Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 50

Lost in a palace
Anaisa refused to stay lost. She would turn around and try to find her way back. The princess could throw whatever kind of tantrum she wanted; facing it was better than this!

Mentally, she tried to map out the turns she’d taken to get here. At the top of the stairs, take a right–no, left?–and then follow the hallway back to the princess’s tower, and go up those stairs… no wait, maybe not.

Hopefully she would recognize the way she came once she saw it? The palace was entirely too large, but standing there and mentally ranting about it wasn’t going to do any good at all.

She was just turning to go back along up the narrow spiral staircase when the sound of footsteps echoed behind her. Freezing on the step, she considered blowing out her candle and squeezing to one side of the stairway to try and remain unnoticed. But that was foolish. She would certainly never find her way back after that!

The steps came closer, and slowed. They must be able to see her light now around the curve of the wall. Did they think the light was stationary, or held by a person? Should she run, or should she stay? Put the candle down, and try to hide nearby until they passed?

Most of the choices would make her seem suspicious to a guard. She reminded herself again that she had a perfectly legitimate reason to be here! Anyone who knew of the princess’s reputation would be sympathetic to her plight.

“Hello?” She tried tentatively, immediately regretting the single word. There was a shift, and then the steps continued toward her.

“Anaisa?”

Trace’s voice carried to her in a whisper, and her eyes widened.

“What are you doing here?” His voice was a little harsh, and not at all what she expected.

“The princess demanded I retrieve oil for her lamp–it went out–but I got–Wait, what are you doing here?” She became offended at the attack before immediately deflating.

Of course she knew what he was doing here. Spying. It was the whole reason they were even in the palace in the first place!

“Have you found anything?” She asked a second question to cover up how silly her first was.

“Not yet,” He frowned. “I’m looking for a place–an alcove with a stone sill and a single candle. Do you know of a place like that?”

She blinked. What a strange question.

“There are several back that way,” Anaisa gestured behind herself. “Any specific one?”

“Show me,” He requested, gesturing for her to lead the way. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, curious about how calm he was, and why he was looking for an alcove. If she didn’t know his purpose here, she might think him quite mad.

But then, for all she knew, she was married to the most talented spy in the world. He obviously had a distinct reason he was looking for an alcove, by himself, in the middle of the night, in the palace. He must have information relaying that it was important somehow to his mission. How he came by his information, she might never find out.

She might not want to.

Her recollection of him from his everyday behavior at the farm, and what she imagined him doing at night in the castle were so far at odds with one another that she had no way to reconcile the two. How could a man be so kind, but also able to have skills that made him so valuable to a blackmailer?

“How did you get into the palace?” Anaisa posed a safer question than what she really wanted to ask. In Princess lessons, she’d learned the places of all the servants, including stable hands, who slept out with the horses.

“The storm has everyone in disarray. It wasn’t hard to get past the guards,” He shrugged modestly.

Too modestly. Anaisa was sure he must be an absolute mastermind at moving silently and invading anywhere he wished, storm or no storm. The only reason she’d heard his footsteps must have been that he’d somehow known she was here. He probably had a very keen sense of these things. She had to find out a way to ask him to help her get secrets on Barnabas… but to do that, she would have to tell him the truth about herself, or at least some of it.

That was too great a risk right now… wasn’t it?

“How many of these are there?” He asked as they came to the first alcove. Anaisa shrugged, holding her candle closer as Trace examined the sill, pulling on each of the stones in turn. What was he doing?

“At least four or five along this stairway, probably more,” Anaisa told him, glad to be helpful. It assuaged a little of her guilt over her own secrets.

“Hm. Not this one. Where is the next?” He looked past her, and she turned to lead him onward.

Two more alcoves, and Trace performed the same exercise on each, tugging at each of the stones on the sill. At the next, Anaisa started at one side, and he at the other, working towards the middle until their hands touched.

Anaisa yanked hers away, embarrassed. Which was silly. They were married, weren’t they? Even if they were pretending to be, that was the fact of the matter. She shouldn’t feel as if she’d been shocked by static whenever her skin brushed his.

“Let’s try a few more before sunrise. There will be guards about soon, I’m sure,” Trace looked around, gracefully ignoring the fact that she’d flinched away from him as if he were a hot iron.

“All right,” She agreed, “One or two more. I don’t want to get in too much trouble.”

Too much more, she amended mentally. She hoped against hope that the princess had fallen asleep of her own accord and wasn’t screeching for Anaisa around the palace. Being caught with Trace like this would bring trouble down on both their heads.