Page 156 of Thorn Season
“Don’t,” I said, and Carmen went rigid.
She lowered her gaze to the knife I held, its blade pinching into her saffron bodice. “Alissa?” Her voice quivered. “What are you doing?”
“Turn around and walk.”
“Walk—but—? Where? Alissa, please—” She was stalling, waiting for Erik to appear.
He couldn’t be much farther. I could almost make out his words.
Carmen sucked in a breath—
“Don’t call for him,” I said, hissing. “Walk to your suite. Now.” I pushed the knife until she lurched ahead.
I kept the blade on her spine all the way to the royals’ halls. She unlocked her suite, and I pushed her inside. Then I snatched her key, locked the door, and sagged against the wood.
My body vibrated with the remains of terror.
Erik had finished his meeting with the Capewells. How long until he visited the dungeons and realized I was missing?
“What’s the time?” I asked. Carmen whimpered, her arms wrapped around herself. “The time!” I shouted, and she jerked into movement, fumbling around the lounge until she found a pocket watch.
“Midnight,” she said. “Please, Alissa. I don’t know what you’re doing, but—”
I didn’t hear the rest.
I’d squandered Perla’s kindness. There would be no coach waiting for me in the city. No transport into Bormia. I would be stuck in this kingdom forever and Erik would find me—of course he would find me—and I might as well have stayed in that cell—
“Alissa?” Carmen’s voice yanked me from my spiral. She trembled in the sea of pink-on-brown that was her lounge. I’d broken into these chambers so often that the mismatched style was familiar now. I looked across the room, those occasions drifting back to me...
“It’s been twelve days,” I breathed. “The ship hasn’t left.”
I staggered for Carmen’s bedchamber and blew around like a storm—rummaging through the vanity, upturning garments.
I hadn’t dragged myself through Rose Season to collapse now. I would finish what I came here to do; I would stop Erik’s copycats from hurting anyone else.
I just needed another escape route.
“I know you’re helping the Ansorans transport Wielders out of Daradon,” I called. “The shipping documents were in your dresser, but you moved them. Where are they?”
Carmen shuffled inside, her teary eyes accusatory. “Keil wouldn’t tell me who he’d caught sneaking around my chambers. But I knew it was you.”
“Yes, very good. Now, where are the documents?”
“Why should I tell you?”
“I’m the one with the knife.”
“And I’m the princess of Daradon.” She raised her chin. “To threaten me is a prison sentence.”
I couldn’t contain my burst of laughter. “Look at me.” I gestured from my tangled hair to the filthy hem of my gown. “Where do you think I’ve been?”
Her red lips flattened.
I laughed again, returning to my search. “You’re fooling yourself if you think you know everything that goes on in this palace.”
She murmured, “I know what you are.”
My fingers stilled inside the dresser. I glanced around.
