Chapters (49)
- COVER
- DEDICATION
- MAP
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- DISCOVER MORE
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- PRAISE FOR
The women of Mount Ruin held vigil through the long night, with their stories, their prayers, their regrets and hopes filling the space between them, until it didn’t really feel like space at all.
TWENTY-EIGHT
NOMI
WHEN MALACHI HAD plotted with Serina to bring her army through these very passageways, Nomi’s heart had thrilled at the thought. But now, as she wormed her way down a narrow tube in complete darkness, knowing the weight of the canal hung above her head, feeling the drips of fetid water stream down her face, Nomi had no illusions left. Secret passages weren’t exciting or romantic; they were slimy and terrifyingly dark.
When the tunnel finally tipped upward, its weeping walls giving way to drier stone, Nomi began to focus her mind on her task and not on how loud her panicked panting breaths sounded in the silence. It was the middle of the night. Asa would be asleep. Malachi had said there were entries into all the family’s rooms, and the Graces’ chambers as well. She just had to find the right one.
A faint prick of light caught her attention. She shuffled forward, as quietly as she could, as more pinpricks pushed through the black. She crouched to look through one of the small holes and stifled a gasp. A lone serving girl sat at a table in what looked like the kitchen, stirring something as her head tipped forward drowsily. A loud bang startled the girl—and Nomi. A large man strode into view, shouting, “Get that bread to kneading, missy. I need it rising for a good two hours before I can bake it, and you know what happens if the Superior’s breakfast is late. If it’s not ready to pop in the oven when I return, you’ll be lashed. You hear me?”
The girl nodded frantically and turned the dough out onto the table. Nomi snuck forward, moving from point of light to point of light. Most of the other rooms she passed were empty, storerooms and staging areas for the palazzo’s meals. Her eyes strained to see through the dimness, and she almost ran into the ladder in the deeper shadows at the end of the passageway.
Slowly, carefully, she climbed. The second-floor passageway was long, with tiny holes into guest rooms and sitting areas. She wondered if the Superior had used this method to spy on his guests and servants—perhaps he’d come to value the secret passages for more than as escape routes. Eventually, Nomi found the ladder to the third floor and was once again bathed in total darkness.
There were no peepholes into the Graces’ or royal family’s chambers. Nomi squeezed her body carefully through the tight space between walls, her hands pressing, searching. Were there secret latches? Panels that would swing open? What if she pushed on the wrong place and the wall gave, tumbling her right out at Asa’s feet?