But still, her heart beat hard in her chest again as she let Cameron boost her over the fence and dropped down the other side. The soft thud of her bag landing beside her made her start and sent her pulse racing even faster.
If Madame de Montesse wasn’t here, then she wasn’t entirely sure what they were going to do. Go to her parents? Or try to steal horses and leave town? The only other portals she knew of were in the palace grounds and at the temple. Neither of those were options. Without Chloe de Montesse’s assistance, she didn’t have the faintest idea how they could even start to get out of the capital.
She turned toward the back of the building. It did look to be the simple three-story stone building that held Chloe’s store. But her store was identical to the two that stood to either side of it. If Cameron had the wrong house, they would be in trouble. As Sophie stared at the building, trying to decide if it was the right one, she realized it was shimmering slightly. A ward. But not a ward that looked like any she had seen before. This was near black or maybe the color of water in moonlight, revealing glimpses of what lay beyond it, but only glimpses. Whoever had set that ward wasn’t an Anglion, she thought, and relaxed. This must be Madame de Montesse’s house.
Cameron landed beside her, making hardly any noise.
“Are you all right?” he said softly.
“Yes. But there’s a ward on the house.”
“Good,” he said.
“Good?”
He led her forward to the rear door. “Yes. Good. Because if she’s set them herself, she’ll wake up when I do this.” He put a hand through the ward, which didn’t immediately react, then on the door handle itself. She saw a flare of red around his hand—his power, not the ward, as far as she could tell—and the door swung inward. Blood magic, she was learning, was far more practical than earth magic when it came to running away.
They walked into the house. Her skin tingled as she passed through the ward, and Cameron closed the door behind them. They were in a small back room, full of boxes with a neat metal trough set into one wall with a tap above it. That was about all she could see in the moonlight. The door on the other side of the room stood open. Cameron took her hand, and they walked out of the room.
They were barely three feet into the hallway beyond when Sophie heard a sound that she had become all too familiar with. The sound of a pistol being cocked.
“Whoever you are,” Madame de Montesse’s voice said from somewhere above them, “I recommend that you stay exactly where you are.”
“Madame de Montesse, it’s me. Sophie Ken—Mackenzie.”
“Lady Sophia?” Chloe sounded startled.
An earth-light came softly to light on the wall near Sophie. Nowhere near full strength but light enough that Sophie could see the stairway where Chloe stood. Presumably Madame de Montesse could see them, too. Still, Sophie didn’t want to take any chance, and she stayed put.
“It’s me,” she said. “And Cameron.”
Chloe came down the stairs in quick, silent steps. She wore a pale silk robe over a long nightgown, her hair caught back in a simple braid, much like Sophie’s. The gun she was holding was quite a bit bigger than the gun Cameron had given Sophie, though.
She stared at Sophie and then at Cameron for a moment. Then she sighed and lowered the gun. “Well,” she said, sounding resigned. “I imagine this cannot be good. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“We don’t have time for the long version,” Cameron said.
“Then perhaps the short version?”
“Short version is someone tried to kill Sophie in our room tonight. I need to get her out of the capital.”
“What kind of someone?” Chloe said. Her accent seemed to have thickened as though surprise had loosened her hold on Anglion.
“If he’s who I think he is, then once upon a time he was a Red Guard.”
Chloe swung around to Sophie. “Someone in the palace tried to kill you?”
Sophie was starting to lose her grip on her hard-won sense of calm. “So it seems.”
“Do you know who?”
Cameron shook his head. “We have our suspicions. Though it may be safer for you not to know. We just need to use your portal to get out of Kingswell.”
Chloe tilted her head, the multicolored braid swinging gently. “Where are you planning on going?”
“We’re not sure yet. We’ll work that out once we’re away from the city.”
“Forgive me, but are you certain that anywhere in Anglion is safe? An attack on a royal witch in the palace itself. That is quite brazen. Whoever was behind it must be quite sure of themselves.”
Sophie felt her stomach turn over. “What are you saying?”
Chloe shook her head. “I think before we discuss this further, you should come into the workroom. No one will see a light in there; there are no windows.” She walked past them and opened the first door in the hallway.
“This isn’t where the portal was,” Cameron objected.
“No. As I said, there are things to discuss.” She walked into the room, clearly expecting them to follow.
Sophie glanced at Cameron. He tipped his head as if leaving the decision up to her. She didn’t really need to think about it. She followed Chloe into the room, heard Cameron behind her.
“Close the door,” Madame de Montesse said to Cameron.
He did so. Chloe waved a hand, and several earth-lights set on the walls came to life, illuminating the small room.
Cameron stood beside Sophie, his presence reassuring when nothing else was.
“Say what you have to say,” he said.
Madame de Montesse nodded. “Very well. You say someone tried to kill Lady Sophia. If that is true, then your trouble is deep.”
“That much we know,” Cameron growled.
“It seems to me that there are two people who are threatened by your wife’s recent ascent in both magic and the line direct,” Chloe said. “The first is your Domina Skey. From what I can see of your wife’s power, she is not bound like the other earth witches. I will not ask why, but I cannot imagine that it would sit well with your temple.”