Queen's Hunt (River of Souls 2)

Alesso’s eyes narrowed, as if he were calculating a great many things. “When are you due at your post?” he asked Galena.

“At the hour bell after next.”

“It will have to do,” he murmured.

He rose and made for the door. Ilse followed him into the corridor. “Alesso.”

Alesso turned. His lips curled in a sardonic smile. “What? You wish a kiss in farewell?”

She ignored his banter. “No. A favor. You must have the means to send messages to your colleagues. Send one for me to Lord Kosenmark, as quickly as you know how. Tell him…” She paused, wishing she knew how much she could commit to Alesso and his unknown associates. “Tell him to expect word from me through the usual means. Tell him that we need a ship for passage to a far foreign port. I can only tell him more once … once we meet.”

The smile faded as she spoke. He studied her a moment with a strange, unreadable expression. “I will send word to your love. And you, you remember your promise to me.”

She nodded. “I will.”

“Then we are friends indeed.” He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. The next moment, he was hurrying toward the stairwell.

Ilse closed her eyes. Her pulse danced far too fast for comfort. I do not love him. I love Raul. Oh, but in a different life …

No time for self-doubt. She spun back into the room.

“We need provisions,” she said in an unsteady voice. “I’ll fetch as much as I can from the kitchens. Galena, go to my bedroom. Help her to find better clothing for our journey.”

She didn’t wait for their reply, but sped outside and down the stairs. Once on the ground floor, she slowed her pace. It was quiet below, in these hours between midnight and dawn. A few lamps burned in their sockets, but otherwise the house was dark. Ahead, a bright light shone from the kitchen itself. She paused to collect herself, to think what she absolutely n

eeded.

I need a guide, horse, provisions, and weapons. But salt and water will do for a start.

Only two scullions and a single senior girl sat by the open windows. They glanced up at Ilse with little interest. It wasn’t unusual, after all, for those in the pleasure house to fetch a carafe of wine or water themselves. Ilse found a tray and loaded it with a jug of water and a loaf of bread. When she was certain no one watched her, she added a saltbox, tinder, two small metal pots, and a water skin. On her way back, she stopped by a storage closet for a lantern.

Back in her rooms, she found Valara dressed in one of Ilse’s old baggy tunics. She had kept her prison trousers, though. “Yours were all too short,” Valara said. “So were your shoes. Could you find me a pair of boots? Sandals even.”

“We don’t have much time.” She noticed that Valara had found her ring. “You value that.”

Valara’s cheeks darkened. “I do. My brother gave it to me, years ago. I would not wish to lose it.”

Yes. She had lost all her family to the Károvín. She would value any memento.

In her bedroom, Galena had pulled heaps of clothes from Ilse’s trunks. She had separated the trousers and shirts Ilse used for drill from the others, and was folding them into bundles. “Do you have any packs?” she asked.

“None in my rooms. We’ll use blankets instead.”

Ilse gathered her weapons together—knives, her sword, the sheaths that went with them. That done, she pulled out the locked chest she kept under her bed. Her hands shook as she transferred money and jewels into a leather purse. They had made too many assumptions, left too many clues scattered through the past hour. She could only hope Alesso had told her the truth about the tunnels.

Galena uncovered a pair of oversized boots and took them to Valara to try on. Ilse changed rapidly into more practical clothes—boots, trousers, a plain shirt, the boots she had not worn since her journey from Tiralien to Osterling. She buckled on her belt, slid her sword into its sheath. Knives came next. One went into her boot, another into the sheath she fastened to her arm. She packed the leather purse among her clothes in one bag. On second thought, she added her map of Fortezzien and a map of Veraene’s coast around Tiralien and Gallenz. She also packed her scroll from Lord Iani. In case we fail, came the fleeting thought. She shook away that idea and slung the blanket over her shoulder.

All ready.

Galena had packed the supplies from the kitchen into another blanket, which she gave to Valara. With a last glance around her bedroom, Ilse led her companions down the back stairwell and into the courtyard. “You go on to the harbor,” she said to Galena. “You don’t want to be late for watch.”

“Not yet.” Galena glanced meaningfully toward Valara.

“Take us to the tunnels first,” Valara said. “Then I will do my part. I promise.”

Galena studied Valara with a searching gaze. Then, with obvious reluctance, she said, “Good enough. You wouldn’t find those doors without me anyway.”

They took off through the dark, deserted streets of Osterling. The moon had sunk in the past hour, and clouds masked the stars. In Melnek and Tiralien, city watches patrolled the streets, but not here, where a fort overlooked the circling highway. With Galena leading the way, they stole through court and lane and avenue, across the main market square, where they recovered Galena’s sword and shield, then on to the opposite side of the city.