Chapter 56

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~Assassin~

The second Oris crossed the doorway that demarcated the dungeons from the rest of the palace, her gaze landed on absolute chaos.

She froze in place to take in what was happening in front of her but the prisoners behind her didn't care for her astonishment. They shoved her away from the entrance and poured into the hallway.

Oris staggered forward but immediately regained her footing and pressed herself against the closest wall to avoid blocking the path of anyone who was eager to rush to their death.

It was just her luck that the moment she managed to escape on disaster, she stumbled right into another one. Still, her chances of dying from being out here were lower than those she would have if she stayed in her cell and waited for an assassin to slit her throat.

Out here, a handful of men dressed in black stealth clothes were fighting the palace guards and winning. At the same time, the guards attempted to hold back the escaping convicts, but as the prisoners fled the dungeons they were immediately equipped with weapons being handed out by the black-clad intruders.

Just what is going on? she wondered while inching along the wall to get away from the bloody battle unfolding in front of her. There are really assassins in the palace?

She had to duck when a spear embedded itself in the spot above her head. Blood pouring from its owner's neck splashed against her front as he collapsed beside her.

Oris held her breath and waited for his corpse to fall to the ground before stepping over it and continuing along the wall. Right now, she was glad that the hallways here weren't as brightly lit as the one she had just come out from.

The men around her were so engrossed in trying to kill one another that they hadn't really noticed her attempts to sneak away.

She had to get somewhere safe, fast, before they did.

This sudden attack on the palace could either be as a result of a failed attempt on Hermes' life or a successful invasion. Either circumstance was definitely not the sort a woman should be caught dead in the middle of while disrobed.

Right now, every man in front of Oris was her enemy, and she did not fear for her life but her chastity.

If she let herself be taken then her kingdom would remain a subservient State,and that was the last reality she wanted imposed on her people because of her inattentiveness.

It was a hard and slow job getting to the other end of the hallway but Oris persevered, pausing and holding her breath whenever someone got too close. She had lost count of how many prayers she had muttered under her breath as dying prisoners and enraged soldiers alike tore each other apart right in front of her.

While she hoped that this was the only part of the palace that had been invaded, the rational part of her knew that she was being unrealistically optimistic.

The dungeons of Hermes' palace—unlike conventional ones—were built just two floors below his bedchambers. They were nowhere near the ground floor.

That meant that these assassins had the skills to slip past the hundred soldiers guarding the lower floors unnoticed. Since they chose to show themselves now, their plan couldn't just be to hand prisoners weapons and add fuel to the chaos they caused, and out in the open was the last place Oris wanted to be when it all went down.

The only option she had now was to somehow get back to her room and hide out with her maids until it all blew over.

She'd deal with the crime of escaping the dungeons later.

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