“That’ll be my job, Warrior Prince.” She smirked up at me, the mischievous glint I’d missed back in her eye. “I’m much stealthier than you.”
“Lead the way, General.” I flattened my back against the wall, letting her creep past and step carefully over the bright flowers and garden decor.
Titus was certainly a creature who adored opulence. I didn’t understand it, but it was one word I could use to describe this entire estate. From the distant iron gate where Harlen told us to leave our horses to the abundant groves of a variety of fruit trees, he spared no expense.
“Watch your footing,” I whispered, nodding ahead.
Mila followed my gaze to where a small snake slithered through the stalks and wrapped up a cypher. “I hate snakes.”
“We’ll be inside soon,” I assured her.
Mila nodded but kept an eye on that creature winding its way up the trunk and into the branches. And I kept an eye on the clenching of her hands, the flinches toward the swords across her back.
A few feet ahead, a window large enough for Mila to slip through had been propped open. Harlen had laid out the plan perfectly, though my skin prickled with each step.
“Be careful,” I whispered as she sank into the dark cellar. A stupid warning. Of course she would be careful.
But her answering smile was grateful, moonlight filtering through the dense branches to halo her expression. “Always.” And she faded into the shadows.
I waited impatiently, fingers tapping a silent beat against my palms until she unlocked the door into the ground level for me to join her. We shut it behind us in case someone came down here, and tension wormed through me at the click of the lock.
It was long, quiet minutes of creeping up staircases, wending around corners, and ducking behind the ostentatious drapery. Endless listening for footsteps or voices, though we found none.
Thick gray rugs lined the halls, so at least that was a blessing of the Angels. Neither our steps nor small noises carried as they would on the bare ivory marble beneath.
If only the curtains had been pulled across the windows. But as we ducked under the tall frames so as not to be seen by any outer patrols, the grounds stretched beyond. Harlen swore there wouldn’t be too many guards, but Titus had doubled his routine system of sentinels since Vale returned. Including a team of escorts at her chamber.
Those would be our biggest threat. One we were approaching quickly. My hand drifted to my sword across my back.
I nudged Mila as we turned down another hallway. We didn’t need to communicate out loud given how we’d drilled the layoutof the manor into our heads today. I knew every turn she was about to take and that Vale’s corridor was the next over.
I tapped my nose.Smell anything?
Mila sniffed. Shook her head, brows furrowing.
Harlen had said he would set up the incense hours before we arrived. Some slow burning oil combination barely detectable until it was too late, imbued with a powder that would knock out the Starsearcher guards.
Why anyone would sell such a thing, I didn’t know. But it would work in our favor tonight.
That is, assuming Harlen was able to light it properly. But given that the subtle lavender scent supposed to lull the guards outside Vale’s door into a heady session was undetectable in the hall, my chest tightened.
I raised my brows at Mila, a silent,Your call, General.
She peered around the corner. Held up three fingers.
Three guards.
Mila turned back to me, and I caught her stare.
I tried to communicate to her that there was no way in Damien’s sorry existence I was leaving this manor without Vale—not with Cypherion’s voice in the back of my mind telling me how much he trusted me—but if Mila didn’t like the odds, I understood. She’d suffered enough for unjust causes.
But she nodded at me with wrath in her eyes. And silently, she pulled a knife from each thigh.
With the light prowl of a jungle cat, she danced around the corner, long braid whipping in her wake, and let both blades fly.
I had barely stepped into the hall when I heard the unmistakable squelches of knives sinking into throats. The thuds of the bodies falling.
And the shout of the one guard left standing.
