Shadow Weaver (Back on Wattpad 2020!)

Chapter 24

On the western face of the banquet hall lies a water gate bastion where the Prince sometimes played as a child. Isolated from the rest of the fort, only the royal family's kitchen staff and maids have reason to access the water channel. It is perfect for my task.

As I approach, I sense two other minds close by, one lingering in the second access tunnel, one alone by the water channel. I creep to the edge of the archway and peer into the moonlit quadrangle. A woman stands looking down at the dark, open waterway. Loose strands of auburn hair spill out from her intricately clipped chignon. She hugs a thick cloak over her evening dress, and clutches a silver medallion. Her lips move as though in prayer and the medallion is a lucky symbol of the Gods.

For once, something has gone my way. I will not have to struggle through the mind-world to find the Duchess. She is here. Relieved at this small turn of fortune, I scan the paved yard for somewhere to hide. I do not want to be disturbed while travelling through her memories. I'm about to slip out of the tunnel and into a near alcove when she looks up. Though I'm concealed by pitch-black darkness, her gaze aims straight at me.

"Hello?" Her voice is little more than a whisper. She does not wish to alert her guard in the other tunnel who is close enough to call if needed, far enough to allow her privacy.

My hands sweat inside my fur gloves. If I run and she shouts, her guard will give chase. If I reveal myself, she will want an explanation. As I hesitate, it strikes me she is waiting for somebody. Otherwise, a lurking figure would be cause for alarm.

The Duchess raises her skirt, steps onto the low channel wall that slices the yard into two segments, and lowers herself into the waterway. Amazed, I watch her tiptoe across a narrow beam. She performs a dangerous acrobatic tightrope walk, before climbing up the other side.

It is too late to run. I step from the tunnel and greet her. In the wash of pale moonlight, her features twist from wariness to shock. I pull off my hood so she sees who I am.

"Lady Mirra! Why are you dressed like a boy? What are you doing here? What has happened?"

"Lower your voice or your guard will hear us."

She glances back in the direction of the soldier, then her eyes flick into the tunnel behind me.

"I come alone," I say. "But perhaps you were waiting for someone else, Your Grace?"

"No." She shakes her head, dropping the leafed medallion.

"My guardsman, Tug? Or should I call him Tye?"

"What is the meaning of your question?"

"Well, Your Grace, if you were not waiting for company, why didn't you shout for your guard when you realized there was someone in the tunnel? These are treacherous times, are they not?"

Her eyes narrow. "Explain this visit, Lady Mirra. Has Tye sent you?"

"Why would he send me?"

"You are playing games," she snaps.

"Yet you stand here when you could leave."

Brusquely, she gathers her skirts and turns, but something holds her in place. An invisible thread. Tug was certain she would not speak to her husband of his resurrection from the dead. Were they secret lovers before she became the Duke's wife?

If she is waiting for Beast-face, he could arrive at any moment. I must keep her on the defensive and discover what secret they share so I may use it to my advantage. Besides, I have gone too far with my challenging stance to draw back now. "Tye has told me," I bluff.

"Told you?" Her voice quivers. A bright room forms in the mind-world.

She wakes shivering, afraid. Grown ups crowd around her. Memories flash. Running from hunters. Getting caught. Escaping. A boy's face comes into focus. "Calm yourself," he says. "You are safe now. We will look after you."