“We’ll s-see about that.” My response was breathless and rushed. Darren had me pressed against the door; a part of my mind was already gone, especially when he used his hands.
“If I win—” The prince gave me a crooked smile. “—what are you going to do for me?”
I looked up at him through my lashes. I was trying to remember why it was so important to win, but my senses were failing. “I’m sure you can think of something.”
Darren’s expression was devious. “Yes, I most certainly can.”
*
I won. It was the first time I had ever beaten the prince at anything.
To be fair, he had fallen asleep during a deliberately slow massage, but as far as I was concerned, it still counted.
“You cheated.”
“If you hadn’t enjoyed it, you wouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
Darren gave me a scowl. “I’ll remember this the next time we place a wager.”
“My prize?”
“Persistent to the end.” He leaned back on his arms with a groan. “Very well. Go on and marry your Pythian King. The map is behind the Throne Room tapestry.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Thank the gods he didn’t say his brother’s chamber. It would have been just like the gods to place the map in the one place I could never breach.
Darren mistook my silence for fear. “It’s the best location, love. The first place anyone would search is the king’s quarters, or the war chambers.”
Ha, I thought weakly.
“But the Throne Room? It’s brilliant. Hundreds of people can be in that room at any time and not suspect a thing.” The prince chuckled. “The only ones who can enter unattended are the Crown.”
I waited until he fell asleep. It wasn’t long; we were both so exhausted it could have just as easily been me.
Then I carefully, very carefully unclasped the chain around Darren’s neck.
For a moment, I just sat there, listening to the stammering of my pulse. Four months of plotting and searching and the crippling fear that this would all fall apart and now I finally had an answer.
The key was in my hand.
The whole of the palace was asleep… well, except the guards. But the only one I was truly concerned with was busy guarding the ambassador’s hall. Mira might not like me, but she distrusted the duke more.
I didn’t need to wait.
It was time to act.
*
“Your Highness? Why are you up at such an early hour?”
I gave the pair of guards the same explanation I had given the last. It was amazing how easy they took a crown princess’s word.
“The prince, he…” I clutched my cloak tighter in a show of modesty. I had deliberately left my hair tangled and willed myself to blush. “He worked up a bit of an appetite. I was hoping to get us something from the kitchens.”
“Ahhh.” There was a round of elbows and grins. “To be young again, eh?”
They continued to reminisce as I passed, never noticing when I ducked down the west corridor instead of the east.
And finally I was in front of the Throne Room doors.
Of the two guards standing duty, one was a knight I’d served with several times before, and the other, an easygoing Combat mage that hero-worshipped the prince.
I offered up some feeble excuse, pretending I had left something behind, and then I just strolled right into the room. My great betrayal of the Crown, and neither batted an eye.
The hall was beautiful. As I made my way across, little rays of sun were beginning to shoot across the chamber, the stained glass windows casting an ethereal glow along the marble and stone. I would have loved to watch, but every second that passed was another second before the rest of the palace awoke. In another ten minutes, the tower bells would toll for dawn.
I hurried across the rest of the room. The only sound was the hushed patter of my slippers and my own shallow breath.
All this plotting and worrying… I lifted a corner of the heavy tapestry, trying not to stare at the hand-woven crown with golden prongs and black hematite stones—the crest of the family I was betraying. I didn’t need to think about that now.
I tore my eyes away and shoved my second hand under the rug, feeling around with my fingers for a variance in the wall. My nails cut across granite, the rough stone an unpleasant sensation against the pads of my thumbs. I didn’t care. I ran my hand faster across the surface, glee taking over as my fingers caught against an uneven edge protruding slightly further than the rest.
I traced a rectangular outline of brick and then ducked under the tapestry, using both hands to tug the panel away from the rest of the wall.
For a moment, the brick held. And then, with the last contraction of my arms, it gave. A small plume of dust sprayed my arms and neck as I stared into a small crevice no bigger than a fist.
Inside that hole was an even smaller box with a lock. Nothing special, just a small gray box.
And I had the key.
With trembling fingers, I unlocked the box. It was a moment so simple and so important, that when it finally happened, it was hard to believe it was real.