Page 173 of Enchanted Kingdom
I went over to my window and opened it. It was a long drop down. I wasn’t desperate enough to jump it. I could maybe hit the next balcony down, but that was ten feet or more down. With my luck, I’d snap an ankle and get stuck on some other Assemblage woman’s balcony.
I didn’t need to jump, I just needed to make it look like I had. Then when Keir and Owen tore out of here to look for me, hopefully taking the guards outside the door with them, I’d slip away unnoticed.
So I hid. Under my own bed. Window open, bag ready.
I had to keep my cool. There was still a lot that could go wrong. I’d need to slip out the kitchen door, which faced the back hedge, while Owen and Keir checked the gardens and spot beneath my window. Hopefully they assumed I fell to the next floor and was on the third floor trying to escape.
I heard a knock.
This was it. I took a big inhale through my nose and held my breath.
“Jorah?” Owen asked gently.
I could see the door open a sliver. Then wider still. “Jorah?” His boots strode into the room.“Jorah?”
I was never going to forgive myself for the panic in his voice. But it was better to hear his anguish than be the cause for his punishments by the king.
He’d protected me when I needed it most. It was time to return the favor.
“Jorah!” he yelled while he checked the lavatory.
Another set of shoes were in the doorway. Keir. “Where’d she go? Where could she possibly even go?”
“She didn’t leave?” Owen barked, striding around the room. For a moment, I thought he might lean over and check under the bed. My entire plan in ruins.
But then he must have noticed the window. “Shit!”
They both flew to the window. “No!” Keir gasped. “Please no!”
Owen must have sent out a blast of magic somehow, as the room lit up green. I heard him take a shaky breath just before he said, “I don’t see a body down there.”
“Could she have landed below?” Keir asked. “Or—” he cut off. “No. I refuse to believe it. No!”
I was a monster for doing this to them. I had to clamp a hand over my own mouth to prevent my sobs from escaping.
And like I suspected, they were out of my room in a flash.
I waited until I heard the door click. They were gone.
I scooped up the bag and left briskly. If Owen and Keir went for help, I needed to be in the forest as quickly as possible.
At the main door to Keir’s wing, the large door left slightly ajar, my feet stuttered.
I was leaving. I was leaving this godforsaken castle. I’d had some really amazing days here. But I’d also had some of the worst days.
It was time.
I peeked out the open door and was grateful to find that Easton and the night guards were also gone. Just as I had suspected.
So as I brought the door to Keir’s wing shut, I did the only thing I could.
I ran.
CHAPTER46
Four flights of stairs had never felt so long. I had contemplated the elevator, but all it would take was someone on a floor beneath me needing on, no matter whom it was, and my master plan was shot to hell. Plus I was sure Keir and Owen probably took the elevator themselves.
So staying near the wall, I took step after step down. Down, down, down.
