Page 30 of Crown and Dragon

The one on the left rubbed at her throat with a freckled hand and glared. “He’s here early. Follow Maude to our room below. You’ll have to stay the night and wait until he’s gone,” she whispered.

The second guard—a female with dark eyes like Tahlia’s and very fair skin—grimaced even as she studied Marius and Tahlia with uncloaked curiosity.

“Our disguises are in place for your eyes still, yes?” Marius asked.

The two nodded.

Tahlia stepped closer, her gaze on the empty entryway and a set of doors beyond, doors that led into the fortress’s central hall.

“Durniad is here?” Tahlia asked in a whisper.

“Aye. And he is in a state,” the dark-eyed, fair-skinned guard said. “Stay on my heels. Walk quickly. He’s feasting in his upper rooms at the moment, so we should be all right to scurry across the hall and down the back steps.”

“Why can’t we access the trove tonight if he is all the way up there?” Marius asked.

“Because he will want to show off his labyrinth to his cronies after he eats his weight in pastries.”

Tahlia lifted her eyebrows. He knew that look—she was dreaming of pastries instead of thinking of labyrinths. He almost smiled even though they were definitely off their schedule now.

“Our disguises will fail before we can escape the city if we wait to breach the trove.”

“I know. The safe house contact sent a raven to your king and queen with a request for aid.”

A headache squeezed Marius’s temples with alarming ferocity. He rubbed his forehead with his fingers. That should not have been necessary.

“Do you know anything about a siren?” Marius asked.

The guard looked appropriately horrified. “I don’t. They kept us from the traps and didn’t permit anyone to talk about them or ask questions. Ovain, one of the other guards, asked about them and no one has seen him since.”

Marius and Tahlia exchanged a look.

Tahlia rubbed her tomato-coated hands together. “So it’s a smash-and-grab and run-for-your-life mission now, hmm?”

“Perhaps we can go in as soon as Durniad and his friends depart late tonight,” Marius suggested.

The freckled guard shrugged. “You can try, but he parties until the early hours of the morning when he’s riled up like this.” A shudder shook her frame and she muttered what sounded like a prayer.

“I don’t want to know what a fellow like him thinks is fun,” Tahlia said, frowning.

“No, you do not,” Marius said. He wanted to say something about humans’ general penchant for gore and power, but he didn’t want to upset the guards with so much riding on their performance tonight.

“I’ll get you to our room,” the fair guard said, “and then I’ll get you to the trove before dawn.”

“Agreed,” Marius said.

The guard went to the doors beyond and pushed one open. The group of three rushed through the entrance. Marius and Tahlia’s clothing dripped tomato as they went.

“What about this mess?” Tahlia whispered over her shoulder at Marius.

There weren’t any other guards present in the hall—only a row of painted portraits along the front of the room and an empty table stacked with small wooden boxes that were set at each place like gifts to those who would eat here later.

“I’ll tidy up as soon as you’re locked in,” the guard said. She turned the corner and ushered them down a dark set of stairs. The scent of the sea touched Marius’s nose.

“What is in those boxes?” Marius asked.

“They’re tiny wooden contraptions. I’m not sure what they are,” the guard said. “I only heard they were symbolic presents for visitors who would arrive tomorrow before the presentationof the crown. Something about showing off new additions. I don’t know what that means, honestly.” She moved onward.

Marius frowned, then nodded at Tahlia to catch up with the guard.

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