Chapter 20: The Passage He Would Not Take

Noah was ten steps into the outer passage before he heard the second set of boots behind him.

He did not turn around.

The ward's struck list was still nailed to the passage wood, and Cassiel's name was still crossed through in red.

The stairwell guard lifted his head as Noah passed and watched a prisoner walk out of the prince's rooms with no escort at all.

Noah kept his eyes forward and counted the man's stillness as a fact.

At the fork the passage split, and the frost on the flagstones told him which way the stronghold had been walked tonight.

Fresh tracks led east, toward the gate.

Noah stopped.

The east gate stood ajar on the dark, and its outer bar was lifted and leaning against the wall.

No one stood beside it.

No one ever did, on a night when a prisoner was meant to run.

He looked down the barred route toward the courtyard cells.

That bar was down too, laid flat on the stone, and the cell row beyond it stood open to the cold.

Both ways open, and only one night to choose.

A fleeing priest would prove the crown's story by morning and forfeit the ward he held.

An open cell row was bait to make him pick one prisoner and leave the rest.

Noah turned toward the cells.

He did not say anything.

Behind him, the second set of boots turned with him.

Adrian came up on his left and walked level with him, not touching.

'The east gate is unbarred,' Adrian said. 'No one is watching it. You could be past the wall before the bell.'

Noah kept walking.

'You heard me,' Adrian said.

'I heard you.'

'And?'

'And you are still walking beside me,' Noah said.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Stole My Life, So the Moon Gave Me Back from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.