Page 30 of The Duke and the Disciple

Escaping Fanghelm had been easier than she’d expected. Only the Wynters were on lockdown, but Fanghelm was otherwise operating as usual. Cloaked in a man’s dress—almost comically swimming under Rahn’s bulky fur cloak—she drew minimal gazes, and none lingered. People saw what they expected, and no one expected Aesylt Wynter to be traipsing about in her scholar’s clothing.

But all it would take is for Rahn to wake. To notice the unlocked door. The missing keys. The missinggirl.

She perked when one of the Petrovash guards started speaking to the other. She waited impatiently for their conversation to end, but what happened instead was even more fortuitous. They both started toward the east side of the keep, leaving the courtyard unguarded. There wouldn’t be a better opportunity, not unless she wanted to risk being out at dawn, so she gathered the hem of the teeming cloak in both fists, lifted, and ran as fast as she could with the added weight.

Niklaus’s apartment was on the ground floor of the west wing. He always slept with one window cracked, even in the winter. He liked to say the Petrovashes ran hot because they were bred for living under the mountain, as many kyschun did. But Aesylt knew his family subscribed to old Vjestik superstitions about always leaving a way for the Ancestors to get in.

Aesylt stretched up onto her tiptoes and slapped the frame until she found the right spot to push. She winced when the window creaked, cutting a sharp sound through the silent night, and waited for her pulse to even out before digging her boots against the stone wall. With a muffled grunt, she hoisted herself until her forearms draped over the sill. She wiggled as quietly as she could, but the thickness of the furs kept her from going any farther.

A slice of steel cut through the air. She arrested, trying to retreat, until she heard, “Aesylt?”

“Keep it down.” She hissed in relief and dropped to the snowy ground with a crunching thud. She waved a hand. “And put that away before you cut your own hand off.”

Niklaus held his suspicious gaze on her as he sheathed his dagger. He retreated into his room and returned with a candle. “Where’s your brother?”

“At Fanghelm,” she said irritably. “Come down here.”

He leaned out and glanced around with a shaky sigh. “You shouldn’t be here. Have you gone mad?” He smirked. “Madder than usual?”

“I need your help.” She shivered under the cloak, thinking of how long she’d already been gone, how much longer she’d need before she could return. “I need to see him, Nikky.”

Niklaus’s face crumpled in horror. “Oh, nien. Nien, nien, nien. That’s a terrible idea, Aes, trust me. The Barynovs donotwant you anywhere near him. Hoarfrost is teeming with guards, and there’s no... No, there’s no way.”

“I’m going.” She plied him with a searching look to disguise her own fear. “With or without you. But it will be easier and safer if you come with me and help me find a way in.”

“There isn’t a way in!” His face crumpled, and he lowered his voice, craning out again with another nervous glance to each side. “The Barynovs are expecting war. They’re preparing for war. You cannot just stroll onto Hoarfrost like you did Hibernal and expect anything but chaos.”

“Ineedto see him.” She pulled down her ungainly hood and implored him, sputtering through a caught mouthful of hair. “I didn’t do that to him, and I need to know what really happened. I can’t go another night without knowing.”

Niklaus dragged his hands down his face. “No oneknows.You won’t get anything from his family except accusations. We aren’t getting any answers until Val wakes up and can tell us himself. From what Onkel Anton told me, we shouldn’t be getting our hopes up.”

“He might wake for me.” Aesylt lifted her chin with false pride. She couldn’t tell him about the last conversation between her and Val. What she’d promised. Despite her denial and fear, she finally realized she’d truly believed the good-bye had been forever. But he was alive, and there was no reason to expect he wouldn’t still mean the words when he regained consciousness.

Betrothal was a problem for another day.

Niklaus peered behind himself with a yielding shrug. He sounded almost hostile when he responded. “Tak, I suppose he might. For you. But do you really want to risk your life on a maybe?”

“The Barynovs won’t hurt me,” she stated. “They want to, but they won’t. Their fear of Drazhan is greater than their hatred of me. And they once dealt with me as an equal, when it was me in my brother’s seat.”

He watched her in intense silence. “You better hope you’re right. Because your brother isn’t here to intervene this time. He doesn’t even know you’re doing this, does he? Don’t answer. I already know there’s no chance.”

Aesylt sighed, shifting from one foot to another as a cold gust ripped through the courtyard, sending a mournful song threading through the pines. “Look, I don’t know how long I have before the scholar finds I’ve given him the slip. He’ll go straight to Draz, which won’t be good for anyone.”

“I can’t talk you out of this, can I?” he asked, but it wasn’t a question. He waved a hand and muttered for her to give him a minute. She waited in bittersweet relief.

Moments later, he was dressed and sliding out the window to join her.

When he landed, he pulled her in for a ferocious hug. “I’monlydoing this because I know you’re stubborn enough to go without me.” He pulled back to regard her more closely, his head shaking. “I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

Aesylt cupped his face in her hands and kissed his nose. “Volemthe, Nikky. Hvala.”

“Don’t thank me yet, madwoman.” Niklaus grabbed her and aimed her away from the keep with a soft shove. “We’ll go the back way. Less chance of someone seeing us.”

They moved in silence through the garden and then climbed out through an adjoining pasture, until they were on a familiar forest path.

“So what happened with you that day at Fanghelm? After Val came back?” he asked. The trail was speckled with fresh snow, but the older piles had been plowed into banks on either side.

Aesylt shrugged under Rahn’s furs. “I don’t know. Drazhan was acting strangely when he came to the observatory with his men. He only told me about Val right before the mob came for us.”

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