Chapter 95

Sienna’s POV

Meet at Blackmoon at 10pm. Enter through the southwest tunnels. Meet Alaric beneath the palace.

I was repeating it over and over in my head, my nerves shot. For the most part, I was staying out of the most dangerous action, but being anywhere near the pits was always a risk.

The clock read seven o’clock, so I took my time getting ready, dressing in all black, very mobile clothing. I’d need to be able to move quickly and efficiently, blending into the shadows as easily as possible.

I spent the next hour or so going over the plan in my head, exhausting the path through the tunnels entirely. A copy of the blueprints sat unrolled on the dining room table, and I couldn’t help but study them again and again.

The path was familiar. I knew it like the back of my hand, yet here I was, still staring at it.

It’s the nerves, I told myself. You’re getting tunnel vision.

I grabbed a hair tie, braiding my long hair to keep it out of my way. When the clock hit nine, I decided I’d start walking to Blackmoon. Only Simon was aware that I’d be away, and security had been posted at the watchtowers for days on end with no sightings.

Once I stepped outside, locking the door behind me, the sky took my breath away. It was the last few minutes of the rosy fingers of dusk, stretching through the sky in beautiful streaks of red and purple.

Sunset meant the plan was about to kick into action. I wished it didn’t get dark so late, because all I did was sit and think about the time and what was coming for us that evening.

After tonight, the King would be gone. Dead.

And I’d have been a huge part of it.

The walk to Blackmoon was spent repeating the plan again, for the billionth time. If I said it much more, I was going to start jumbling it up.

Lucius was waiting for me outside the main hall of Blackmoon, the streets around us silent, everyone tucked inside for the night.

“How you feeling?” Lucius smiled, a newfound tension between us. I wasn’t going to let that get in the way tonight, though.

We had to be one hundred percent focused.

“Anxious,” I admitted, falling into step beside him. “Terrified the smallest thing will go wrong.”

“It won’t. Alaric has always been the most meticulous person I know.” Lucius smiled, keeping his eyes forward. “It’s a simple plan, in the end — the only thing that could go wrong is the King could fight back.”

“He’s no match for you and Alaric,” I laughed, relieved to be distracted from repeating the steps of the plan in my head again.

“Exactly, so don’t be worried.” Lucius bumped my shoulder playfully, and the smallest smile crept across my mouth. The tiniest reprieve from the mountain of stress.

Next thing I know, we’re standing outside the sewer entrance on the southwest side of the palace. My hands had broken out in a sweat, nausea roiling in my gut.

I swear the baby was rolling around more than usual too, probably picking up on my mountain of nerves.

Getting in was just as easy as it had been before, after all the practice, and we slipped inside the dank, musty tunnels like it was any other night.

The smell didn’t hit me as hard as it did the other times, my nose having adjusted to the stench at least somewhat. What hadn’t adjusted was my nerves, which grew with every step we took towards the palace.

We were right on schedule, the nearly forty minute walk into the tunnels beneath the palace passing by in a blur. So suddenly, we were back at that narrow tunnel that led straight to the King’s quarters.

Alaric was supposed to be there, but he wasn’t, which was unusual for him.

“Where is he?” I frowned, hovering close to Lucius and the dim electric lamp he had. “He’s never late, especially for something like this.”

“I wouldn’t worry yet. It’s only a few minutes past — ”

He stopped mid-sentence at the sound of footsteps down the tunnel to our left. Alaric emerged from the shadows, and the first thing I noticed about him was that his hair was black, not blond.

He’d gone back to his real and true roots.

“Fair warning, I ran into a rogue on my way here. Terrible timing,” he muttered, and that’s when I noticed the blood splattered on his jawline.

“How many?” Lucius frowned, his eyes flickering with worry.

“Just a lone one,” Alaric shrugged, not seeming all that concerned about a rogue down here.

“Doesn’t that mean more could be here?” I asked, biting into my lower lip.

“They won’t get in our way if they are.” Alaric glanced over my shoulder at the narrow tunnel. “Lucius, are you ready?”

“I am,” he nodded, turning his eyes to me. “Stay here and keep watch.”

“I know,” I replied softly, leaning against the wall, hating how damp the air was around me. Suffocating was an understatement.

I watched as the two of them moved down the hallway, leaving the electric lamp at the foot of the ladder and me in the shadows at the end of the path.

After a few moments on my own, I crept closer, peeking up into the room. It was another trapdoor in the corner of a giant library, the flicker of candles visible in the next room.

I squinted, just barely making out Alaric and Lucius in the next room, leaning over a huge bed. Alaric pulled the vial of nightshade from his pocket so silently, tapping a drop of it into his uncle’s mouth.

That’s when his uncle began to shift, ever so slightly. Nightshade had quite the strong taste, and the poison took effect almost instantly, even when it was the tiniest of drops.

The King started coughing, and Alaric and Lucius stepped back a little. It was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but I could certainly hear the coughing increasing.

It was so silent I could hear the ringing in my ears, the pump of blood as my nerves rose with the intensity of the coughs.

Alaric murmured something to Lucius, and I winced as the coughing grew wet, the King grunting something inaudible from where I was.

Come on, grab him, I thought, wondering why Lucius and Alaric were hesitating so long. It would probably be hard to move someone as large as the King when he was convulsing with coughs, though.

If the coughing continued like that, someone was going to hear, which meant someone would come in, thus finding Alaric and Lucius, and…well, that wasn’t good.

Their shadows leaned over, looking like they were about to lift him, my heart leaping into my throat. Okay, okay, we’re moving down the list of steps.

And then all hell broke loose. The King woke up, and instead of coughing, he let out the loudest, most intense scream of his life.

If the palace wasn’t already alerted by the noise before, they most definitely were now.