As the Crow Falls | ✔

Chapter Twenty-Four

He hadn't been lying. The shock of it spread over Niccola's skin like cold water seeping through her clothes, as the footsteps drew close enough to make out the jingle of chain mail and the occasional thump of a spearbutt. Isaiah still had not removed his unseeing gaze from the wall. Something glistened on his cheek. At the sight of that first tear track, Niccola's scattered thoughts resolved and settled.

"Your door's locked," she said. "And no, I'm not going anywhere."

"They'll break it down if she tells them to."

His stony apathy was fraying. Pekea crawled into his lap and headbutted him with a distressed chirr, but he continued to ignore her. Niccola slid off the bed. Heat pulsed through her body as she strode to Isaiah's plush reading chair and wrenched it away from the wall. Her strength surprised her. Three moons of scrubbing dishes and pumping water had come to some good after all. The rug beneath her rippled as she propelled the chair across it. It hit the door with a thud. Niccola tipped it and wedged it under the door handle, effectively barring the door. She scanned the room again. Isaiah's desk was too full to be of use, but his night table was also made of solid wood. She retrieved it and hauled it to the door, too.

Isaiah pulled his knees up and hugged them, hiding his face in his arms. By the time the guards stopped outside, Niccola had used a dresser to complete her barricade.

A fist knocked on the door. "We've been sent with instructions to escort Niccola Landau off the premises," said the guard, a woman with a voice that betrayed something else. Her next words confirmed it. "Isaiah, I'm sorry."

The guards were on their side. A fierce pride warmed Niccola's chest, coexisting with the anger there as her opinion of Isaiah and dislike of Meribah were vindicated in one fell swoop. But more importantly, she could play this to their advantage. She leaned close to the door so her voice would reach the guard.

"I am Niccola Landau," she said, "and you might want to open yourselves to negotiation, because I am not leaving, and you are not getting through this door."

Silence greeted her words. Then one guard's armor jingled slightly, replied by the other. This continued back and forth until Niccola realized they were speaking with their hands. She stood back and crossed her arms, waiting. Isaiah had not moved. If anything, he'd curled up tighter, like a weight the size of a building-stone pressed him to the bed and threatened to crush him if he dared so much as lift his head.

When the guard spoke again, it was quietly and close to the door. "To what extent did you barricade it?"

"You are facing a bolt, a wedged chair, and three people's weights worth of furniture."

"We will both be in deep trouble if we are forced to seek backup and break through that. The queen does not appreciate replacing doors."

"And yet, here we are." An insubordinate smile crept across Niccola's face. She had power in this conversation, and it felt infinitely better than being pinned beneath Meribah's shifting words and too-sharp eyes. It set her limbs alight and tempted her to flirt with recklessness as she weaponized the guards' positions against them. Two advantages of a poor royal family were their paucity of guards and preciousness about property damage.

The guard sighed, just audibly, then leaned close again. "Look. I don't want to do this, but we have no choice against an order from the queen. What are your terms of negotiation, and how do they benefit us in this situation?"

"Tell them I escaped when I heard the guards coming."

"There are few other exits, and they are all guarded."

"Which one are you from?"

"Myself? The gardens."

Niccola's smile widened. Just her luck. "I escaped through the gardens, then, because I was forewarned before the alarm was sounded and slipped through while you were absent. I promise you I can escape the palace without notice from there."