Page 6

Chapter Four

I ’d done foolish things before. This couldn’t be much worse, could it?

I followed my new employer out of the dungeon, clinging close to his shadow.

The morning sunlight was nearly enough to blind me.

I squinted against the blaring sun, following the man’s feet as he moved around the backside of the palace.

We slipped into what must have been a side entrance, though even the servants’ passages were lined with rich blue carpets and the scent of burning incense.

“This way,” the man said. He motioned me toward another door, pulling it open to reveal an oversized closet filled with dark grey servant uniforms, aprons, and one vibrant blue garment that was folded up in the corner of a shelf.

The man stepped inside, reaching for the blue outfit and placing it in my arms. “Put this on, hurry.”

The soft silk felt so foreign in my hands, and I unfurled the garment to discover that it was a full-length gown that could easily be worth a year’s supply of bread .

“Th-this?” I turned the dress around in my hands a few times, double checking that I wasn’t imagining it. “I’m not sure what you know about thieving, but typically the goal is not to be noticed.”

“Which is exactly why you’ll need that.” He nodded toward the gown, then slipped out the door to let me change. “You have one minute. Then I’m coming back in.”

“O-one!—” He shut the door before I could protest, leaving me with the expensive gown and a dangerous choice.

Accept an expensive gift from another man? Or quit while I’m ahead and go back to prison?

It was a good thing I was fine with being foolish.

I changed faster than I probably ever had, so fast that I accidentally put the dress on backwards and had to waste precious seconds getting it flipped around.

I caught my reflection in a dusty mirror on the back of the door right before a knock rattled it.

The ocean-blue silk made my light eyes pop, and the slender-fitting dress hugged me like the perfect sheath around a crafted sword.

“I’m done,” I said while simultaneously yanking my hair out of its braid and untangling it through my fingers.

The door creaked open, and the man stepped back inside only to freeze when he took a full look at me. He must have swallowed a gnat or something, because he didn’t speak at first, then had to clear his throat a few times before summoning me to follow him.

“Good, it fits you,” he said with one more hard swallow. “Now come, and don’t speak to anyone.”

I did as instructed, abandoning my sweat-stained cotton dress in the servant’s closet to follow behind him.

The dress was a tad too long on me, so I struggled not to trip, but the light fabric was perfectly airy and made the tight halls feel much less stuffy.

He opened another side door, guiding me into a much larger hallway that was twice as grand as my mind could have imagined.

My filthy sandals clicked across the marble floors, echoing against the painted clay vases that lined the halls like an art gallery.

Hand-painted tapestries covered every inch of the wall that didn’t have a window, making it almost dizzying to look at.

I found it difficult to keep my head down when there was so much to look at, but one glance into another room made me understand why dressing up had been the key to blending in.

The sitting room was filled with plush over-stuffed sofas and tables full of tea, baklava, and fresh fruit bowls; and at least a dozen girls dressed in gowns just as eye-catching as mine were bursting out through the doors.

Their chattering echoed through the halls far more loudly than my sandals ever could, and I felt the need to lift my chin even higher to feel comparable to their glitz and beauty.

They must have been the princesses and nobles sent to try to marry the prince.

I had known there were women coming from all corners of the realm and kingdom, but seeing them all in one space was baffling. All this for one stuffy prince?

We went straight past the sitting room and curved down a less lively corridor that seemed to slant downhill.

The slant turned into a ramp, then the ramp into a set of wide stairs that eventually led where no natural sunlight could come through.

For a moment, I wondered if this was all just a ruse to lead me into a different prison, but this would have been an excessive amount of effort for a simple relocation.

I followed my guide deeper into the heart of the palace.

To my surprise, not a single guard lined the path, and for the first time in my life, I felt a bit uneasy without their presence.

When we finally arrived at a dead end, the air felt stale and thin, and my chest felt tight in the dimly lit space.

A massive iron door marked the end of our journey, with about a dozen bolts crisscrossed around its perimeter and one massive keyhole in the center.

“We’re here,” he said, reaching into his robes to produce yet another key. It was strange that someone with so many keys would ever need a thief to get anything .

He pressed the key into the lock, giving it a sturdy twist that shifted every metal bolt in the iron doors with a low clang . He pulled on the door, his arms flexing as he effortlessly swung it open. Light spilled out as he opened it, drawing my eye and stealing my breath.

It’s a cave...?

Suddenly it made sense why we had wandered so far below the palace. The door had unexpectedly revealed the mouth of a massive cave, easily as tall as a three-story inn. My jaw dropped as I traced my eyes across the walls and floor—every inch of the cavern was filled to the brim with treasure.

“Welcome,” the man said, his eyes sparkling against the glow of gold and jewels, “to the sultan’s vault.”

I rubbed my eyes to ensure they were still working properly.

A veritable sea of treasure filled the floor, not even leaving a walking path for someone to pass through without crunching pearls and sapphires beneath their shoes.

Chests of treasure were stacked up along the walls, taking advantage of the natural ledges in the cave’s stone and using them as shelves for more treasure to spill out from.

The walls glittered from every angle, and I realized that even the tiniest of nooks and crannies were stuffed with acorn-sized emeralds, topaz, or diamonds.

It looked like a gemstone mine, but where nothing was natural .

“Whoa...” I snapped my jaw shut before I could start drooling. “I never knew so much gold even existed.”

“Most of the kingdom doesn’t.” He stepped inside, and I winced when his heel crunched down on a crystal tiara.

“The sultan doesn’t like to share his trinkets, and what’s worse is that he doesn’t even know how valuable some of them truly are.

” He twisted the rings on his finger, turning back to me with those gold eyes that fit in perfectly amid the treasure filling the wonderous cave.

“I don’t understand,” I said, my voice shallow.

“You told me you needed a thief, but what could you possibly want that’s greater than any of this?

” I motioned around the cave, my eyes unable to focus on a single item for more than a second before a different one caught my attention.

There were more than just jewels and precious metals in here.

There were also trunks full of expensive clothes, framed artwork, woven rugs, and even a golden lamp sitting atop a pile of pearls.

“What I seek is worth more than this entire cave.” He said it so honestly, but I found his statement impossible to be true.

“Worth more than this?” I gaped at him, unable to fathom anything that priceless.

He took a step closer, kicking over another crown while the crystal shards from the other clung to the heel of his boot.

“So much more,” he said in a low voice that made the hairs on my neck prickle.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, the touch surprisingly gentle.

“Listen closely. I wish for you to find me a very specific diamond.”