Chapter 5: East Gate

The maid had shown her the servants' passage behind the wardrobe on the second night.

Two guards stood outside the front door, as promised, and neither of them heard a thing.

Aveline went down the narrow stair in a plain brown cloak, with the forged pass in her sleeve and her heart beating in her throat.

The passage ended in the laundry yard.

Steam rolled off the copper tubs, even at midnight.

A line of women in aprons was loading a cart with wet linen for the washhouse by the river.

Nobody looked up.

"Please," Aveline said to the oldest one. "I need to be out of the east gate tonight."

The old woman looked at her hands, then at her face.

She looked for a long time.

"You're the Duke's girl," she said. "The one who gave the prince his ring back."

"Yes."

"Got a slap for it, I hear."

"Yes."

The old woman jerked her head at the cart.

"Under the wet sheets. Keep your mouth shut."

It stank of lye and cold water.

Aveline lay still while the cart bumped across the cobbles, and a stranger's wash dripped down her neck.

She counted the turns.

Courtyard, kitchen arch, the long ramp.

Then iron wheels rang on stone, and the cart stopped.

"Pass," said a bored voice.

She heard the old woman say something.

She heard boots circle the cart, and a lantern light swung over the sheets.

"Linen, linen, and more linen," the gate captain muttered.

"Wave them through."

"Wait."

This voice was smooth, deep and entirely unhurried.

Aveline's stomach turned over.

"Let the cart go on. I would like a word with whoever is hiding in it."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Her Journey Beyond the Script from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.