Page 174 of Enchanted Kingdom
When I got to the kitchen, I sucked in a breath. This was hard. Some parts of the castle were harder to leave than others. This was one of them.
I almost expected a guard to be waiting outside of the kitchen door, but there wasn’t one.
I shut the door without even a click.
I took a huge pull of cool air into my lungs. Now all that remained was to get to the back hedge. I was so close. So close and yet so far.
It was pitch black out too, that sliver of moon providing me little to no help. I wasn’t even sure I could make it through the forest without getting lost. This plan was not rational. It was the desperation of the last few months wrapped into a single moment. I was fleeing. I’d take my chances with the dying forest rather than be forced to become Keir’s queen.
I kept my head down and kept walking, bag in hand. Every ten or fifteen feet, I’d look behind me to see if anyone followed.
At any moment, I expected a guard to call my name or demand I stop.
Any. Moment.
My heart felt as if it was trying to escape too, only through my throat. This was it. I was a stone’s throw from freedom.
I almost let out a sob when I could touch the hedge. I’d made it. My master plan was working. I was almost free. Only a little farther. I could hear muffled voices that sounded like they were coming from the kitchens, so I picked up speed. I could hide in the forest for a while if need be, I just had to get there.
I took another step. Another.
It was working.
Two steps more, and I was free.
One step more.
I turned to check behind me and saw that no one was there. Or no one that I could see.
I took the last step. I was out.
I was free.
I paused, not hesitating in what I was doing, but because I felt that buzzing feeling I always felt when magic was being used or about to be used.
Keir and Owen must have been using their magic to try to find me.
I took another step, my first step into freedom. But then I saw it.
A navy strand of magic slithering upwards.
Oh no.
It kept crawling up his arm until it got to his shoulders, then his magic shot through his veins, illuminating him entirely.
“Krew,” I gasped. “What are you doing out here?”
“Looking for you. Keir and Owen couldn’t find you, so I jumped off my balcony and headed to the place you love most.”
I paused. “Wait. You can do that? With magic?”
“Not all of us,” Krew admitted. “I was worried.” His voice turned rough. “What in the hell areyoudoing out here?”
My entire plan was over. He’d caught me. He’d take me back to the castle. Where I’d be stuck forever. Unless I reasoned with him, and he decided to let me go....
“Running,” I gasped, tears swimming in my eyes. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Jorah, you can’t,” he argued. “My father is a bastard for setting you up like that tonight, but you can’t.”
