Page 84 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
Pressing her ear against the wood, she listened for movement on the other side. What had gotten into her? She had no clue, but this excursion was certainly distracting her from wayward thoughts of the duke. All seemed quiet, so she pressed down on the latch and swung open the door into a darkened room. With her candle aloft, Nesrina determined she was standing in a bathing chamber. A guest room, most likely, if the empty vanity across the way was any indication.
When she stepped forward, she stumbled over something small and rough. Her left foot knocked painfully against the door panel. She dropped her candle, sputtering it out, and she tumbled face-first into something plush and hard, which threw her brain for a loop in the darkness.
Nes gasped, shoving away from the surface. A wall. Worried she’d hurt one of the duke’s hounds, she stuck her hands out and crouched, swiping back and forth as she moved back toward the hidden panel. It wasn’t a dog, just a basket, so she returned to the wall, sliding her palms along it in search of what she’d fallen into.A robe.Nes leaned in and breathed deeply.
Oh, shit.
If the delicious heady scent was any inclination, she hadn’t found a guest washroom at all. She was standing in the duke’s bathing chamber.
As if her luck could get worse, a muffled bark came from another room.Lellin.It was followed by a low rumble.Kas.Her heart sped up, and she sucked in a tense breath. Closer now, but still outside the washroom, she heard movement.
Oh, no.
Nes spun back toward the hidden panel and panicked. She’d kicked it closed. She pressed and smacked and slipped her fingers up and down the wall, searching for a way back in.Come on, come on, come on.Nes pleaded with the gods to open the damn thing so she could escape upstairs.
A door across the hallway thunked closed and Kas’s voice, a murmur, tumbled through the wall at her, threatening to stop her heart. Time had run out.Oh, gods, Nes. What have you gotten yourself into?
He was close, right outside the door. Sprinting on bare feet, she dashed across the room, aiming for a dark rectangle on the far wall.Please, please, please.
It was a door. She thanked the gods. As she closed herself in the new room and let out a shaky breath, the bathing chamber door opened, then clicked shut.
Silence greeted her ear, pressed against the wood. Nes squinted into the dark space where she hid. The gentle glow of moonlight flowed in through the bare window at the far end of the room. She still wished she had a candle.
Oh my gods.She’d had one, but she’d dropped it when she tripped.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Nes dared to hope he’d only peeked in and gone on his way. It was silent out there. But her sprouting hope was squashed before it had the chance to bud. A clatter followed by rhythmic thumping and swearing tore open the bundle of anxiety nestled in her chest.
It sounded for all the world that the duke found her candlestick.Stubbed his toe, most likely.A vision of him hopping around on one foot floated into Nesrina’s mind, and despite the anxiety saturating every fiber of her being, she had to bite back a giggle.
A rush of water broke the silence as the bathtub taps were turned on.
Oh, no.
The thudding of her anxious heart propelled bile up her throat. The image of stubbed-toe Kas morphed from one of a man clothed to one who was lacking attire. She half—no,fully—expected him to throw open the door and bear down on her. Shedidn’twant that to happen. That would be terrifying. It wasnotwhat she wanted to happen. Not at all. Definitely not.
No Kas, clothed or unclothed, intruded on her hideout. Eventually, the taps were turned off and she heard splashing as he climbed into the tub in the center of the room.
Who takes a godsdamn bath at midnight?
Stifling a yawn, she inched farther into the room, making her way toward the window.
Really? Now I’m tired?
Aside from the occasional muffled splash, the washroom was quiet. But she knew he was still out there, and she was trapped. Dim moonlight was enough to confirm she stood in an empty closet. Something about the extensive built-in shelving and floor-to-ceiling mirror at the far end told Nes this was a room for a woman.
“Oh.” Her voice, luckily, remained no louder than a breath as she realized she was in the future Duchess of Stormhill’s closet. Nes swallowed back the little ball of confusion rising up her throat.
Then she waited, and waited, and waited more. As she considered whether she could open the window, magic herself a ladder, and climb to the grass far below, all without being seen or heard, the muffled splashing grew louder, then stopped altogether.
Silence descended, the oppressive sort that left her with nothing but the thudding of her heart to keep her company. She was ready to tear out her hair as anxiety urged her to climb out thatlenedwindow. Finally, a low glugging indicated the tub was draining, and she relaxed... a little. It wasn’t until she was positive he’d left the chamber that she dared to emerge from the closet.
The robe she’d fallen into unintentionally, then sniffed, intentionally,was gone.
She hoped the lit candles weren’t a sign of his impending return. Nes spent a few minutes trying to release the hidden panel again before giving up and moving to the main door. She cupped her hand to the wood and listened to the count of forty, wanting to be positive he’d gone away, ideally out of his apartment altogether.
Silence greeted her, so she steeled herself and eased the handle until she had enough of a gap to sneak out. Nes thanked the gods the hinges were so well oiled as she crept into the dim hall and assessed her surroundings. Flickering light drew her eyes to the left where a bright chamber expanded off the short corridor.His bedchamber, she’d wager. There was one door across the way, cracked to a dark room, and another stood to her right, closed, at the end of the hall.
