Determined to take control of their fates, Arjen and Arien escape Derolina Castle at the age of sixteen after their cruel mother dies. They adopt new names and find a home in the city of Aramore, while the Emperor of Yuriana searches for his missing...
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The night was balmy. The trees sighed as the wind tousled their leaves. The moon and stars threw their glow upon the mansion as Kirra watched from high on a branch. His perch bobbed in the breeze, and he shifted his position for a better view of the manor.
He had taken the form of a small hawk to be more inconspicuous. His sharp eyes took in the landscape. Nothing escaped his vision, not even the tiny mouse that scurried across the garden below him. Every sound was amplified in his ears. He heard through a nearby window a maid complaining about tending to a fussy mistress. In another window, a man yawned loudly. Kirra's head cocked when a woman laughed somewhere on the other side of the manor.
Nothing appeared unusual, nothing was out of the ordinary. He had been watching the Morgha residence for the last day or so and never saw or heard anything incriminating. However, he did notice a few odd occurrences. Earlier that day, the young silver-haired lady sat alone on a bench in the garden. She was the one Kirra had seen leaving Adylia Palace with her servant. Based on her appearance, Kirra guessed this was Lady Morgha, the duchess' daughter. Kirra had heard how the crown prince was interested in her. The young lady held what appeared to be a letter in her hands. She opened it, stared at it for a bit, and began to cry quietly.
What had she told the crown prince that day?
There was no sign of her servant. Kirra had moved around the estate throughout the day and saw few people about. There had been no visitors. Sounds emanated from the manor; a lot, actually. It sounded like something was going on, but Kirra couldn't see what. A carriage drove to the back of the manor. Kirra had followed it and saw servants loading luggage and boxes into the carriage. Was someone planning a trip?
A itch started on his leg and he nibbled at it. When he looked up again, soft footsteps padded on the grass on the other side of the garden. He alighted from his perch and glided to another tree, his wings as silent as an owl's.
No one had been in the garden all afternoon and evening. It might be nothing, but he had to check.
A young servant girl moved toward an outbuilding at the edge of the garden, most likely a storage building for the gardeners. But she went around the building and disappeared behind it. His suspicions raised, Kirra flew to the building and landed on the back edge, his talons lightly scraping the roof tiles as he did. There, the servant stood alone. Although she lingered there in the darkness, the world appeared as bright as day in Kirra's eyes. She was the servant who had accompanied Lady Morgha to Adylia Palace.
But she wasn't alone. A person in a cloak and hood stood with her.
"We have one more for you," said the hooded person, a man. He held something out to her and she took it. It was small, so Kirra didn't see what it was. "In a few days, we'll get you in."
"But how? The security will be even tighter."
"Don't worry. We have a plan."
A plan, eh? This was starting to sound...criminal.
