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CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Ellery

He placed his hand on the small of my back, urging me forward as he glanced nervously behind us. “My sister, Luna, works for the earl. She recommended me for the job tonight and brought me in on the plan to take down the king and his cronies.”

“And how did that plan work out?” I muttered bitterly.

“Not well. They got the king, duke, earl, and his family out of the ballroom far faster than we’d anticipated. I’m sure all of them are far from the castle and tucked away somewhere safe.”

“And you don’t know where Luna is?”

I dimly recalled the pretty blonde girl, who was a few years older than Callan, from the time she attended my mother’s school. She’d been old enough that we rarely interacted with each other.

“No,” Callan sighed. “I lost her soon after all this started, but hopefully, she’ll be at the meeting place.”

I pondered everything he’d revealed as we hurried along the stone corridor. Occasionally, a closed door was cut into the tunnel’s recesses. A single dim light illuminated the outside of each one; the solid door revealed no hint of what was on the other side.

“Where do these doors lead?” I asked.

“They’re all servants’ tunnels to different sections of the castle. I don’t know most of them; Luna only had time to show me the ones she believed I needed to know.”

“And all the servants were involved,” I murmured.

“ Almost all of them.”

I recalled the blonde woman I’d knocked out on the steps to the garden. The woman wasn’t Luna; it had been years since I last saw her, but I would have recognized her.

If she was one of the earl’s servants, that would explain why she looked so familiar to me. I’d probably seen her with one of the trays or helping to set up the chairs and food.

“Shit,” I muttered.

“We don’t have much further. Most of these tunnels wind throughout the castle, but only one leads outside.”

“Why would the earl create a tunnel that led outside and let others know about it? That would leave him vulnerable to an attack.”

“He didn’t create it.”

Understanding dawned. “The servants built the exit.”

It hadn’t been a question, but Callan responded anyway. “Yes.”

“And the earl and his guards were too good to come down into these tunnels to see if anything unusual was happening.”

“Yes.”

“How long did it take them to build the exit?”

“Less than a week.”

“And how long has it been there?” I asked.

“About a week.”

“So, it was built for this uprising?”

“Yes.”

“And how much time did they spend on planning that?”

“I think most have been plotting his death since they started working here. So, for some, it could be centuries.”

“Wow. The earl’s servants really despised him.”

“He wasn’t always kind to them.”

That wasn’t surprising, given they’d plotted to kill him. Unfortunately, they hadn’t plotted well enough.

The thud of feet behind us jerked my head around as they pounded down the rock floor. If Ryker had figured out where I’d gone, he’d come for me, but this wasn’t him. The steps were too heavy and loud; even in a rush to get to me, he’d never move like that.

When I looked at Callan, I saw the panic in his green eyes and realized how vulnerable I was again. I’d lost my sword somewhere above, and while Callan held a small sword, I wasn’t sure how adept he was at using it.

And as two guards rounded the corner and barreled toward us, I realized it wouldn’t do much good against them. They each held swords as they raced forward.

The determination etching their features, and the bloodthirsty air surrounding them, told me they’d strike me down as well as Callan. They wouldn’t stop to ask questions or wonder what I was doing with him; they sought blood.

If we didn’t do something soon, we were going to die.