Chapter 308


    Chapter 0308


    I thought of my twin sister, a child trailing along in my shadow in her pigtails and id dress the same


    as mine, sk ipping away from me and down a dark alleyway. At the far end, a shadowy figure held out


    their hand. Jane, willing and happy, epted that hand and weed the shadow around her too.


    How could it be that a girl so near me in looks and personality, could have taken such a veering path to


    mine? For her to be so high ranking in the organization meant she had to have pursued it for a very


    long time longer than these past 3 years.


    I shouldn’t have been surprised anymore. Jane had cut into my heart so many times. She


    wanted me dead.


    But it still hurt anew, to know the woman Jane was now was so far removed from the girl I knew, that


    the girl I knew might not have existed at all.


    Nichs came around the table and stood at my side. He didn’t touch me, but his closeness alone was


    afort I was incredibly grateful for.


    “I’m assigning more guards to your room,” Nichs said. “You shouldn’t go anywhere without a


    personal guard following beside you. Do you understand?”


    I didn’t. Not really. The protestors outside were not there to call me a tyrant. Nichs was the one in


    actual danger. Julian too.


    Nichs must have been able to discern my confusion. I was never very good at keeping my feelings


    from my face..


    “We’re looking for Jane,” Nichs said. “With her being such a high ranking member of the


    underground, it’s possible she has… others helping her.”


    “Others, who?” I asked.


    “If we knew that, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Julian chimed in. “Maybe we should have everyone


    strip. See who has the tattoo.’


    Nichs considered it. “Our loyal guards would acquiesce, but it will be much more difficult to convince


    those that are actually guilty of going along with it.”


    Julian snorted. “Dear old dad likely won’t lift his shirt.”


    “You don’t think…” The King?


    “No,” Nichs said quickly. “The King is not likely to be involved, and I will remind you, Julian, that


    suggesting otherwise is treason.”


    Julian shrugged. “I’m only saying that if he did it, everyone else would do it too. But we


    “Regardless,” Nichs said, speaking to me again. “We have reason to believe that someone is


    helping her. And until we find her, you cannot be left unprotected.”


    I understood that now. Jane wanted me dead. If someone was letting her into the pce, she would


    have no shortage of opportunities toe for my head.


    A dash of fear zipped through me and I shuddered.


    Nichs inched closer to me. His arm brushed alongside mine. For a moment, I closed my


    eyes and soaked up the shing warmth of that touch.


    Then, a voice, turned us both away.


    “Your Royal Highness,” said a new guard who had rushed into the room. He was out of breath, his


    cheeks red from exertion. “We’ve discovered a new passage, one not on any of the maps.”


    Nichs and Julian nced at each other.


    “Let’s go,” Julian said. He scooped the maps up into his arms.


    “I’ming too!” I announced.


    Nichs looked at me, a stern look in his eyes. Yet just as I thought he was going to say no, and I was


    going to have to argue, he nodded.


    “Stay close.”


    The secret passage was inside one of the smaller libraries in the pce, far from the beaten path the


    candidates and royal family regrly frequented.


    “Most of the books here are over a hundred years old,” Nichs said.


    I inspected the beautiful old spines of the books. Most seemed good as new, dated only by the


    borate decoration of their covers and spines.


    N?velDrama.Org exclusive content.


    “I want toe back here,” I said in amazement. When the danger had passed, I would love to be lost


    for a while within these tomes and these stories, surrounded by the smell of a library and the dash of


    lavender that a s ervant had ced on a h o ok at the end of a bookcase.


    “I promise,” Nichs said.


    The passageway was deep within the stacks, tucked away within the bookcase itself. It was a narrow


    opening, Nichs and Julian would have to be careful not to hit their heads.


    “How did you ever find this?” I asked.


    “We suspected this room held something,” Julian said, lifting a rolled-up map. “It’s close to many


    ces, but far from our regr route. It’s where I would have put in a passageway.”


    Julian set aside the maps onto one of the tables on the library then followed a guard into the


    passageway. A moment,ter, his head reappeared. “It’s an old one. The stone ground is uneven. Be


    careful, Piper.”


    “She’s not going in,” Nichs said, but Julian disappeared again quickly without listening.


    “I am going in,” I said, and rushed to the opening.


    “Piper!” Nichs called, following behind me.


    I was slighter than him, I slipped into the passageway without much effort. He, meanwhile, had to


    crumple himself up some to stay with me.


    He moved quickly, however, even like that, so he stayed near. His hand slipped around me. Please


    don’t run off without me.”


    “I’m safe,” I said. “Julian’s here too.” Though he was so far ahead, I could only make out the outline of


    his body in the shlight several yards ahead.


    Then, at once, a loud crash sounded from the far end of the passageway, it echoed down the corridor,


    coming closer.


    Nichs grabbed by arm and yanked me into the hard line of his body. It was a tight fit, but somehow,


    he managed to press me against the wall of the passageway, with his body covering mine.


    His breath was even. I felt his chest rise and fall. Mine, meanwhile, was going wild.


    His hands were on either sides of my waist, keeping me still and safe.


    His body was all around mine, so close, it was as if we were one.


    I looked up at him, and found his golden gaze peering down at me, watchful and alert.


    “Are you hurt?” he whispered.


    I shook my head a little, just once. It was all I could manage.


    This close, his lips were so near mine. All I would have to do is press forward just a hair and


    “Hey!” Julian called from further down the passageway. “You guys are going to want to see this!”


    I swallowed hard.


    Nichs eased back away from me.


    I immediately felt colder. My heart ached.


    “Stay behind me,” Nichs said, and I was too speechless to argue.


    I stayed in his shadow as we pressed forward. Eventually, the passage opened into a tiny room with a


    small desk and a patch of hay covered with a nket in the corner, a makeshift bed.


    A second passage led from the room in the other direction. Julian stood there, barking orders.


    “Get down there and see where thates out. Keep an eye out for any offshoots in the passage.


    Check the ceiling too.”


    When the guard disappeared, he turned back to Nichs and I. He waved toward the desk.


    There was a handwritten note, pinned to the wood with the sharp end of a dagger.


    In my sister’s delicate scrawl, written text read, You’ll never catch me.