The Traitor Queen

Chapter Twenty-Four

A few days had passed since we made plans to retrieve the Idaphite shard for Mace and the tension between us still hadn't dissipated in the slightest.

I knew what I had done was wrong and I would endlessly apologise to my friends if I needed to, but I hadn't expected Kayne to have the knowledge that he did. He knew that Mace was after me. If he had told us then nobody would have had to get hurt at the ball.

I ran my fingers through Cirrus' mane, trying to get her to remain quiet to not alert the guards on the outside of the castle's wall. Today was the day we left for the address on the trading log, which also happened to be on the new piece of paper one of the Icrodeians had slipped through my window.

The sun was only just beginning to peer over the horizon to wake everyone from their slumber — the perfect time to sneak out without anyone catching onto our plans.

There had been a debate about notifying or bringing a guard with us, but we decided against it. We were only going to be a few days as the Sephirans' home was only a two-day journey from the castle, so there wasn't any reason to pull them away from the valuable work they were doing. Besides, all three of us were amply skilled in using a weapon. Auron and I wouldn't be good at our jobs if we didn't know how to wield the weapons we made, and Kayne had been trained by his father since he was young how to use a sword.

I saddled up Cirrus and placed the supplies I would need inside of the attached satchels. It was a spare change of clothes, an extra blade or two, and enough food to last me the whole journey.

Peering around the corner of the stables and squinting in the darkness to see if anyone was around, I deemed it was safe to leave. I held Cirrus' reins and led her to the meeting point we had decided, praying she would remain quiet. When I arrived, I realised I was the last one to make it there.

"Has everyone got everything?" Auron whispered, keeping his hand resting on his steed's head to help keep it silent.

Kayne and I nodded in return. We had all met up briefly the day after we had discovered the Idaphite stone to discuss how exactly we were going to get out of the castle successfully. The castle wall was surrounded by guards, even more now that there had been an attack at the ball. We didn't have to necessarily leave unnoticed, we just had to get far enough in a short period of time so nobody would come after us. I could only hope this plan would work.

As we mounted our horses, preparing to charge through the castle gates, a voice called out from behind us. "Wait!"

My heart dropped in my chest. Had we been caught already? We hadn't even set one foot out of the grounds yet.

Another horse trotted over with a rider of Lady Lorella. She wore a burgundy gown designed specifically for horse riding and a similarly shaded cloak fastened around her shoulders with a silver brooch. Her hair was braided neatly into a plait, not one hair out of place.