Page 78 of Decoy

The shadows easily passing in and out through the bars gave me an idea. I often borrowed their movements by melting into them and traveling across the areas they touched to quickly reach vast distances…but could I use this same power to gothroughthings?

I hooked my awareness into them, but the bars remained firmly impenetrable. I sensed the shadows’ mocking smirk and gritted my teeth.Help me reach her, you useless fiends.

It’ll make little difference; you can’t save her, and then she’ll finally be ours. But despite their taunts and their firmly being the ones in charge, my role as their master that I’d sealed with my father’s blood at least gave me enough control to access their magic.

The shadows engulfed me as I felt myself become a part of them, allowing me to slip through the bars to the shadows awaiting me on the other side. I released my hold of the magic and appeared beside her. She gaped at me with bulging eyes before managing a small smile.

“Your tricks never cease to amaze me.” Her startled gasp was cut off by my tight embrace as I seized hold of her.

“Blair.”

It was a struggle for her to hug me back, but it was enough just to have her in my arms. My mind worked frantically as I clung to her. Could this shadow trick also be the means that would free her? But I’d no sooner seized hold of this hope than it slipped away with their menacing whisper.

It only works on members of the Shadow house.

Why does her death matter to you so much?I’d asked them this question constantly, but as usual they maintained their stubborn silence.

I didn’t hold her for as long as I wanted before remembering my purpose. I reached inside her pocket for the handkerchief to dry her tears…only to immediately drop it upon noticing its crimson stains.

“It’s not my blood,” she hastily assured me upon glimpsing my horror. “My apologies, staining the handkerchief you lent me with your worst fear is a poor way for me to treat your generosity.”

“I told you before that blood is nothing to the thought of losing you.” With a wavering breath, I picked it up by a corner and gingerly used a clean spot on the linen to gently dab her cheeks. “If it’s not your blood, whose is it?”

“I needed the queen’s blood so the shadows could help me access the royal treasury, considering as a decoy I couldn’t open the door myself…” She studied the splotched handkerchief now in my lap with a pensive air. “That blood was enough to open one of the enchanted palace locks. Do you think its power would work onanylock within the palace, even an unenchanted one? It seems possible its power would at least extend to the dungeon, just in case a member of the royal family was ever locked away due to an insurrection and needed to escape.”

At this point I’d try anything, even selling the remainder of my life if it’d only preserve hers; handling the blood-stained handkerchief was nothing in comparison.

I bunched it thin enough to insert the bloody tip into the keyhole binding her wrist. The click of a lock pierced the night as the chain fell away. I immediately went to work on the other. The moment she was free, I seized hold of her for a one-arm embrace and used my free hand to gingerly examine her wrists.

I sucked in a harsh breath. The skin had been rubbed away to reveal the raw skin beneath. “Oh, Blair.” I pressed an airy kiss above the wound, as if the futile gesture could take away the pain.

“I’ll happily endure this if it spares me the noose.”

My stomach seized at the thought. “You willnotbe dying.”

I loosened my hold for her to crawl towards the bars. Like I’d done, she rolled the handkerchief and inserted the pointed end containing the royal blood into the lock like a key. After a bit of maneuvering, the door swung open.

We hurriedly passed the guards I’d knocked out and left before the captain of the guard descended to escort Blair to the gallows. We made our escape to the roof, the best place I could think of for her to hide once the unconscious guards awoke and realized she was no longer in her cell. I hated requiring her to scale the walls with her injured wrists, but she endured it bravely.

We settled behind a statue that would shield us from view of anyone who chanced to look up. Even with her freedom momentarily secured, Blair was still a wanted prisoner, circumstances made more dangerous when I still didn’t know if she’d been sent to the dungeon under the king and queen’s authority, if Sir Rupert had acted on his own, or if there was someone else manipulating the strings from behind the scenes.

The first matter of course would be to remove the target placed on her. The shadows’ own remained, but I could at least free her from the earthly authorities that had condemned her. “Explain to me the conditions for acting as the princess’s decoy—the deal was you’d secure your pardon in exchange for the identity of the threat after Her Highness’s life?”

She nodded wearily. “Though the advisor broke our agreement, during my conversations with the king and queen they gave no impression they’d go back on their word, making me wonder if Sir Rupert acted on his own.”

“And you never obtained Their Majesties’ official guarantee?”

She bit her lip. “You’d think my distrust of the royal family would have led me to be cautious enough to after my entire family was condemned to death under their orders, and yet at the time…”

I enfolded her in my arms. “So long as you’re alive and they’re still in need of the identity of the one after the princess’s life, it’s not too late. I will secure an official pardon. However, I think it’d be best not to receive it from Their Majesties, for I cannot yet guarantee they’re not the ones who rescinded on your agreement.”

She frowned. “But there’s no one else who can grant it.”

“Except for the true princess.”

“The…true princess?” Puzzlement furrowed her brow. “Who is she?”

“I’ve been pondering that riddle ever since we were caught infiltrating the royal treasury. Based on the prophecy, I suspect it’s the original Princess Evelyn who was sent away for her protection.”

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