Halfway up, she paused. The wind keened as it swept through the room, but if she strained to hear over it, there were muffled voices filtering in from the grand hall. Like a horse kicked to a canter, her heartbeat quickened until she felt woozy with dread. If they were discovered here, everything would be undone.

“Don’t move,” she whispered to Hal. “I think I hear something.”

Before he could protest, she heaved herself aboveground and crept closer to the tapestry. Hannah was shouting over the wind at someone on the front porch. Not Lowry, then. But who would come unannounced at this hour? Who would brave this weather?

Wren pressed her face to the window and peered through the thick layer of ice. Although she couldn’t see the guest at the door, she could make out a carriage parked in the driveway.

“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no.”

Nearly feathering into the snowstorm, the carriage was white and elegant. She would have missed it if not for an all-too-familiar crest emblazoned in black. It was a full moon flanked by a waxing and waning crescent.

The Queen’s Guard was here.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Wren couldn’t move. She could hardly think; her mind was nothing but a muddle of expletives and panic and bloody images. Why had she been so foolish to believe that Isabel would help her? Why had she been so careless and let Una see her leave? It was no surprise Isabel had sent a team to track her down, but Wren hadn’t expected them to arrive so soon. The storm should have bought her more time.

A door groaned on its hinges. Then the steady click, click, click of heels striking stone reverberated through the house and beat against Wren’s skull. They were inside. The Queen’s Guard was here, only feet away, and she was rooted in place with terror.

Move, she told herself. You have to move.

“You’ve some nerve demanding an audience with his lordship at this hour,” Hannah complained. “He doesn’t like to be disturbed, and we’ve a sick man who needs his rest.”

“So we’ve heard,” said a Guardswoman whose voice Wren didn’t recognize. “We only want to ask Lord Lowry a few questions.”

At last coming to her senses, Wren hurried back to the ladder. A sliver of Hal peered up at her, appearing and disappearing in the flickering light. He looked lost somewhere between befuddlement and concern. “What is it?”

She dropped to her knees so she could whisper. “The Queen’s Guard is here.”

Hal’s expression hardened into wariness.

“No, don’t look at me like that! They’re after me, not you. Please, Hal. I know this sounds bad, but you have to trust me. I’m not in contact with the Guard. No one in Danu has any idea where you are.”