Out of the Shadow at Last novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Study

"Where are you going?" Ivar asked.

I already had my chalk in my pocket and my boots on.

"Father keeps his papers in the guest wing," I said.

"Tonight every Alpha is in the hall for the vigil," I said. "He won't be there."

"Linnet."

"Somebody turned a key with my blood. Father had the Seal copied for a reason."

"Then I'm coming."

"You're a northern Alpha in a corridor full of Rooke wolves," I said.

"I'm just the daughter who went to the privy."

He wanted to argue.

I watched him decide not to.

"I'll be at the foot of the stairs," he said. "If you call, I'll hear it."

"Don't hear it unless I mean it."

"Go," said Ivar.

The guest wing at Northgate was dark and cold.

Two Rooke guards stood at the far end, drinking from a flask and facing away from me.

I slipped past them into the corridor Father's rooms opened onto.

The door had a heavy iron lock.

I pricked my finger once more and drew a short rune on the plate, left curve, then downstroke.

The lock gave a small, tired click.

Inside it smelled of his pipe and his coat.

A bed, a desk, a travelling chest at the foot of the bed bound in brass.

The chest had a lock too.

I drew the rune again, and it opened.

On top lay a folded cloak, and below it a bundle of papers tied with red cord.

Under the papers was a small wooden box.

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