Page 107 of A Dance of Shadows

I take out my knife and wedge it against the smaller stone. “Come on now.”

As I make a show of wrestling with the blade, a concentrated punch of air rushes past my hands to smack into the stone.

The rock lurches up and pops out. A giddy laugh I don’t have to fake tumbles out of me. “There we go! Who’ll get these boulders out of the way?”

Father and the lord step back in to shove the larger rocks aside. We all scramble out into the open air amid a treed slope that’s nowhere near as steep as the one where we entered.

The fresh breeze has never tasted so sweet. I beam at my fellow nobles—including Bastien, for the second I can hold his gaze before my attention sweeps on over him.

We got ourselves out of that mess—the four of us, collaborating without anyone even realizing.

Now we need to finish the job without it ending in an even bigger mess.

Father and Mother let me take the lead again. I guide our party on a winding route between trees and shrubs. As we get closer to the clearing by the nearly sheer rockface, I slow my pace.

A few voices filter through the trees alongside a thud that might be a rock cast aside. The figures in the clearing are still too far off for us to see, though. I have no idea just how close they are to finishing their part of the task.

Bianca frowns and then glances at Baronissa Hivette. “Baronissa, don’t you have a gift that allows sending messages from a distance? Perhaps we could signal the city folk that way.”

A trace of a blush colors the young baronissa’s cheeks as most of our heads swivel toward her. She curtsies for my benefit.“I wish I could help, Your Imperial Highness. My gift requires having an item belonging to the person the message is to reach—and it can be rather… noticeable.”

Not ideal when we hardly want my husband realizing that we’ve strategized against his more brutal purposes.

“It’s good to know your strengths all the same,” I tell her. “I think we can coordinate without any plan so elaborate.”

I meant to send Raul to keep watch, but he can track the city folk’s progress just as well from back here. It would seem strange if I singled him out after he already joined me in at the spring.

So why shouldn’t I face the potential danger? I promised my companions I’d shoulder the blame if my plan went wrong, after all.

I won’t even have to get close enough that it’ll be a significant risk. Lorenzo can pass on whatever Raul senses without anyone being the wiser.

Holding up my hand for silence, I lower my voice to a whisper. “I’ll keep watch and signal you when you need to come—when I do, comefast.”

I venture through the brush as far as I dare, staying where my companions can still make out my form amid the trees. The voices get louder. I catch a glimpse of Marclinus’s violet jacket, of the patchy grass dappled with chunks of stone, but I can’t see what remains in front of the cave entrance.

It doesn’t matter. I don’t need to.

“Wait,”Lorenzo says.“They’re close to opening it up, but not quite.”

I stand braced and staring as if I’m watching the city folk’s progress, my thumping heart counting off the seconds. Down the hill, bells peal out the hour in the city.

Another rock thumps aside, and another, and?—

“Now, Rell! They’re just hauling at the last boulder.”

I wheel my arm in my signal to the group and propel myself forward, only slightly slower than I’d prefer so the others can catch up. Twigs and leaves crackle underfoot.

We emerge at the edge of the clearing just as the last huge stone that blocked the entrance rolls aside with a heave.

The city folk raise a cheer at the sight of us and the uncovered cave. “Empress Aurelia!” a few yell. Someone gives a whoop of excitement.

As I raise my hand in acknowledgment, Linus’s attention snaps from the cave to the arriving nobles with a flicker of bewilderment—and consternation?

My heart squeezes, but I march forward with a laugh as if I’m nothing but pleased with the outcome. “It seems all of us were equally tenacious. That’s Accasians for you.”

Linus opens his mouth and closes it again before offering a smirk with no warmth at all. “So it appears. What incredibly auspicious timing.”

I don’t like the edge in his voice.

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