CHAPTER13
Ididn’t speak to Evren as I pressed my hand against the stone hallway and slowly made my way back to my room. It didn’t matter that he reached out to help me or that he tried over and over to speak to me.
I didn’t want to hear a word that he had to say.
And by the time I made it back to my room, I could feel the strength Gavril drained from me slowly seeping back inside me. I slammed the door in Evren’s face, to Eletta’s shock, and I quickly began gathering the things I brought from home from my small trunk.
Eletta was stunned with fear when I told her what I had just found out, but she quickly got herself together and helped me bathe and dress in the clothes I had brought with me.
It was the most comfortable I had felt since I arrived in the Citlali, and I laid down in my bed fully dressed along with my boots and dagger. I knew that I should try to get some rest, but my mind wouldn’t allow it.
I stared up at the ceiling as I ran my fingers over the dressing on my wrist that Eletta had redone. She hadn’t said a word when she saw the deep cut along my wrist, but we both knew where it came from. She was loyal to the people who had just taken from me, and she didn’t dare say a word against them.
I jumped to my feet when my door opened, quickly grasping my dagger from its home, but it was only Eletta returning with a warm cloak and a small satchel full of food and water. I thanked her before lying back down with my heart racing. I didn’t think it would ever calm, but eventually, my eyes became heavy and the pull of sleep too hard for me to withstand.
I didn’t know how long I slept, but by the time I was awoken with a soft hand gently shaking my shoulder, the fear of the threat had slipped away in my dreams.
“Evren,” I whispered his name into the dark as I saw him standing over me, but when I saw the grim look on his face, the reality of tonight came back to me quickly.
“We must leave, princess.” Evren looked back toward my door. “The threat is larger than I feared.”
He reached for me, but I pushed his hand away as I stood and checked to make sure my dagger was still in place. I wasted no time adding the cloak around my shoulders and slipping the satchel over my head. Evren watched me wordlessly before moving to the door and holding it open for me.
I followed him through the halls, in the direction that I had tried to escape, and the cool night air hit me the moment we stepped outside.
Jorah was mounted on a gray mare dressed in all black, and two other guards I had seen around the palace were mounted at his side. One black horse stood next to him, with his reins in Jorah’s hand.
Evren mounted the beast quickly before reaching down for me to join him.
“Where is my horse?” I took a step back, and Evren’s face formed into a grim smile even though he attempted to hide it.
“You’re riding with me, princess. We can’t risk you on your own.”
“I am more than capable of riding my own horse.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t, but if we are attacked, I need to have you with me. We can’t escape them if you are not with me.”
I looked between him and the horse, and even though I knew he was trying to protect me, I didn’t trust him.
“I want to ride with Jorah.”
There was a scoff from one of the guards, but I didn’t dare look away from Evren.
“That’s not fucking happening, princess. Now mount the horse before I have to come down there and get you. We need to leave.”
I growled in frustration because I knew he spoke the truth.
I reached up for the pommel of the saddle and tried to pull myself up, but Evren reached down for me and placed his hands under my arms before pulling me up. He settled me in front of him, my back pressed against his chest, and I stiffened in the saddle against him.
“Let’s go.” He kicked his heels into the horse, and the animal took off quickly through the dark night.
We trampled through the palace grounds as we made our way to the gate which was already open as we arrived. I looked back over my shoulder one last time to the dark palace behind us, and the horse only seemed to run faster away from it as I did so.
It was only as we passed through the gate that I noticed what hung on spikes just outside the palace walls. Three heads, each detached from their bodies with a sure blade. We passed by them quickly, but not before I recognized the faces of all three men that now hung lifeless.
The two guards whose names I didn’t know hung side by side. The two guards who had held me down while Gavril had fed from me. Their hands had been touching me only hours ago, but here they hung with blood still dripping from what was left of them.
The third was harder for me to recognize, but once I saw the cold, calloused grimace that still marred his face, I knew the man to be of the royal court.