Page 12 of Captive of the Stolen Empire

Locked doors and stationed guards kept us contained in limited areas of the castle. Always someone watched the emperor’s honored guests. Every meal, each stroll through the gardens. Except for now, when the young guardsmen left their post early. Fortunately for me, they guarded the door I needed to get through, one that led to the room where scribes copied missives and wrote letters to be sent across the empire. An ideal place to potentially find useful information and possibly send an illicit message of our own.

With a quick look either way, I cracked the door open. An empty hall lay beyond.Thank The Four.

My body shook as I slipped through the doorway and closed it behind me, my breathing far too loud in the now quiet space. A fool’s errand, searching for information we could use against Ryszard and his captains in this labyrinth of a castle.

But…

Each remembered cry of my people as they fell to blade or magic, or mourned the loss of their freedom, stoked the fire within me. It was risky, doing something that could get me in trouble. But leaving them in bondage to a tyrant was something I could never do.

Four doorways lined the torch-lit hall before it took a right turn. Faded tapestries shielded the walls between the doors. I dug my shoulder into the dark wood of the first door, earning me a twinge of pain. Locked.

The second… I gagged at the pungent scent that wafted from the privy chamber as soon as I cracked the door. My eyes stung. They didn’t clean this one near so well as the one by our assigned chambers. We’d never let things get so bad in Sorrena.Disgusting brutes.

Muffled conversation tickled my ears as I approached the third door. My legs locked up. The end of the hall pulled my attention. No, not there. The sound came from within the room. Chatter. Laughter. Growing louder.

I couldn’t be caught in this part of the castle.

In haste, I fled toward the door I’d exited, my sandaled feet slapping across the worn stones. Hinges squeaked behind me. Laughter echoed into the hall, swarming my senses and sending a prickle of dread sliding down my spine. The door loomed just ahead.A few more steps and—

The racket quieted before a gruff, male voice took up its place. “What do we have here?”

A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I’d been seen. Running wouldn’t help me now. And unfortunately, that voice didn’t belong to a random guard.

Swallowing my nerves, I raised my chin and turned toward my fate. Though I knew what to expect, the sight sent a tremor through my bones. Not just one but three of Ryszard’s captains filled the narrow hall. Fernand had thought I could potentially seduce my way past the guards. What nonsense. But he had been right about one thing—the guards didn’t watch me as closely as they did the men. They didn’t expect such treason from a woman. If I got caught, they might be more lenient with me than with Fernand or Gabriel. It’s why I volunteered for this. The emperor’s captains though? They would be much harder to sway.

“I got lost. My apologies,” I replied, taking a step back. I dipped a small bow, my fists clenched at my sides, trying to curry whatever favor might get me out of this mess.

The tallest one, with a helmet bearing a snarling bear, crossed his arms and tapped a boot against the stonework. Orson. An ugly bastard if his attitude and voice were any indication of the man beneath the mask. Some of the things I’d overheard him say on the journey here would make the saltiest sailor blush.

To his left stood Brishon, bearing a mask resembling a fanged fish complete with a fin atop his head. On his right, Kasida, one of only three female captains—that we knew of. Her helm resembled a beastly feline, including metal whiskers that assaulted the air around her head. It fit her personality—arrogant and selfish with a temper that could spring from nowhere.

“A likely story,” Orson said as he drummed his gloved fingertips across his arm.

“Ilya, lost? Could the heir of a trading city have such poor navigation? Or such thin lies?”

My cheeks flamed at Kasida’s taunt. Directions were not my strong suit. Trade, city planning, economics? Yes. But even getting around the city I’d lived in my whole life proved problematic at times. I bit my tongue, holding in a retort, when the door behind me, the one I’d entered from the hall, crashed open.

“Where are the guards that—”

I turned slowly toward the voice, one whose rank demanded attention from the other captains.

Antlers skewered through the bright torchlight spilling in through the door, silhouetting his form. My back stiffened. The remnants of dinner turned foul in my stomach.

Of all the captains to catch me in a restricted hall, he was the worst. He’d threatened to bring my sister here if I stepped out of line, and now, when I was somewhere I shouldn’t be, of course he would show up. The Four really were deaf to my prayers.

“What’s going on here?” Lucien asked, joining the other three to encircle me against the wall.

“A mouse out of her cage,” Kasida answered, one hand on her hip.

His eyes settled on me as if seeing me for the first time. Standing still under his prying inspection took significant effort. Especially when I yearned to run.

“Did you forget that this hall’s off-limits?” The deep timbre of his voice made it as much a statement as a question.

“No.” My retort carried more strength than I felt. “I got lost on my way back to my room.” A thin excuse at best, but I couldn’t very well tell him I’d planned to search for information to use against them. That would damn me—and Justina.

He shifted his weight. “You’re too smart for that. What were you really up to?”

Shit.

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