The upper level was not as empty as the cell block, but emptier than Everna assumed. During the days of Shroud's uncontested hold over Pendel, the stronghold was likely filled to the brim with their agents. Now, all that remained were empty, dust-laden rooms and barren halls haunted by ghastly apparitions robed in black.

She dodged the first few agents, hiding behind corners and inside empty rooms when possible, but after two agents caught her unawares, only to continue walking, she realized it wasn't necessary. With her mother's leathers, the hood of her cloak pulled over her head, and the mask covering half her face, she looked as if she belonged there.

Without the added delay of having to sneak through the halls, she caught up with her mother in no time. Mayor Ashburn traded his bow for Landen's. It sat strung over his shoulder, the half-full quiver accompanying it. Her mother had used another illusion to disguise him as Landen, much to Everna’s dismay. Wil trailed behind him, his hands bound behind his back with loose shackles. The hood of his cloak hung around his shoulders. Though she'd seen him remove it on a handful of occasions, it was still an odd sight to behold; he rarely left it down outside of the safe house. Beside him, her mother shuffled after Arden, her hands unbound and shoulders hunched.

Everna swallowed her disapproval. They meant to convey her compliance, as if Wil's capture had been the key to finally persuading her to walk into their clutches. It served as a stark reminder that none of them knew her at all; she would not be that compliant, even bound and gagged. She wouldn't cower, but glare holes into the back of the agent's head as she waited for the opportune moment to twist the ring on her finger and bolted the second the magic took hold. Wil could handle himself, most of the time.

Shroud seemed to buy the damsel in distress bit, for not one of their agents was bothered by the lack of restraints.

Damsel in distress, my ass, she thought. She was the damsel causing their distress.

When she was less than twenty feet from them, Wil cocked his head, the blunted point of his ear peeking out from beneath his dark waves.

"You just can't listen, can you?" he said, drawing both her mother's and Mayor Ashburn's attention.

"Oh, I listened," she said, stepping beside him. She pulled the edge of her mask down to reveal the blood smeared across her nose. "I had to disintegrate one agent, then I got my ass kicked, quite literally, by Landen."

Her mother glared at Arden. "You said you took care of him!"

"I did," he replied, and Everna barely restrained the urge to ram her dagger into his back.

"Someone liberated him from his cell," Everna muttered. "Sounded like an Anwellian."

"And you—"

As a pair of agents rounded the corner ahead of them, Everna reached out and struck Wil in the shoulder, pushing him so hard he stumbled.

"Shut it!" she snapped.

A couple of snickers rose from the passing agents. Wil cursed, glaring at her over his shoulder. Once they rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, she released a breath. Her mother turned to her, eyes narrowed.

"Since when could you act? Now that I think of it, you've been much better at hiding things since you returned from the capital," she said. "Alarmingly so."

Everna shrugged. "Took drama classes. Had to fill in the gaps in my course plan to keep the grant somehow. It came in handy, especially when debating."

Her mother scrunched her nose, and Everna pointedly ignored how childish it looked on her face. "They teach drama? And here I thought the academy claimed to be an academic institution."

"Blame the nobility," Wil said. "They all want to be performers now and they're certainly dramatic enough. They've decided it's an art rather than a lowborn circus act."

"As intriguing as the conversation is, this really isn't the time for it," Arden pointed out. "We need to adjust the plan since Everna's joining us."

"Just stick to the original idea then," Everna said as she slid Leah's ring off her finger. "I'll trade rings with Wil. Leah’s won’t work for another several minutes, and I don’t want to risk it not activating when I sneak up behind Godwin."

"No," her mother hissed. "Godwin isn't a normal agent, Ever. Your brother impaled him through the chest, and it hardly bothered him at all. A measly dagger won't do the trick unless you take his throat."

"Then I take his throat if I have to," she shot back. "I'm done playing games with them, Mom. I meant what I said. This is ends today. It can’t be either one of you. They know you’ve been caught."

There was a tense silence, then Arden sighed. "Evelina, she won't back down on this. Let her have her way this once. Maybe she'll learn something from it."

"Maybe you all will," Everna bit out.

Wil threw her a sideways glance, his lips pressed into a line. She knew that look; he didn't agree with her plan at all. Yet, begrudgingly, he slipped his ring off his finger and plucked Leah's from her hand. "If you insist."

The rest of the agents barely spared them a second glance as they made their way through the maze of stone halls, up another flight of stairs, and entered the highest level. After traveling several hundred feet down a narrow corridor, her mother muttered something under her breath, and Mayor Ashburn turned down a wide hall. A set of heavy double doors stood at the far end, effigies of some unknown entity carved into the faded wood. Two agents in thick, blackened armor stood on either side of the hall.

"Took you long enough, Landen," the one on the left said. He spoke with a thick accent, one that didn't originate from Inverness. "Godwin said you could have your fun with her afterward, not before."

Wil and her mother tensed. Everna remained calm, forcing her lingering disgust to yield. It was clear what his intentions were from the start and she'd dealt with him — twice. She refused to allow him to bother her anymore than he already had. He wasn't worth the potential consequences of losing her focus.

Arden waved him off, laughing, and said, "Had to deal with this half-blood rat. Seems her little sweetheart wanted to play the hero. How cute."

The one on the right cackled as he reached for the door. "I'd make him watch, if Godwin lets him live."

Again, she suppressed a shudder, this time accompanied by an unyielding urge to drive her dagger through his throat.

Nothing happened, she reminded herself, suppressing the sudden burst of anxiety that clawed at her throat. Don't dwell on the what-ifs and could've-beens.

Her mother shook, her knuckles white. It seemed a perfectly reasonable response at first glance, but it wasn't fear that had her mother trembling. It was unadulterated fury.

"There's an idea," Mayor Ashburn said, laughing again.

The doors opened into another hall, this one lined with black marble statues set atop pedestals of the same material. A bright red rug spanned the middle of the floor, jagged runes and harsh lines stitched into the carpet with golden thread. The torches were more plentiful here, set perfectly between narrow alcoves carved into the walls, where the statues stood.

"Arden, do me a favor and don't open your mouth again until we're out of here," Everna said as soon as the doors closed behind them. "I might actually stab you."

"Sorry, Ever. It's as disturbing for me as it is you," he said, turning to look at her over his shoulder, "but it's an unfortunate necessity if we're to pull this off."

"This is a stupid idea," she muttered.

"It was your idea," Wil snorted.

"And what a fine time you all picked to listen to me."

She spun the ring on her finger, its magic settling over her.

The hall continued for some hundred feet before opening into a large circular room. A large chair of blackened metal woven into something resembling wicker dominated the small dais on the far side of the chamber. Padded cushions, red as the carpet that draped the floor, covered the back and seat of the chair. In it sat a man in black leather, a thick cloak thrown over his shoulders and the hood pulled up. Only his eyes, dark and cold, peaked out from beneath the mask that covered his face.

Several agents knelt around a glowing circle of runes carved into the center of the chamber. Magic permeated the air, but it felt much different from the magic that bled from her ring and dagger. Colder than the frigid winter air and as thick and smothering as a weighted blanket, it dove beneath her skin, trembling within her bones. The warmth fled from her, her blood ice and her breath frozen in her lungs.

As Arden led Wil and her mother to the center of the room, she crept along the edges of the chamber. A series of thick marble pillars, black and veined with glowing red, spanned the outer edges of the room. She passed more statues pressed into more alcoves, horrible depictions of a strange and terrible creature with ruby eyes that seemed to follow her as she crept towards the chair.

"To think such a little girl's caused so many problems for us," Godwin said. He stared down at her mother with fiendish delight. "I see why so many feel converting you is a waste of time. You don't look like much at all."

Her mother remained silent, eyes cast to the floor and her hands fisted in her robe. Everna rolled her eyes. A firm "Piss off" would've sufficed. She might have spit in his face if he were close enough.

"But that's why I'm the one in charge of the decisions and not them," Godwin said, laughing. "See, I know something they don't."

When he stood and started down the dais, Everna bit back a curse. She hurried as much as she could towards the furthest column before the chair and took a sharp turn and doubled back towards the middle of the circle. The agent nearest her shifted, the movement almost unperceivable, their hooded face twitching ever so slightly in her direction. She froze, her breath still in her throat.

If the agent noticed her, they made no indications of it.

Godwin reached down and took her mother's chin into his hands, squeezing until her cheeks hung over the edge of his fingers and her lips smashed together. "I know your mother. She used to be the best of us. As cruel and vicious as she could be. Her and her brother both."

Everna pursed her lips. Her father had mentioned Shroud owned Pendel in its entirety and her mother was a town native. Everna had always known she was an assassin, though the confirmation of Everna’s suspicions that she’d worked for Shroud left a bad taste in her mouth. Her father, however, claimed that Arden evaded Shroud. Had he lied about that as well? Or did her mother have another brother no one bothered to mention?

With how much they kept from her, that seemed the most plausible conclusion.

Godwin chuckled and released Evelina’s face to turn to Wil. "And I see Prince Cian has finally come out of hiding. I heard there was a prince poking about our affairs, but to think it was you. Perhaps Pendel wasn't an absolute waste after all. Your brother will be delighted to see you."

She paused mid-step. While the rest of the royal family was inconsequential — scattered bastard children too far down the line to amount to anything more than elevated nobles — there were two names everyone in the kingdom, from street urchins to the highest of the nobility, knew. Cian was one of them.

Wil was one of the two princes contesting for the throne.

"Oh, I'm sure he would be," Wil — Cian — hissed. Though he remained impassive, there was a flicker of something dark in his eyes. It was the same look he'd given her when she turned her blade on him. "I'm sure he's just waiting for another chance to stick a knife in my throat."

"He is, so I've heard," Godwin said. He stepped back to observe the two of them, the corners of his eyes crinkled with wicked satisfaction.

Steeling her nerves, she crept closer, the dagger clutched firmly in her hands. She was less than five feet behind him now, nothing but a thin cloak and a few inches of padded armor in the way. Killing him wasn't the priority; it would be all the better for her if they took him alive. He was the orchestrator of this entire ordeal. If she threw him at the mercy of the Courts, she was as good as free.

She closed the distance. All armor was weakest at the joints, her father once told her. She'd strike his armpit, where the leather gave way to black fabric. The dagger's enchantment should do most of the work for her, just as it had with Landen. Weaken him with the dagger and, if necessary, take his throat.

She could do this. She had to do this.

"To think I have all four of my biggest headaches in one room," Godwin chuckled. "You never were good at illusions, Fiadh."

His arm shot back, his hand clamping around Everna's wrist. He yanked her forward, throwing off the invisibility, and wrenched her wrist to the side. Her dagger tumbled from her hands and landed on the floor with a dull clatter.

Godwin stared down at her, his eyes alight with smug satisfaction. "You're Fiadh's daughter, alright. Just as stupid and reckless."

Foiled

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