They were arguing in the front room. It had been going on for a while now. Quilla had been amused at first. Listening to Dyle struggle to justify his actions had a cathartic quality to it. However, it was getting annoying now. She wanted to storm out there and tell them to shut up, but that would just make things worse. They were arguing about her, after all.

“I’m telling you, she told them,” Vellon said.

Quilla fingered the dagger in her hands. She had no doubt if the argument went against Dyle, they would be coming for her. Vellon would probably be in front. There was no way she could fight them off, but maybe she could take Vellon out before she died.

“And how do you think she did that?” Dyle said.

“Maybe she slipped a note to one of the guards at the gate when we went through,” Vellon said.

Dyle laughed. “One, she was being watched the whole time, wasn’t she, Sam?”

“That’s right,” Sam said. “I had her in view the whole time. No way she passed on any notes.”

“Two,” Dyle continued, “the guards were all paid off.”

“No guarantee of anything,” Vellon said. “Or how about the stables? She was left alone with only Friaz’s daughter for a while. Maybe she passed on a message then.”

“To who? Or are you suggesting she told one of the horses?”

“She was really protective of that big guy’s horse.”

Dyle laughed again. “Oh yes, you definitely got it there, Vellon. I’m sure she told the horse everything and then the horse told Rudiger.”

Quilla smiled to herself. Dyle had no idea just how correct that was.

“Yeah, like I’m suggesting that,” Vellon said.

“Then what are you suggesting?”

“Enough.” That sounded like Lamaën. He hadn’t contributed to the argument yet, so Quilla hadn’t even been sure he was with them. “There is another possible explanation. She wouldn’t have to tell the horse, but she could have left a note in the horse’s stall.”

Vellon’s laugh came next. “She certainly had lots of opportunity for that. You should have let me include the horse in the sacrifice.”

“And that would have stopped Rudiger finding the note?” Dyle said. “No, his horse going missing would have been noticed too fast.”

“And this wasn’t?”

“Watch yourself, Vellon. You’re walking a thin line these days.”

“I always watch myself. So, you admit a note left in the stable is a possibility?”

“Quilla would never do that.”

Quilla stifled a laugh. Oh Dyle. Even after she’d threatened to kill him, he still believed she wouldn’t turn on him—as if she’d ever been with him to begin with.

“I suspect she would,” Lamaën said.

“Ha!” Vellon yelled.

“However, Vellon…” Lamaën dwelt on the name. “It was my decision to bring Ms Steranovist with us. Her eventual role requires she know what powers we are dealing with. Her betrayal—assuming it happened—is unfortunate, but not something to worry about.”

“Not something to worry about?” Vellon said. “They’ve arrested Friaz. They’ll be coming for the rest of us if we don’t get out of here fast.”

“You expect Friaz to break?” Lamaën said.

“You don’t?” Vellon said.

“Under the best of circumstances,” Dyle said, “Barnol would crumple under the slightest pressure. We just killed his daughter and admitted we were intending to kill him. We’ve given him every reason to betray us.”

“It is of little matter,” Lamaën said. “Let’s not forget we have a dragon on our side.”

“A dragon that needs to eat for several days before it can help us,” Vellon said. “They’ll kill us before then if they get their hands on us.”

“The bond between the dragon and Lidda is still stabilising,” Dyle said. “Our biggest concern is that they kill Lidda before that happens.”

“They’ll be mired in bureaucracy first,” Lamaën said. “If they kill her before all that is dealt with, they risk a civil war. The bond will be stable long before then.”

“Dyle!”

That voice sounded like either Heb or Silv.

“What is it?”

“Prince Thilin and Princess Gabriella are leading a contingent of soldiers in this direction. Hard to say if they’re coming directly for us yet, but—”

“We need to move,” Dyle said. “Thank you, Heb. Begin evacuation. We’ll regroup at the tertiary hideout, not the secondary. Barnol knows the secondary, but not the tertiary. Move! Sam, get Quilla.”

Quilla took a deep breath and stood up. This was it. With a little luck, she would soon be away from here—away from Dyle and all his horrid Darker friends.

She wrapped the dagger in the folds of her skirts where they joined her blouse. As long as she was careful about how she moved, it should be secure there. Then she grabbed her bag from where it lay by the door. She had never bothered to unpack her things. She’d always expected to have to leave this place on a moment’s notice.

She opened the door and headed out before Sam reached her.

Dyle smiled. “Good, you were listening.”

She scowled at him.

“We should leave the bitch,” Vellon said.

“We need her,” Lamaën said.

Quilla walked right up to Vellon. “You know, Vellon, I’ve been counting the number of times you use that word to describe me. Every use adds to the length of time I make you suffer before I kill you.”

Sam laughed.

Vellon snarled and bared his sharpened teeth at her, but he’d done that so often, it had no effect on her now. She was pretty sure any fear she’d had left of him had vanished last night. Any fear she had left of all these Darkers vanished when Tianna went up in flames. All replaced by sheer hatred and determination. She had never actually killed anyone before, but she wouldn’t hesitate to kill Vellon if she got the chance.

Lamaën walked past them, pulling on his moustache. “Enough. Ms Steranovist comes with us. You are far more expendable, Vellon.”

“I gave an order!” Dyle yelled. “Move!”

Vellon snarled once more, then turned and stomped through the door that led to his room. He came back a moment later carrying a bag and a club. He stormed up the stairs.

Dyle held out his hand. “Shall we, Quilla?”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She glared at the hand. “What do you want me to do with that? Stab it?”

Sam laughed again.

Dyle lowered his hand with a shake of his head. “Let’s go.”

Sam ascended the steps next. Quilla went right after him. She hated all these Darkers, but she hated Sam the least. She wasn’t entirely sure why. The sight of him just didn’t fill her with the same amount of vile the others did. She’d stick near him for now. Dyle was right behind her, unfortunately, but she couldn’t have everything.

They came out from the basement of the theatre past the vineyard and orangery. She’d learned this for the first time last night, but it was nice to see it in the light now, and know she’d given Borisin the right directions.

Not far ahead, just past the main entrance to the row of glasshouses, a group of guards marched in their direction. Thilin and Gabriella were in the lead, both of them armoured and with swords drawn.

Sam took off to the left away from the guards. “This way.”

Quilla followed, trying to keep watch around her and to pay attention to where everyone else was, hoping to find a moment when she could make a break for it.

Dyle and Lamaën stayed just behind her, while Vellon, Heb, and Silv ran ahead of Sam towards the glasshouses. Thilin, Gabriella, and the guards broke into a run.

“Move!” Dyle yelled.

Quilla ran with Sam round behind the glasshouses towards the main expanse of gardens on the south side of the Palace. Vellon, Heb, and Silv had stopped up ahead at the corner of the wall surrounding the glasshouses.

“Keep moving!” Dyle yelled at them.

As Quilla and Sam got closer, it became clear why those three had stopped. Captain DeSeloön and a group of Kingsguard stood just around the corner. Zandrue and Rudiger stood beside DeSeloön.

“Why have you…?” Dyle started, but drained off as he reached them.

Thilin, Gabriella, and the Palace Guards came up on them from behind.

Dyle held up his hand, calling for a stop.

“You know,” Zandrue said, “I asked myself, if I were a Darker hiding out beneath the Royal Theatre and I saw a bunch of Palace guards approaching from the west, where would I go? Turns out, there aren’t many options. The only viable one is round the east side of the glasshouses to the southern gardens. Lo and behold, I was right. Hey, Quilla.”

Quilla waved back. “Good to see a friendly face again. So glad you got my message.”

Dyle turned and stared at her.

She smirked. “You really thought I wouldn’t find a way, Dyle?”

Vellon came at her. “It was her! I told you!” He grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the wall. “I’ll kill you, bitch.”

“Engage!” DeSeloön cried.

“Forward!” Gabriella yelled.

Vellon’s hands were firmly round Quilla’s neck, and she couldn’t breathe. She resisted the urge to pull his hands away. There was no way she was strong enough for that. Instead, she fumbled to unwrap the dagger. Her throat felt like it was going to collapse and her lungs screamed for air.

At last, the dagger came free and she stabbed it into his thigh. With a cry, he let go. She pulled the dagger back out, but he slammed his knee into her stomach. She gasped and the dagger clattered to the ground. His hands went for her neck again.

“Hey, Toothy!”

He turned just in time for Zandrue to ram her sword into his chest. He clutched at Quilla as he fell. Blood and guts poured over her. She felt sick.

Zandrue pulled her sword out and pushed him to the side. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time. You okay?”

Sam rose behind Zandrue.

“Look out!” Quilla gasped.

Zandrue ducked as Sam swung his mace at the back of her head. She spun round to face him, and he swung at her again. She ducked once more.

“Been looking forward to this rematch,” Sam said.

Quilla lunged for the dagger, but he slapped her across the side of the head. She fell back and hit her head on the wall. Her vision spun for a moment, and a shape lunged at Sam.

Zandrue yelled and something clattered on the ground.

Quilla’s vision cleared.

Zandrue was stumbling backwards, her sword lying on the ground. Sam raised his mace.

Rudiger yelled and rushed at him from behind. Sam started to turn, but Rudiger’s sword cut right through his back. His mace clattered to the ground, and his top half followed. Then his bottom half.

Quilla wiped blood from her face. She might have hated Sam the least, but he was still a Darker, she still hated him, and she was glad he was dead.

Ahead, either Silv or Heb fell to one of the Kingsguard. Then Gabriella ran the other one through.

Where were Dyle and Lamaën? They’d been surrounded. They couldn’t have gotten away.

“Spread out,” DeSeloön commanded. “Find the other two.”

“They just vanished,” Thilin said.

DeSeloön nodded. “I know. I saw.”

“The Pearl,” Quilla gasped, her voice still raspy and her throat aching. “They must have used it.”

“Makes sense,” Zandrue said.

Quilla rubbed the back of her head. There was a lot of blood there, but she had no idea if it was hers, Vellon’s, or Sam’s. “We have to get the Pearl. It has to go to Felitïa.”

“Where were they headed?” Zandrue asked.

“Their tertiary hideout, Dyle said. Apparently, Barnol Friaz doesn’t know about that one. I have no idea where it is though.”

“That’s okay,” Zandrue said. “We do.”

“You do?”

Zandrue grinned. “Barnol knows more than they realise. They have quite the extensive network here, and while Dyle and Mister Moustache buy may be higher ranking—”

“Lamaën,” Quilla said.

“Sorry?”

“Moustache guy’s name is Lamaën.”

“Ah. Anyway, Dyle and Lamaën may rank higher, but Barnol has handled the logistical details in the Palace for decades, possibly longer than either of them have been alive. He knows far more more than they realise, and he’s given it all to us. We hope. I mean, for all we know, he’s left some things out, but he’s given us more than enough to cripple their operation for years, if not put an end to it altogether. They made a big mistake when they killed Tianna.” Zandrue’s upper lip twitched. “I’m going to make those bastards pay.”

Quilla touched Zandrue’s arm. “She talked about you quite a bit.”

Zandrue put her hand on Quilla’s. “Yeah, I’m not surprised.”

“She loved you.”

“I know.”

“It kind of took me by surprise.”

Zandrue smiled and patted Quilla’s arm. “Surprised me, too.”

“What about you? Did you love her?”

Zandrue sighed. “Not in the way she wanted me to, but yeah, I suppose I did. Oh hey!” She waved Rudiger over and took his hand. “Quilla, have you met my fiancé?”

Quilla gaped. “Your what? Your...your fiancé? Gods, a lot has happened while I’ve been gone.”

Zandrue beamed. “It kind of took us by surprise, too. The Queen arranged it. Sort of.”

“The Queen?”

“Oh, and she’s promised you an apology.”

Quilla wasn’t sure she was keeping up. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she’d thought.

Zandrue took her hand. “Come on, let’s get Dyle, and I’ll fill you in on everything on the way.”