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“No,” her aunt replied, her lips thinning. “You have a place with me for as long as you like.”

“I will go.”

“Follow Josenu. I’ll be right behind you.”

The palace guard waited by the back entrance and opened the door. The masked rebels slipped out. Leif darted forward, not letting go of her hand and she hauled more of her dress against her chest as she hurried after him.

“Do not leave my side,” Josenu whispered, the moonlight turning his gaze silver. He eyed her dress. “Will you be able to run in that?”

“I can.” It wouldn’t be easy.

The spy must have spotted something in her expression. He knelt and cut off two feet from the hem, exposing her legs to the night air. She muffled a squeak when he yanked on the dress twice, forming a high slit over each thigh before placing his blade back in it sheath.

“Leif, where she goes, you go.”

The boy nodded his head and Wren almost rolled her eyes. “I can handle myself.”

Josenu nodded once. “Which is why I have not thrown you over my shoulder.”

Her eyes narrowed as he turned his back on her and ran down the cobbed alley. Leif dropped her hand and urged her forward. Wren sprinted after the spy. They clung to the shadows, weaving through the labyrinth of streets. Her thighs began to burn as they trekked to the north, away from the bay.

The spy, cursed and darted to the left. She and Leif followed suit.

Josenu crept to the barrels and climbed the nearest one.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“The commander’s men are blocking the roads. We must take to the roofs.” The spy launched himself upwards and caught the edge of the building and climbed up, his cloak disappearing from view.

“You next,” Leif said.

Wren grumbled underneath her breath. While she wasn’t afraid of heights, scrambling across roofs in a gown, barefoot didn’t seem like the best idea.

You can do this.

She took a running start, using the boxes and barrels to help with her jump. Wren grunted when her fingers caught the edge. Her arms shook as she managed to pull herself up some but not quite all the way. She slipped and her heart pounded faster.

Blast it.

She was going to fall.

Josenu grabbed her forearms and lifted her onto the terracotta roof as if she weighed nothing. Pulse pounding in her ears, she nodded to him on hands and knees “Thanks.”

Leif scrambled up after her, not winded in the least.

“Let’s move,” the spy commanded.

Hauling herself to her shaking legs, Wren ran after him, trying not to think about how slippery the soles of her feet were against the roof. Josenu lept to the next building, and she didn’t give herself another chance to second guess herself and jumped. A scream caught in her throat as she cleared the dead space beneath her. She landed a little too hard, and her ankle twinged but she kept going.

The immense palace lay to her right and she balked when the spy lead them in that direction. Wren cleared another roof and grabbed Josenu’s cloak before he could move out.

“We are going toward the danger?” she hissed.

He crouched down next to her, scowling. “The prince has already set up a perimeter farther out. If we go east, we’ll be caught. The only way to get out is to move toward the palace and then disappear into the forests. Then we’ll double back into the city. Now that your curiosity is assuaged, may we continue?”

She waved her hand. “By all means,” she said, sarcasm lacing her voice. What a dolt.

A dolt that’s helping you escape.