Page 145 of When Sisters Collide
Instead, her heart ached under the weight of his words. The emotion in his gaze held her captive. She didn’t want to feel the pull of something deeper—but it was there, undeniable.
He stepped back, shadows swallowing him until the torchlight slipped from his shoulders.
Katell stared after him, pulse racing.
A sound broke her trance.
Alena turned sharply, eyes wide. “Go!” she hissed. “One of the patrols has found your room unguarded. They’ll be after you soon.”
Katell belted the sword at her waist. She’d need all her strength to break through the bolted door ahead. The noise would draw soldiers, but there was no other way. She’d have to be fast, lose them in the winding alleys, and reach the Maiden’s barrier before they caught up.
How she’d cross it without Pinaria and Arnza’s help, she didn’t know. That was a problem for later. First, she had to get out of the city.
Shouts erupted deeper in the palace, jolting her into motion. She’d barely taken two strides when Alena’s whisper drifted after her, almost lost in the night air. “Goodbye, Kat.”
The words struck like an arrow to her heart. Her steps faltered, stopped cold by the quiet finality in her sister’s voice.
Torchlight flickered along the palace walls, dancing closer. The guards would be on her any second. But her feet refused to move.
In the next breath, she pivoted on her heel, boots crunching the gravel, and strode back to Alena. Without a word, she pulled her into a fierce, desperate embrace.
Alena froze, startled—but only for a heartbeat. Then her trembling arms closed around Katell, as though she, too, had been holding something back.
They clung to each other in the dark, silence thick with all the words they couldn’t say. Katell breathed in her sister’s familiar scent, the warmth grounding her in a way she hadn’t felt in months.
“Be safe, little star,” Katell whispered, swallowing past the lump in her throat. She pressed a soft kiss to Alena’s hair, holding the moment a heartbeat longer before pulling away.
Alena nodded, her breath catching as she fought to hold herself together. Tears shimmered in the moonlight, tracing bright trails down her cheeks. When she finally spoke, her voice cracked with emotion. “Go. Please… just go before they catch you.”
Katell cast one last glance at her before dashing towards the gate. With a swift motion, she lifted the wooden beam blocking it. Footsteps pounded closer, echoing through the garden. The soldiers had arrived.
Nik seized Alena’s arm, pulling her into the shadows, their gazes locked on Katell.
“Go! Go!” Alena mouthed urgently, her green eyes pleading for Katell to hurry.
Without hesitation, Katell rammed her shoulder against the door. The metal bolts strained, but the oak held firm.
“There she is! Stop her!” a voice shouted behind her.
She shoved again, muscles burning, then once more until the bolts snapped free. With a final, determined push, the door crashed open, and Katell slipped into the city streets beyond.
“She’s getting away!”
Katell glanced back at the doorway. She couldn’t let the soldiers follow her—if they reached the streets, they’d chase her all the way to the Maiden’s barrier. She had to stop them.
Clicking her tongue, she unsheathed her sword, ready for a fight she had hoped to avoid.
As the soldiers neared, their faces lit by flickering torchlight, a sudden brilliance sliced through the dark. Blinding blue light cut the air like a blade. Frost raced up the walls, freezing everything it touched. The icy tendrils wove together across the doorway, sealing it with a thick, crystalline barrier. The soldiers halted, trapped on the other side.
Leukos.
A small smile tugged at Katell’s lips before she turned and dashed north through the streets.
The Twelfth’scamp lay in an unusual stillness, early morning mist wrapping the tents and barricades in a soft grey haze. Only the faint crackle of embers from dying campfires and the distantclinkof armour broke the silence. Katell strode through the gates, startling the guards, but she didn’t slow, her focus set.
If anyone gave her trouble, she’d knock them out—just as she had the Tirynthian guards at the city walls. Slipping out of the city had been easy enough, but what surprised her most was the Maiden’s barrier. It had let her pass without so much as a scratch.
She hadn’t had time to process what that meant. She needed to find Arnza and Pinaria, gather what she could, and leave for Dodona before the legate caught wind of her return.
