Page 53 of The Court of Thorns and Wings

She wore the standard guard’s armor, though I’d never seen her wear it before. From what I understood, she had to complete training before she qualified as a full guard. I pulled my punch, not wanting to cause more problems between us.

Her eyes darkened, and she hissed, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Lira?” Then she pointedly looked at my left hand.

Dammit. That hadn’t been paranoia. Eiric had been watching me. She always sensed when I was up to something.

Did you get caught?Tavish asked, his trepidation swirling through our bond.

By Eiric,I replied, hoping there was a way to salvage this.

“You have one second, or—” she started.

“Can we go to my room?” I cut her off and whispered, “I’ll tell you everything.” Anything to get us out of the hallway so no one could see us like this. I glanced over my shoulder at theguard, who didn’t seem to notice us. He was entirely focused on watching the area outside.

She pursed her lips, a sign that she was uncertain what she should do.

“Please, give me a chance to explain.” I placed my free hand on her shoulder.

Closing her eyes, she exhaled and released her grip on my arm. “Fine, but once we get there, you have five minutes.”

Blighted abyss. I didn’t even have that long to convince her. I needed to get to Tavish and Finnian before the guard realized I’d swiped the key from him. If I didn’t play along, she’d force me to hand it over, so I nodded.I’m going to need to tell her everything.

Is that wise?Tavish questioned, his concern constricting our bond in my chest.

Pivoting on my heels, I took off, rushing back to my bedroom.If I don’t risk it, our plan is over. She’ll make me hand the key back.I’d already wasted too much time, and I still had to allocate more to talk to her. My heart galloped as I darted back into my room.

Eiric stayed right on my wings.

Good. I needed to make up some of the time.

When I entered my room, I stopped at the door, and Eiric flew inside. I immediately shut and locked it to make sure we’d have a warning if someone tried to come inside.

She landed a few feet from my bed, folding her wings into her back. “Go on.”

For once, I didn’t need her prodding to encourage me to talk. “There’s a reason I was acting irrationally last night.” I swallowed, hoping my gut was correct about how to start this. “What I’m about to tell you is something Father and Mother made me swear to never share with anyone when I was a child. You questioning me had the old part of me surging forward, andit caught me off guard. Still, I never should have spoken to you that way because you’re my best friend and sister. I’m still trying to reconcile who I was as a child and who I was on Earth with who I’m becoming now.”

“You weren’t the only one in the wrong.” Eiric’s expression smoothed, and she squeezed my hand gently. “I should’ve been more understanding.”

Even though my guilt over how I’d treated her still weighed on me, some of the tension in my chest lightened. She and I would be all right after all.

I moved closer to her, lowering my voice. “I need you to swear you won’t tell anyone… not even our parents. If you can’t promise, then I can’t share everything with you.”

“And I thought you were trouble on Earth. You’ve never asked me to keep a secret before. And here you are, asking for the second time.”

My mouth dried. I didn’t like keeping things from Mom and Dad either, but unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. Not here in Ardanos, where everything was stacking against Tavish and me. “It’s technically about the same thing.” I forced a smile.

She rolled her eyes, but I watched her mash her lips together as if to hide a smile. “Fine. What’s going on?”

“There’s a secret, hidden passage that only royals know about.” I pointed to the bathroom. “The hidden door is in there. That’s why I suddenly appeared in the bathroom.”

Her forehead creased. “What? Why would the exit be secret from the guards? And where does it take you?”

Good questions. The same ones I’d had as a little girl. “Father said it’s best if the guards don’t learn of it, so if we’re attacked inside the castle, the enemies can’t learn how we escaped. We could hide in the passage and wait for them to give up searching for us or leave completely.”

Eiric scowled as if she didn’t like that answer.

I didn’t blame her. If we were attacked like that, there was no blazing way I wouldn’t bring as many guards as possible with me if it was clear we were going to lose against our attackers. “It leads to two exits—the gardens out back and the corner of the castle that opens to the cliff, so we can drop out and fly low and not be detected in the middle of the night.”

“But why would you need to sneak out now?” She tilted her head, trying to put all the information together. “You’re the princess, and we aren’t under attack. You can go anywhere in Gleann Solas.”

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