Disrupting the typical stateliness of Agnes’s office, the assassin’s weapons were strewn about the space. A long sword lay unceremoniously on the floor, a crossbow and accompanying quiver beside it. Amidst the blades, daggers, and arrows, she found the man’s bloodied cloak. Nox plunged her hands into the fabric, patting it for the bulges of pockets.

She let out the tiniest of victorious gasps as her hand stopped searching.

“What?” Amaris whispered, keeping her question as quiet as possible. She took a few silent steps into the office to kneel beside Nox.

“Here.” Nox pushed a small pouch into her hands.

“You found money?” Amaris breathed appreciatively at its weight, hearing the gentle scrape of metal as pennies, crowns, and silvers rubbed against one another in the pouch. Despite their planning and provisions, she had never hoped to escape with coin. Nox may have been good with locks, but Matron Agnes kept her silvers and crowns fastened and padlocked in a box within a box within a box. The All Mother seemed to smile on them this morning. Given the confusion of the assassin’s arrival, this had been more good fortune than they could have hoped for.

“Hide it,” Nox commanded in a whisper.

“Let’s go,” Amaris urged.

“One more thing.”

Nox grabbed a thin knife from the man’s numerous weapons and slipped it into the band of her pants. She palmed the second one and handed it to Amaris. Her eyes flared when she took the blade from Nox, but she asked no questions. She may have been too fragile to learn much by way of self-defense, but she’d need all the help she could get on the road. Amaris tucked the extra weapon inside her shirt and draped the winter cloak she’d grabbed from the laundry over her arm.

They slipped from the office and eased the lock back into place with a gentle click.

They were ready.

The tight corner from the office at the end of the corridor to the back staircase wound into the kitchen. If they aimed for the back entrance, they could be gone before anyone came looking for Amaris. The girls began their quiet descent down the manor’s back stairs. They picked their careful steps by feeling the curvature of the stones, when they were brought to an abrupt halt.

Amaris inhaled sharply but resisted the impulse to cry out in surprise. Nox stiffened beside her. It took everything in them to remain silent as they skidded to a stop.

An unfamiliar figure blocked their path.

The man’s eyebrows raised in surprise, but the stranger made no effort to chat.

“Ladies,” he acknowledged. His voice wasn’t loud, but the deep male grumble still startled them in the stillness of the morning light.

Amaris began backing away immediately. She took a step up the stairs, practically shoving against Nox in the tight hall.

“I’m sorry. We—”