Page 121 of To Kill a King

Nodding, he said, “Always make sure you ask what kind of grub you’re eating. Unless it’s a solid piece like this.” He gestured to the slab. “No way this massive thing came off something that small.”

By the seven gods. She’d been hungry the last few weeks, but at no point would the concept of rodent meat have appealed to her. If Elessan hadn’t taught her the edible berries and plants… “If they’re starving, a person will eat anything, I suppose?”

Pat cracked open a couple of eggs and added them to the griddle along with a handful of vegetables and a pinch of pepper. Moments later, he set a plate down in front of her with a steaming pork chop smothered in gravy and an omelet.

Aliya dug in. “This is so delicious,” she said in between bites. “Why aren’t you cooking at the castle?”

A shadow covered his face, and his expression closed off. “I like it right where I am.”

She blinked at his lie and started to ask, but he turned his back to her. No more discussion along those lines, then. Not if she wanted to keep this arrangement for another night.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It was none of my business.”

Pat kept quiet as he puttered around the kitchen, prepping for the day.

Popping the last morsels into her mouth, she swallowed. “Exquisite.” She waited for his nod of acknowledgment. “I’d love to arrange the same deal for tonight, if you think it worked well?”

Pat glanced at her, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “Of course. I didn’t catch your name?”

“Cressida,” she said. “Cressida Smith.”

“Very well, Cressida. I’ll meet you here at sundown.”

Standing, she brushed her hands on her trousers. “Have a great day!”

He raised his eyebrow. “Where are you off to?”

“I need to see a man about a horse,” she lied as she ducked out the door.

Chapter 26

Aliya

Aliya lay on the roof of the building across the way from the principal gate to the castle. Her spot was in the shade when she first climbed up here, but the sun’s slow journey devoured her shelter.

So far, the guards were alert at the gate, scrutinizing everyone who entered. She squinted into the sky again. Shift change wouldn’t be for another half hour or so. Hopefully the midday workers would be more lax.

Here came the two men patrolling the parapet again.

She checked the progress of the shadows. They passed by every fifteen minutes or so. These didn’t appear as alert as the ones on the ground, but unlike their colleagues, they marched in the sun, in full armor. Those heavy black tunics had to be dreadfully hot.

So…how should she do this? It would be easy enough for her to sneak into the dungeon and back out. The throne room was going to be problematic. To her knowledge, there was no direct route there from the lower levels. If security captured her and figured out who she was, they’d lock her in the dungeon until Malkov got around to killing her. She’d be in a much better position if she picked the time and caught him by surprise.

She’d launch a two-pronged attack. One today to clear the dungeons, and the second tomorrow to reach the King.

Aliya glared at the castle wall. She had no gift for climbing. And even if she did, the ramparts were too high for her to scale up and down in the fifteen-minute guard rotations.

It was too bad she hadn’t had time to fully master her magic…carrying weapons seriously limited her shapeshifting options. As a mouse or a rat it would’ve been easy to sneak inside.

And where were those mages? Solstice was tomorrow. It would be nice to have additional input to help plan. Or to know how many of them would be able to back her up.

She pushed herself up from the roof. No time like the present for freeing prisoners. If she got lucky, it would throw Malkov off-balance.

She shimmied down the eaves and drainpipe on the back of the building. There should be a sewer grate around here somewhere, in an alley far enough out of sight she could use it even at midday. Even the dungeons had sewage to dispose of. She should be able to sneak in there…as long as she didn’t think too hard about what she was walking through.

The opening was right where she expected, behind one of the larger taverns. She latched onto it with her fingers and yanked. The casting shifted with a creak but didn’t release. Bracing herself and squatting, she glanced over her shoulder toward the street and tugged harder. Come on, come on! With a screech of metal on stone, the grill lifted.

Thank the mages.