NovelEnglish
Chapter 0308
I thought of my twin sister, a child trailing along in my shadow in her pigtails and plaid
dress the same as mine, sk ipping away from me and down a dark alleyway. At the far
end, a shadowy figure held out their hand. Jane, willing and happy, accepted that hand
and welcomed the shadow around her too.
How could it be that a girl so near me in looks and personality, could have taken such a
veering path to mine? For her to be so high ranking in the organization meant she had to
have pursued it for a very long time longer than these past 3 years.
I shouldn’t have been surprised anymore. Jane had cut into my heart so many times. She
wanted me dead.
But it still hurt anew, to know the woman Jane was now was so far removed from the girl I
knew, that the girl I knew might not have existed at all.
Nicholas came around the table and stood at my side. He didn’t touch me, but his
closeness alone was a comfort I was incredibly grateful for.
“I’m assigning more guards to your room,” Nicholas said. “You shouldn’t go anywhere
without a personal guard following beside you. Do you understand?”
I didn’t. Not really. The protestors outside were not there to call me a tyrant. Nicholas was
the one in actual danger. Julian too.
Nicholas must have been able to discern my confusion. I was never very good at keeping
my feelings from my face..
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“We’re looking for Jane,” Nicholas said. “With her being such a high ranking member of
the underground, it’s possible she has… others helping her.”
“Others, who?” I asked.
“If we knew that, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Julian chimed in. “Maybe we should have
everyone strip. See who has the tattoo.’
Nicholas considered it. “Our loyal guards would acquiesce, but it will be much more
difficult to convince those that are actually guilty of going along with it.”
Julian snorted. “Dear old dad likely won’t lift his shirt.”
“You don’t think…” The King?
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“No,” Nicholas said quickly. “The King is not likely to be involved, and I will remind you,
Julian, that suggesting otherwise is treason.”
Julian shrugged. “I’m only saying that if he did it, everyone else would do it too. But we
1/4
+15 BONUS
“Regardless,” Nicholas said, speaking to me again. “We have reason to believe that
someone is helping her. And until we find her, you cannot be left unprotected.”
I understood that now. Jane wanted me dead. If someone was letting her into the palace,
she would have no shortage of opportunities to come for my head.
A dash of fear zipped through me and I shuddered.
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Nicholas inched closer to me. His arm brushed alongside mine. For a moment, I closed my
eyes and soaked up the flashing warmth of that touch.
Then, a voice, turned us both away.
“Your Royal Highness,” said a new guard who had rushed into the room. He was out of
breath, his cheeks red from exertion. “We’ve discovered a new passage, one not on any of
the maps.”
Nicholas and Julian glanced at each other.
“Let’s go,” Julian said. He scooped the maps up into his arms.
“I’m coming too!” I announced.
Nicholas looked at me, a stern look in his eyes. Yet just as I thought he was going to say
no, and I was going to have to argue, he nodded.
“Stay close.”
>>
The secret passage was inside one of the smaller libraries in the palace, far from the
beaten path the candidates and royal family regularly frequented.
“Most of the books here are over a hundred years old,” Nicholas said.
I inspected the beautiful old spines of the books. Most seemed good as new, dated only by
the elaborate decoration of their covers and spines.
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“I want to come back here,” I said in amazement. When the danger had passed, I would
love to be lost for a while within these tomes and these stories, surrounded by the smell of
a library and the dash of lavender that a s ervant had placed on a h o ok at the end of a
bookcase.
“I promise,” Nicholas said.
The passageway was deep within the stacks, tucked away within the bookcase itself. It
was a narrow opening, Nicholas and Julian would have to be careful not to hit their heads.
“How did you ever find this?” I asked.
“We suspected this room held something,” Julian said, lifting a rolled-up map. “It’s close to
many places, but far from our regular route. It’s where I would have put in a passageway.”
+15 BONUS
Julian set aside the maps onto one of the tables on the library then followed a guard into
the passageway. A moment, later, his head reappeared. “It’s an old one. The stone ground
is uneven. Be careful, Piper.”
“She’s not going in,” Nicholas said, but Julian disappeared again quickly without listening.
“I am going in,” I said, and rushed to the opening.
“Piper!” Nicholas called, following behind me.
I was slighter than him, I slipped into the passageway without much effort. He, meanwhile,
had to crumple himself up some to stay with me.
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He moved quickly, however, even like that, so he stayed near. His hand slipped around
me. Please don’t run off without me.”
“I’m safe,” I said. “Julian’s here too.” Though he was so far ahead, I could only make out
the outline of his body in the flashlight several yards ahead.
Then, at once, a loud crash sounded from the far end of the passageway, it echoed down
the corridor, coming closer.
Nicholas grabbed by arm and yanked me into the hard line of his body. It was a tight fit,
but somehow, he managed to press me against the wall of the passageway, with his body
covering mine.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHis breath was even. I felt his chest rise and fall. Mine, meanwhile, was going wild.
His hands were on either sides of my waist, keeping me still and safe.
His body was all around mine, so close, it was as if we were one.
I looked up at him, and found his golden gaze peering down at me, watchful and alert.
“Are you hurt?” he whispered.
I shook my head a little, just once. It was all I could manage.
This close, his lips were so near mine. All I would have to do is press forward just a hair
and
((
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“Hey!” Julian called from further down the passageway. “You guys are going to want to see
this!”
I swallowed hard.
Nicholas eased back away from me.
I immediately felt colder. My heart ached.
“Stay behind me,” Nicholas said, and I was too speechless to argue.
+15 BONUS
I stayed in his shadow as we pressed forward. Eventually, the passage opened into a tiny
room with a small desk and a patch of hay covered with a blanket in the corner, a
makeshift
bed.
A second passage led from the room in the other direction. Julian stood there, barking
orders.
“Get down there and see where that comes out. Keep an eye out for any offshoots in the
passage. Check the ceiling too.”
When the guard disappeared, he turned back to Nicholas and I. He waved toward the
desk.
There was a handwritten note, pinned to the wood with the sharp end of a dagger.
In my sister’s delicate scrawl, written text read, You’ll never catch me.
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