A Veil of Gods and Kings by Nicole Bailey

Author:Nicole Bailey [Bailey, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

22

Epiphany

“We have one more issue though,” I said, kicking my feet from my perch in the hayloft, dust fluttering up with the motion.

Valerian’s expression pinched. He leaned against a beam, his arms crossed. Temi sat cross-legged beside me, a knife balanced on her fingertip. She snapped her wrist, tossing the blade and catching it before sheathing it. “What is it?”

“How are we going to get me out of the palace? It’s not like the guards will let me traipse through the gate.”

Temi clenched her jaw, tracing her finger over the grain of the wood by her foot. “I’ll think of something.”

Valerian’s eyes had darted between the two of us while we’d talked. He pushed up off the beam and sighed. “That’s an issue I can help with.”

“It is?” I said.

He winced but nodded. “Are we planning to go tomorrow morning?”

“Ideally, yes,” Temi said.

Val clomped over the floor to the ladder and descended until just his face peaked over the edge. His gaze darted between the two of us but landed on me for a lingering heartbeat before he spoke again. “Meet me at the south servant’s hallway at first light.”

Temi inclined her head. “All right.”

His footsteps echoed back to us until they faded. “I’m surprised you don’t want to ask for the plan,” I said.

Temi shrugged. “I trust Valerian.”

“You do?”

“Yes. And”—she side-eyed me—“it helps that he’s primarily doing this for your sake.”

Feelings fluttered within me. “Why do you say that?”

She cocked an eyebrow up and shifted, jumping onto the ladder, her fingers gripping the poles. “I’m a good judge of character and motives. Do you still have your presentation meeting tonight?”

“I do.”

“Okay. See you at first light. I need to go talk with the others.”

A rush of anticipation washed through me, like the feeling just before jumping a hurdle on horseback. My heart pounded in my throat, but I also felt alive, really and truly so, for the first time in a long time. Gods, that was what I wanted more than anything in life. Freedom and adventure and an opportunity to make my own way.

The prickling energy of that still strung through me the next morning when I tucked down the servant’s passages that sat blanketed in dusky shadows. People bustled by, the occasional one frowning until they caught sight of me and gasped, bobbing their heads and carrying on.

When I reached the entrance to the south hallway, Temi already stood talking with Valerian. He nodded, an affable grin spreading on his face, the stubble along his jaw gleaming. My stomach fluttered as his gaze snagged on me, and he lifted his chin before pulling a bag off his shoulder. “Here.” He pulled out a simple brown tunic. “Slip this on.”

I pulled it over my dress and followed the two of them into the kitchen. Pots banged, a fire crackled from the oven, someone sliced citrus that spritzed into the air. It was chaotic but in a fun way. Everything in the palace remained so quiet and orderly. I’d

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