Book 5: Catching Up

Amval

Ingrid and I lurk above Lord Rik’s rooms, waiting. I inhale slowly, exhale slower. According to Ingrid, Corwyn doesn’t have any powers, but he has the favor of at least one mage.

We both hope the mage abandoned him. Or, at least, that he is cocky enough not to waste a mage’s power on a message-run he completes every single day.

On my next inhale, I slip my hand into Ingrid’s. It is time to act. We both know it. But this is the first thing either of us has done that truly risks everything.

The door opens. Ingrid squeezes my hand. As Corwyn steps out—alone, thankfully—I spin a breeze around our feet, and we take off after him.

He doesn’t always take the same route from here, but he always uses servants’ passages when he can. Ingrid arranged with a few maids she’s made friends with to block one of the two most accessible from Lord Rik’s room, ensuring Corwyn takes the other.

Like clockwork, he does.

I tap beats on the bac