Page 130 of The Twisted Throne

To see the outline of a familiar figure leaning out the window, hands grasping hold of her makeshift rope.

Then James was lifting her.

Ahnna lost her footing on the wall, a yelp tearing from her lipsas she slid down the curtain. The railing of the topmost ring of the spiral flashed past her, and then she caught her grip on the fabric.

Swinging wildly, she desperately climbed, hearing the fabric above her starting to tear.

Hand over hand, she edged higher, seeing the spiral railing that would be her salvation. Twisting her leg around the curtain, Ahnna reached, fingers brushing steel—

And then she was falling.

Ahnna screamed, her nails scraping against the rock as she plummeted, terror filling her veins.

Only for her hands to catch on the railing the next level down.

Her momentum nearly ripped her arms from their sockets, but she held on, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

Twin tears squeezed from her eyes, but Ahnna ignored the pain in her body and in her heart as she hooked a leg over the railing, easing over to the other side. On her knees with solid rock beneath her feet, she tried to calm her racing heart.

There was no time for more, because above, the noise of running feet entering the spiral filled her ears.

Moving as quietly as she could, Ahnna ran down the spiral, each footstep sending a knife blade of pain through her shoulders, but it was the words that kept repeating in her thoughts that hurt the most.Why is this happening?

Words that only silenced as she picked out the noise of men runningupthe spiral toward her.

Shit.

Hand resting on the hilt of her sword, she kept going. When the soldiers coming to aid those in the palace appeared, the torches they carried illuminating her face, she gasped, “Assassins! The king is dead!”

Eyes widened in horror. Most raced past her, though one stopped. “Are you injured, Princess?”

“I’m fine. Go!”

As he carried on, she increased her pace, running like the wind as she spiraled down and down, hearing the shouts of, “She’s alive!” and “She’s the assassin! Catch her!” when the two groups met.

Faster.

A cramp formed in her side, but Ahnna pushed for more speed. Running round and round, the spiral seemingly ceaseless.

Then she reached the bottom.

“Shut the gate!” she screamed at those who were on guard. “The king has been murdered! There is an assassin in the Sky Palace!”

Horror marched across their faces, but the men had no reason not to trust her, so they complied and the gates clanged shut.

Ahnna was already sprinting to the stable.

The horses were stirring restlessly in their stalls, sensing the madness in the air, but Ahnna paid them no mind as she moved to Dippy’s stall. Easing inside, she clipped the lead hanging on the door to his halter, and then looped it around to form reins because there was no time to find his tack.

“Steady,” she murmured, leading him out of his stall. Only to hear James’s shout, “Which way did she go?”

Ahnna’s heart leapt into her throat. Moving next to her horse, she bit down on the pain and vaulted onto his bare back. Pressing her heels to his sides, she edged him into a trot, then dug in her heels as figures appeared at the stable entrance.

Her horse raced between them, shouts ringing after her. She clung to his mane, attempting to guide him toward the gate to the city.

But it was closed.

No.

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