Page 124 of Lady Knight and the Thief

His footsteps echoed slightly as he disappeared through the doors Cypress had indicated.

Left alone with only her swirling thoughts, Cypress listened for footfalls coming through the servant passages, her eyes set on the main entry doors to the room. The urge to pace, to stride from one end of the room to the other, ran rampant in her veins, but as always, Cypress ignored it and stood at attention in the atrium.

Torren was relatively quiet while he searched in the other room, but she could hear sporadic clanking and rustling coming from the room behind her. Not loud enough to raise suspicion, but still, the noise made her grit her teeth.

The distinct click, click, click of a hard-soled shoe coming down the hallway just outside the atrium spurred her into action.

Cypress grabbed one of the swords from a nearby display and held it loosely at her side. Had she not sparred with these very swords nearly every day of her life, she may have hesitated for fear of a dull blade.

But the metal was just as sharp as ever–perhaps even more so. It glinted in the candlelight, the edge shining like a sinister star.

The outer door was thrown open, and Cade, Prince of Grethnah, strode through.

He was alone, though Cypress wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

“Well, Cypress. I wish I could say it was nice to see you,” Cade drawled. The door latch clicked with a finality that Cypress felt in her bones. If he recognized her so easily, even with the glamour and mask, Cypress supposed it was a gift that no one else within the Keep had.

“I suppose I could say the same,” Cypress retorted and kept him in her sights as he wandered around the room.

“Don’t be rude, Cypress,” Cade warned, and his midnight blue eyes darkened to something more akin to black. “ What are you doing up here?”

“I thought I’d surprise you,” Cypress said. She kept her grip loose on the pommel of the sword, ready for him to attack.

“Did you now?”

“It’s your name day, after all.”

“So what’s my surprise?” Cade asked, teeth flashing.

Cypress floundered for only a moment before she spun in a circle with her arms outstretched on either side. “Ta-da. Me. I’m the surprise.”

Cade huffed a cruel laugh. “What would I need a used-up Faerie bitch for?”

Cypress nodded. She should have expected that.

“Well, I suppose if that is your opinion, you don’t. So I’ll just be leaving now,” she said, and raised her voice at the end so that hopefully, Torren would hear.

She wasn’t sure what the exit strategy would be now that Cade was aware of their presence. The servant’s passages were out of the question. There was no way they could trust that there weren’t dozens of guards standing and waiting for them just inside.

And, a stroll straight down the main corridors–where anyone could discover them also seemed foolish.

“No, I don’t think you will be leaving, Traitor.”

“Cade, please, you have to understand what is going on out there,” Cypress tried. There was no point in denying her allegiances had shifted. But perhaps Cypress could appeal to her friend, not the Prince.

Cade scoffed. “Oh, do tell.”

“People are dying, entire villages are being slaughtered. And then there’s the problem of the Hunt. I’ve seen it all with my own eyes, Cade.”

“Good riddance.”

“How can you say that when I just told youentire villagesare being burned?”

Cade circled her, hands clasped behind his back.

“What use do I have ofFair Folksympathizers? They’re savage beasts, and have no place within Grethnah.”

Cypress’s stomach rolled. “Cade, we're talking aboutpeople. Humans and Fair Folk alike are being slaughtered in the streets.”