“I don’t know, but something’s not right.”
It was time for the midday meal—had everyone gone to their homes to dine? Had Lady Kiffen called a town meeting on the grounds of her estate?
“I can go to the rooftops to check it out,” Leo said.
“You do that. I’ll keep going toward the apothecary’s. Whistle if there’s trouble ahead of me. I don’t care what’s going on, we can’t leave here without those supplies.”
If the apothecary was as empty as the rest of the businesses around her, she’d take what she needed and leave the dagger on his counter as payment. Gabril’s situation didn’t give Lorelai the luxury of waiting for the villagers to return.
Leo scaled the closest wall and moved swiftly across the rooftops while Lorelai hurried forward, every nerve straining to recognize any sign of trouble.
Her brother’s soft whistle—a perfect mimic of a canary—drifted through the air as Lorelai was halfway through the intersection of the next street. She turned to look up at the rooftop behind her but then froze, her heart thudding rapidly as she stared.
Parked on the side street, just beyond the bakery, was a coach with the Ravenspire crest painted on its doors. The street beyond the coach was packed with villagers who were slowly eating handfuls of glossy red apples while staring at the royal vehicle.
And standing on top of the coach facing the villagers, a large red and gold dragon on the street beside her, was Queen Irina.
Lorelai stood, halfway into the road that cut between the bakery and the livery stables, and stared at Irina, her heartbeat slamming against her ears, her mouth going dry. For a moment, her vision wavered, and her knees shook.
Magic stung her veins and gathered in her palms, and a brilliant flame of rage lit her from the inside out. In her mind’s eye, she saw Irina laughing while the castle came to life and tried to crush Lorelai. She saw her father’s blood on the marble floor while Irina’s snake slithered away.
She reached for her gloves as she remembered her father telling her to protect Leo.
Protect Leo.
Fighting Irina like this—without thinking it through, without a backup plan—was a good way to get Leo killed. She’d learned that lesson the hard way nine years ago.
The thought of losing Leo galvanized her into action. Clenching her gloved hands, she eased back a step and forced herself to wall off the fear that flooded her. Fear would cause her to make a mistake, and making a mistake now would cost her everything.
She tore her eyes from Irina and stared at the dragon that stood still as a statue facing the crowd of silent, vacant-eyed villagers. Magic burned her palms, and she had to work to breathe past the band of panic that wanted to crush her. What was a dragon doing with Irina?
As Lorelai backed up another step, she had the sinking feeling that it had been a mistake rescuing the Eldrians from the mob of peasants. There was nothing she could do to change that now. Nothing but run, hide, and get Leo out of Nordenberg alive—with Gabril’s medicine safely stowed in her pack.
“Who is your rightful queen?” Irina demanded of the crowd. Her voice had a cruel edge. It was as if the Irina who’d smiled so warmly at Lorelai years ago had never existed.
“You are our rightful queen,” the crowd answered, their voices blending together in a singsong rhythm that made the hair on the back of Lorelai’s neck rise.
Her fingertips began to itch, and fire burned through her veins as she kept backing away, moving toward the corner of the bakery so she could hide against its south-facing wall, just out of the queen’s sight, while she figured out how to get to the apothecary’s without getting caught. A quick glance at the roof showed her that it was empty. Either Leo was lying flat to stay out of sight—unlikely, since he knew his sister was in danger—or he was on his way down to the street to help her.
“And what about Princess Lorelai?” Irina’s voice crackled with power.
“Death to traitors! Death to Lorelai!” The crowd’s voices rose to a fevered pitch, and Lorelai shrank as the chant echoed throughout the streets until it seemed she was surrounded by a thousand people screaming for her demise.
Whatever magic Irina was working, Lorelai and Leo needed to outrun it as fast as they could.
And they would. Once they had medicine for Gabril.