Page 40 of Lies Within the Darkest Tower

I sucked in a deep breath to steady my nerves then wrapped the strips as tight as I could bear, then I gingerly pulled on the rest of my clothes.

My jerkin was still slightly damp and had a rip in the back where the shadow monster’s claws had caught me, and I hadn’t managed to completely remove the bloodstains on it or my shirt, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. And really, I was just grateful I’d managed to get through the fight with stained clothes and a headache from where I’d bumped my head.

I shoved my feet into Sawyer’s old boots and then reached for the door. My hand trembled and I couldn’t make myself open it.

This was the real test. Last night it had been dark, there hadn’t been many men around, and those who had been around had been distracted — which had to be why Talon hadn’t noticed the truth about me.

And while it didn’t look like it was light out yet, I doubted that would last long. With my clothes more or less cleaned up, the men of the Black Tower would now be able to get a good look at me, and without a doubt they were going to know the truth the moment they saw me.

Great Father, I don’t know if I can do this.

The vision of the mist swirling around Sawyer’s body, his dead eyes staring at nothing, shuddered through me.

Except I had to do this. Icoulddo it.

Just long enough for him to escape.

Keep your head down, take whatever punishment Lord Commander Rider gives you?—

My thoughts stuttered at that. Was his name actually Rider or had I made that up in my dream as well? Although Talon had mentioned a Rider being upset and Grefin had referred to Lord Rider not liking lazy men so that had to be the Lord Commander’s name.

And now I was just stalling.

Fighting not to grit my teeth so I wouldn’t look like there was anything wrong with me, I eased my door open. A man in the Guards’ black uniform hurried past without giving me a second look and headed down the hall where the men in the lounge had stared at me last night, while another man — a heavily muscled fae man, bulkier than any of the fae I’d seen so far — came out of the stairwell beside my room with a towel wrapped around his hips. His gaze swept over me and I took a hesitant step back under his scrutiny.

“Thought there’d be more to you,” he said, his voice gruff before striding to a door halfway down the hall and stepping inside.

More to me?Swell. It looked like people were already talking about me which was only going to make staying unnoticed more difficult. With luck, my next few days would be uneventful or one of the other sacrifices would be more interesting and they’d soon forget about me.

Two more men, fully dressed, strode past me and headed down the hall the first man had gone. Grefin had said to follow everyone else to get to the morning meal so I followed them, keeping a good distance back so they wouldn’t notice me.

They strode past the sitting area but instead of turning down the hall to the stairs where I’d first entered the building, they kept going straight.

This hall had a dozen doors on each side, all close together suggesting that they were more individual rooms for the guards, and ended in a set of heavy wooden doors straight ahead and a smaller plain door on the left.

The men took the smaller door, which opened into a stairwell, and I followed, heading down to the ground floor and stepping out another plain door into a wide hall with even more men, all heading toward an open set of enormous double doors.

Beyond, I could hear the roar of voices. It sounded like the great hall in Herstind Keep during the evening meal when most of Edred’s men gathered to eat and drink and look at me with the same kind of hunger the men in my dream had given me.

Except this wasn’t Herstind and these men didn’t know I was a girl.Please don’t let them know.

A big burly human brushed past me, and I fell into step behind him, hoping to use him as a shield and hide from too many curious eyes. Inside was indeed like the great hall in Herstind.

The room was enormous, towering at least two-stories high. To my right at the far end was another set of large double doors with an enormous window above them filled with expensive glass that was clearer than any glass I’d seen before.

Weak light, the kind that came as dawn was just starting to lighten the sky shone through the window as well as from numerous windows on both sides of the walls. The rest of the room’s illumination came from the strange, steady glow of fae lights in four enormous chandeliers hanging overhead and the flickering light from the fire in two large hearths on either side of the room.

Long tables and benches had been placed in orderly rows, but unlike Herstind, there wasn’t a dais at the front or a head table of any kind, suggesting the Lord Commander didn’t eat with his men.

There also weren’t any servants serving food. Which made sense since women weren’t a part of the Black Guard and, according to Grefin, rank and position didn’t mean anything in the Tower. Instead, the men lined up along the wall closest to the entrance where I’d entered, walked through a door at the back of the room, likely into the kitchen, and walked out of a door on the other side with a tray filled with food.

The large man I was hiding behind headed straight into the line and I hurried to stay in his shadow. Another human stepped up behind me. He was just as big and burly as the man in front. In fact, it seemed all the men in the Tower were big, which I knew wasn’t true. There were a few humans closer to my height. But they were all broader and more muscular, because of course they were men and had filled out from all the weapons training they’d done.

“They haven’t given you your gear yet?” the man behind me asked.

I didn’t know if he was talking to me or not and I wasn’t going to look back and make eye contact to find out.

“Probably don’t have anything his size,” another guy behind me chuckled.

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