Page 62 of The Raven Queen

I blew out the breath and opened my eyes, smiling at Ada and shaking my head. “I cannot believe you did this.” I pulled her in for a tight hug. Tears threatenedagain, but this was no time to fall apart. “Thank you, Ada.Truly.”

She squeezed me back, then gripped my shoulders and pushed me away. “We must go. Let us hurry.”

I nodded vehemently, eager to reunite with Liam. The blood rush on top of the massive effort I had expended in using my gifts to cast the illusion made my head spin and my limbs tremble.

“Are you all right?” Ada asked, her brows pinched together. She gripped my elbow to steady me.

I nodded. “I’ll be fine. Wiped out, but fine.”

Her lips twitched into a quick, unconvinced smile, but she returned my nod anyway. “Come on, then.”

Sid launched off the cot, swooped out through the open cell door, glided a full circuit around the tower interior while Ada and I hurried from the cell, then landed on my proffered arm, shuffling up to perch in his usual place on my shoulder. I wondered if Fin was still in there, my cheeks heating and heart beating even faster at the thought of him having watched me strip out of my dress and slip just a moment ago. It had been years since I cared one way or another about another person seeing my unclothed body, but suddenly, something that shouldn’t have mattered compared to everything else going ondidmatter to me. Very much so.

Ada and I raced down the stairs and exited the tower without a hitch, the guards apparently oblivious to our escape, and quickly settled in the rowboat. Under cover of darkness, we crossed the moat. Ada rowed, sticking close to the shadows cloaking the edges of the Tower of Solitude from the moonlight until we reached the back end of the island, while I downed the bread and cheese she had stashed in a second, smaller satchel in the boat. With the food, some of my energy returned. My Empathy was still mostly spent, but at least the worst of the fatigue left my muscles, and the shaking ceased.

When we reached land, Sid launched into the air to scout our way from above while Ada and I scrambled out of the boat and hurried across the gravel road encircling the moat, to the thicker cover of the trees lining the opposite shoulder. I crouched beside Ada, waiting for her to catch her breath after all that rowing.

The entrance to the western escape tunnel wasn’t far, just a couple hundred yards away, hidden at a dead-end branch of the hedge maze near the wall. We were in the last stretch now, and we needed to be quick and stealthy.

The fruit trees, with their branches covered in fluffy blooms, provided plenty of cover, and we reached the hedge maze without issue. We plunged into a break between the tall hedges, retreating deeper into the shadows beyond the immediate entrance.

“Garath?” I whisper-shouted, searching the impenetrable darkness. My heart leaped into my throat when he stepped out of the shadows, his eyes scanning over me endlessly. I raced forward and flung myself into his arms.

He squeezed me tightly but only for a moment. “You caught a tail,” he hissed, pulling away and gripping my elbow to drag me farther into the labyrinth. “We have to get to the tunnel.”

I didn’t argue.

Ada ran ahead, leading the way around the bends.

“Our guards?” I asked between panting breaths. In the distance, dogs barked and people shouted. My stomach lurched. Garath was right. We were being hunted.

“Already out,” Garath said. “They’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”

Ada reached the end of the maze first, where the hedge itself concealed the tunnel’s entrance that only the Corvo queens, their heirs, and their most trusted guards and advisors had known about for nearly two centuries. As soon as she saw us barrel around the corner, she slipped into the hedge, vanishing completely.

Garath pushed me through the hedge ahead of him, following close behind me. The tunnel was narrow, the ceiling low enough that Garath needed to duck, and the air carried the thick scent of mildew, but I could breathe easier knowing we were concealed. We were safe.

Ada was a dozen paces ahead, an Elemental-charged electric torch in hand to light the way.

Garath caught my wrist before I could delve deeper into the narrow tunnel. “Del, wait.”

I turned back to him, my eyebrows raised.

“You may not have been born the Corvo heir, but youarethe Corvo queen,” he said, his voice hushed but his hurried words impassioned. He stepped closer to me, gripping my shoulders. “The kingdom needs you. Thepeopleneed you. Promise me you’ll remember that?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, shaking my head as I searched his face in the electric torchlight. “What are you—”

His words from a moment earlier finally registered.They’ll be waiting for you on the other side.

They’ll be waiting foryou . . .

My leaden heart sank into my stomach.

“You’re not coming?” I said, my voice thready.

“They have dogs,” Garath said. “I can sense them closing in. I can sway some of them to turn on their masters, but most are loyal. They’ll find the entrance to this tunnel, and they will follow us. They will track us to the harbor, and they will catch you, Del. They will catch you and Liam unless one of us stays behind to slow them down.”

“You can’t—” My chin trembled, and I shook my head more vehemently. “We might make it.”

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