Unleashed (The Pirate & Her Princess Book 3) by Alli Temple

Author:Alli Temple [Temple, Alli]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

14

LOU

The stairs up the tower were narrow and winding, with no stops along the way until we reached the top. As we rounded the last curve, a cough echoed toward us. I put a hand out to catch Nel in case she hadn’t heard it, but the way she gripped me said I needn’t have worried. We waited, listening, but no further sound came.

“The guard,” I mouthed toward Nel, and she nodded. I crept forward, making sure my feet were soundless on the steps. Around the corner, a single guard stood at attention by the one and only door in the top of the tower. If I were more confident in Nel’s abilities at deception, I’d send her first as a distraction, but sometimes, the best solution was the fastest. I had taken my knives out at the bottom of the steps, so all that was left to do was lunge forward. The guard turned his head as I took my third step. His hand went to his sword on the fifth, but his surprise made him struggle to pull it free. By the sixth, my blade was in the dip between his neck and shoulder, severing thick tendon before blood spurted forth, spraying my face. His hand rose up too late, and his sword dropped to the stone floor with a clatter as he gasped and his lips stained red. As the light went from his eyes, I let him fall.

“Is he dead?” Nel asked behind me. The question was high and trembling. “Did you kill him?”

The door. George was behind the door. No time to answer. I rushed at the wood, throwing my whole weight into it, but it held fast.

“George! George!” I slammed a palm against the inert panel. This far away from the rest of the palace, no one would hear me. No one except the person I needed most. “George.”

“Here.” Nel had knelt by the guard and was fumbling at his belt, but before I could tell her to leave him alone, she thrust something small and silver at me. A key.

“Well done,” I said as she straightened. She nudged the dead guard with her toe, then skipped away again like he might rise up again at any moment. It took a few corpses before that fear went away. She might learn eventually.

My hands shook worse than Nel’s had as she’d undressed the maid while I worked the key into the lock.

“Lou?”

The name, spoken in a hoarse whisper from beyond the thick wood, made my throat squeeze shut.

“I’m coming,” I said, but the words were strangled. “Dear heart, I’m coming.”

Finally, the lock clicked free, and the door was pulled open from the inside. I practically fell forward, but George caught me, and we collapsed to the floor tangled up in each other.

George. She had her face buried in my neck, but the brush of her hair on my cheek was enough to steady me. I ran a hand over it, twirling the strands in my fingers.

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