"

He hesitated, but Jarvis nodded from his place by the door. He'd been acting as our escort and, for all intents and purposes, our look-out. "She's right," he said. "We still have a lot of gowns to put out and Arden's just shaved off at least thirty minutes of time."

Maya grabbed two dresses. "Tell us where to go. They don't need to be perfect," she said, "But they do need to be in place."

Birk looked to me. "I can do it," I said, unsure exactly which part I was talking about—putting the dresses on display or lighting the explosives.

As we'd worked, I'd been casting a large web across the place, linking my ability to each gown. I imagined all of them—the velvet emerald green gown draped across a settee in one of the music rooms, the pale yellow sun dress with its wide-brimmed hat positioned along the pathway just outside the palace barracks, the royal blue night gown in one of the guest bedrooms, the sapphire and white chiffon monstrosity perched at the dining room table. Each gown was in my mind, a tendril of ability cast out in that general direction—ready for Arden's signal.

I riffled through them mentally, trying to remember what we hadn't done yet. Birk had gone over each gowns placement last night before we'd gone to bed, but it was difficult to remember where we'd been and where we needed to go. As it was, I already felt spread too thin.