Of Secrets and Slippers (Daughters of Eville Book 7) by Chanda Hahn

Author:Chanda Hahn [Hahn, Chanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Neverwood Press
Published: 2022-06-20T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

My leg muscles were cramping, and I could no longer feel my toes. Tingling had worn away to numbness. My shoulder was wedged at an odd angle and the darkness was all-consuming as I focused on breathing. Timing each breath in and holding it before releasing it slowly, all while listening for the last of the guests to return to their room.

Bravado and Sorek had returned after the final performance of the evening and had carefully moved the props around the room, positioning the trunk behind a chair and covering it with a blanket.

“Good luck,” Bravado whispered, giving the trunk a light tap.

I tapped back once and then began the long wait, judging the passage of time by the breaths I took and listening for the sounds of feet moving down the hall. When all was quiet and nothing stirred for several candle marks, I pushed open the trunk and unfolded my body. I’d been stretching since my first attempt had failed, but I had finally mastered squeezing into the impossibly small trunk.

Saphira would be proud.

My back cracked as I stretched my hands above my head, and I delicately put pressure on my feet until the pins and needles faded away. It was painful, but I was in the palace. I pressed my ear to the door and listened before pulling the handle, pleased at the silence of the hinges that Sorek had freshly oiled just that evening.

Bravado and Nimm had given me all the information they could about the layout of the palace and had made a hastily drawn map, which I committed to memory. I knew precisely where the royal living quarters and the servants' hall were, but there was one wing that was heavily guarded against magic. Even the house-elves avoided that particular wing.

“There!” Bravado had tapped the map. “There is where you must go. Do you see how that area of the palace is over a ley line; do you see all the wards around it? There must be something hidden there. You must get here undetected. Can you do it?”

“I can do it,” I said.

“Then we must practice.” He’d unloaded a trunk from the wagon and opened it up, showing the many props within, but then he’d pushed them aside to reveal the false bottom. Just big enough to hold a very small person.

I wasn’t worried about making my way through most of the palace, as I easily slipped past the half-asleep guards who were positioned outside of the throne room. Twice I’d scaled a marble column while guards passed by me before slipping down and moving toward the forbidden wing.

I felt a tug on my leg and looked down to see Nimm frantically pulling away from the hall, pointing at the floor and then back at his neck. I gestured for him to wait before kneeling to examine the trap.

A ward was here. That meant magic, which meant I could either set it off or nullify it. I lifted my hand over it and felt the beginning of an electric shock, and I pulled it back to safety.

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