Page 27 of A Court of Truth and Thorns (Royal Scout #2)

VIOLET

V iolet sat awake in her bed, listening to Leaf’s soft snores.

Leaf, who was really Violet’s cousin. Leaf, whose absurd words and evening stories had kept Violet going, even when her own thoughts threatened to drown her.

Who thought old texts and unanswerable questions and strange equations were going to change something.

Maybe if Violet had had Leaf for a sister, things would have been different. But that’s not how everything had turned out.

Reaching under her pillow, Violet withdrew the small berry-stained note the girl in the courtyard had pressed into Violet’s hand. Her heart quickened as she unfolded the parchment again and fingered the ribbon of cloth tucked inside, the moment coming back to her in vivid detail.

“From one prince’s sister to another,” the girl had whispered in a voice Violet knew well. Princess Raza.

“What is it?” Violet asked .

“Information. Because our brothers and fathers shouldn’t keep us in the dark.”

Confusion washed over Violet, but Raza was already bowing and moving away.

“I was given no choices of my own,” Raza said. “But now, you are.”

Raza was gone before Violet could ask more, but the note and cloth remained. Violet reread the words.

Your brother tries to kill Bahir tonight . The markers will lead you to his camp.

Stars. Wil. Violet didn’t let herself feel the impact of that thought.

She was getting skilled at not feeling. Sitting up, Violet let her bare feet touch the cold stone floor.

It was just a note. She could throw it into the fire and leave the fate of both Bishop Bahir and Prince William in the Goddess’s hands.

Or she could warn Bahir.

Violet’s hand dropped to her belly, which may or may not hold a child. Her next gift to her people. She knew she should be content with such a future, but she wasn’t. And perhaps, just perhaps, the Goddess knew that too. Perhaps today had been a codex meant just for Violet.

Violet’s heart pounded, her palms growing slick with sweat despite the cool room. After a lifetime of wishing she had a say in decisions, she now faced the single greatest choice of her life.

Violet rose quietly and pulled on a pious red skirt and tunic. Padding over to the small chest where Leaf stored salves and tinctures, Violet withdrew a vial and tucked it into her pocket. She jotted a quick note to leave in the vial’s place and headed to the door.

“Are you all right?” Leaf’s sleepy voice startled a gasp from Violet .

Violet panted, a hand to her breast. “I am,” she said once she’d found her voice. “Go back to sleep.”

Leaf murmured something before resuming her slumber, and to Violet’s infinite surprise, she realized that she was all right. Relieved. Even happy. Because tonight the Goddess had given her a chance to save her kingdom and her soul.

Kali

Wrapping myself in darkness, I stick to the woods as I make my way to the palace and slip underground through one of the catacomb exits.

Between the night’s natural dimness, my own summoned shadow and training, and my extensive familiarity with all the passageways, avoiding the night-shift guards is easy enough.

Finding Leaf is another matter. The knowledge that she is somewhere within these walls burns like acid in my veins.

Where? Where? Where? The question rings in my mind as I slide along the dark corridors, the palace a sleeping ghost of its once-vibrant self.

Scant yellow light bleeds from the occasional candle set into the wall, and the distant echoes of closing doors and feet scraping on stone are all the more deafening for being rare.

I check our old rooms, the servants’ hall, the privy, my blood rushing faster each time I come up emptyhanded.

Finally, the only place left to try is also one of the few guarded rooms in the whole palace—Princess Violet’s suite. A lantern outside her door lights the approach, illuminating the two wide-awake men standing vigil.

Bracing myself, I slide into shadow, tucking my body into a corner just away from Violet’s door.

A throwing knife slides into my palm, my heart thumping hard.

Taking long, slow breaths, I memorize the guards’ exact positions.

A moment of surprise is all I’ll have before they move, and I’ll be as blind as they are.

Another breath and my body coils, preparing to spring.

Now.

I lash out with my shadow, flooding the several paces between the guards and me with darkness. Sprinting forward, I pull the noise in toward me as well. Black silence descends on us like a shawl. I keep moving, keep dancing the steps I planned back in my corner.

My left hand finds the first guard’s hair. I grab, aim with my mind, and strike the hilt of the dagger into the man’s temple.

He falls, his weight crushing me before I slither to the side. His unconscious body makes no noise as it strikes the ground.

My head pulses. I spin toward where the other guard should be and feel the slight shift of air that betrays motion. I’m blind. Deaf. I know neither whether my opponent has drawn his blade, nor whether he is plunging it toward me this very heartbeat.

I crouch low to the ground. Straightening my leg, I sweep it around me in a circle.

My ankle connects with a shin but the angle is wrong, and my prey fails to budge.

But now we both know where the other is.

My breath leaps away as a heavy boot strikes my belly.

I grit my teeth and lunge at where the kicker’s legs must be.

My arms clamp around the man’s knees, my shoulder pressing into his thigh.

I pivot to the side and tighten my arms, collapsing his legs altogether.

A shove of my shoulder has the man falling to the side with a thud that I feel but don’t hear.

I follow him down, scrambling along his body toward his head.

I feel the sharp, shallow bite of his sword along my ribs before the hilt of my dagger connects with his temple. The body stills.

Rising to my feet, I feel for the round metal bulge of the door handle. Grab it. Twist. Push. The door gives.

Falling through, I spin and shut the deadlock behind me just as my hold on sound slips away.

Bracing my back against the door, I survey the receiving room.

A small fire burns with bright embers, smoothing the edge of the night’s light chill.

A small breakfast table. A settee. Several chairs.

Drawn curtains. Clean. Perfect. Impersonal.

A room that should belong to a palace guest, not a fourteen-year-old princess.

Moving silently through the suite, I find the door to the bedchamber and edge it open.

The light from a dying fire creeps into the royal bedroom. A girl sleeps in a large bed, the sounds of her breathing eerily familiar. I take a step forward, suddenly afraid that I’m wrong.

I’m not wrong, though. It is Leaf, her mouth slightly open, her hair falling onto the pillow like always. My wonderful, dear Leaf. Breath halting, I fall to my knees beside her, not caring where Violet might be. “Leaf.” I shake her shoulder gently. “Leaf, wake up.”

Her eyes pop open. My finger comes to my lips but I’d be unable to speak even if I wanted to. My heart races, my eyes stinging as if on fire. I swallow. She sits up like a ghost and slips her arms around me, her face buried in my shoulder.

“How?” she whispers finally. “Are you real?”

My words catch in my throat. I throw my arms around my sister and crush her to my chest. So small and frail and perfect. I repeat her name over and over, assuring myself that she is not a mirage. Assuring her that neither am I.

It’s an effort to pull myself together a few heartbeats later. “Come on,” I whisper. “Let’s get you out of here.”

She pulls away and swipes her forearm across her eyes. Her gaze darts to the other side of the bed. “Where is Violet?” A flicker of panic. “Violet? Violet!”

I clamp a hand over Leaf’s mouth. “Are you mad?”

Leaf shakes me off and slides to the floor. “We need to take Violet with us. She was here. I’m only in her bed to keep her company.”

I let out a slow breath. There is no time for this. Each moment we talk puts Leaf in greater danger. “Leaf, Violet isn’t a friend.”

“She is confused and overwhelmed and lonely,” says Leaf. “We can’t just leave her. She’s been through too much already.”

A chill runs through my blood. Both at Leaf’s innocence and my own cruel knowledge. Raza had been through a great deal as well. Right before she took a stim crystal to me and brushed her hair while my nerves frayed in agony.

I find Leaf’s eyes. “We can’t trust Violet. She’ll betray us all. I think she may have already.” My voice steadies, a calm, unwavering tone. “We need to leave. Now. Put on your shoes and follow me.”

Leaf fumbles for her boots. “Who is ‘us all’?” she asks quietly.

My stomach churns. I’ve been with friends while she suffered alone.

I’d hoped to have time to explain, but we must hurry.

“Prince Wil, Rune, er... Trace. Some others. We freed all of Bahir’s whisperers.

Hundreds of people he’s kept enslaved in the abbey.

” I pause, studying her face, her eyes wide with shock, her hands covering parted lips.

I swallow. “I was going to have us join them, but we don’t have to, Leaf.

We can go anywhere you want. I don’t care where, so long as it’s with you. ”

She pulls away from me. “What have you done?” Her eyes are wide. Terrified .

“Leaf, please,” I whisper desperately. “You think I don’t know that you’ve every reason in the world to hate me just now? I left you. I aided hundreds of others before my own sister. I don’t deserve you. But please, please just come now and hate me later. We’ve no time.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Kali.” Leaf grips my shoulders, aghast. Her eyes bore into mine. “The problem isn’t that you did what you had to in order to survive. It’s that you’ve just killed everyone in Dansil.”