He glanced up and saw a lone guardsman with a crossbow, taking aim. Hassan cursed under his breath. They should have made sure the rampart was clear before trying to traverse it.

Above him, Khepri continued to climb, propelling herself up the sandstone bricks with quick, sure movements. The guardsman leaned over the parapet to aim his crossbow down at her.

Khepri cursed, then flung herself wide as the guardsman took aim. She dangled by one hand as the bolt flew past her.

“Khepri!” Hassan yelled, but there was nothing he could do from his position below her.

She swung like a pendulum and caught another toehold, using it to launch herself up to the edge of the rampart. The guardsman fumbled to reload, but Khepri was already there, seizing him by the ankle and hauling herself up and over the parapet. His feet slid out from under him, the crossbow flying out of his hand as he scrabbled for purchase.

Khepri pushed to her feet, kicking the crossbow off the wall and turned to jab her knee into the man’s face. With a wheeze, he flopped back onto the wet sandstone. Khepri leapt onto him, pinning him down with a foot at his throat.

“Please,” he whimpered. “Don’t kill me.”

Heart pounding in his throat, Hassan hauled himself up after her. At the top of the rampart, he reached for Hector’s hand, helping him up.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Khepri told the guard pinned under her foot. “Your side has lost. So you can stay loyal to your defeated usurper or you can cut your losses now. What do you say?”

The man looked terrified. “I won’t raise the alarm. Just let me go.”

“Good answer,” Khepri said, satisfied. She let him up and he scrambled across the rampart.

Hector stared at Khepri in wonder. “I think I might be a little in love with you now?”

Hassan narrowed his eyes at him, but Khepri just laughed.

“How did you even do that without your Grace?” Hector asked as they lowered a rope over the other side of the wall.

“It’s called trusting yourself,” Khepri replied, knotting the rope. With a glance at Hassan, she added, “And I learned it from the best.”

Hassan caught her tender look just before she disappeared down the other side of the rampart. He and Hector followed her down, the rope easing their way.

“Stay on guard,” Khepri said as they regrouped at the edge of the garden.

With a sharp nod, she led the way, darting down the walkway, toward an open window that overlooked the garden. Hassan knew exactly where that window led, recalling his escape the night the Hierophant had taken the palace. It was a memory that had often filled him with shame, a reminder that he had fled rather than stood his ground.