Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Her door sounded as if it were moments away from being broken through, but Gideon's ward held. His glamor slipped effortlessly over him again and his human form reappeared.

"We're going to have to take them. Are you ready?" he asked her then.

Lyv swallowed hard, her mind still reeling from the information that seemed to fall on her in the last half hour. But she kept her cool and nodded. "Let's go. Once we are out, I know a way to get out of the palace."

She made a move to put on a glamour herself to hide from the guardsmen who were looking for her, but Gideon shook his head. "Don't. If they don't know it's you, they will kill you on the spot if you attack them. I know it's a risk in itself, but you have to stay alive."

She nodded again.

And the wood panels of the door moaned against the weight being slammed against it.

"Keep close to me," he told her. "Have your knife at the ready and use your magic sparingly. I know with the training it's built up, but I cannot have you burning out on me."

"Then the same goes to you."

He gave her a curt nod. "Of course, my princess."

And with that, he lifted the ward, the door finally giving way. The guardsmen burst into the room, wielding their swords and immediately going for Gideon. He charged, cutting down two of them before they were even close to her. There was no way she was going to let him do all the work, though.

Lyv charged into the chaos herself, her knife going against half a dozen swords. But she knew these men, had trained with them before. She knew their weaknesses and took advantage of every single one until she was the only one left standing and six bodies lay at her feet.

"You're making me look bad, Lyv," Gideon told her. He'd only taken on three guardsmen. "I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the fighting. You know, oath of fidelity and all."

"Well, get over it, sweetheart. Now, let's go."

Stepping over the fallen guardsmen, she glanced down once more at Tulia, eyes glassy and her mouth still open in a scream. Lyv clenched her jaw, said a quick prayer, and led Gideon to their only hope of escape from the palace walls.

As they cut down every guardsman that went for the attack, Lyv was trying to focus and find the right stone along the wall of the oldest part of the palace. There it was, just before one of the guest rooms, with slightest of discoloration, something only Lyv had been able to see. If you weren't looking for it, you would have never found it.

She'd been eleven when the secret passage way revealed itself after she'd pressed on it. It unhinged a painting of one of her ancestors who lived centuries before, which had seemingly been bolted into place beforehand. Her mother even had men try to get it down years before, but to no avail.

Gideon jump back as the painting swung open.

"Go on," she said, pointing him to the small archway even she had to duck to get through.

He did as she said, following behind him a fraction of a second later and swinging the painting back into its locked position as more screams came from down the hallway.

Lyv pushed past Gideon, using the walls on either side of her as a guide since it was so dark, and started counting the steps. She was so caught up with it that she barely heard Gideon speak behind her.