Sienna Du’for's Arc

Chapter 28 of 30

Sienna kept to the wall and counted doors. The main stair would have guards on it. She turned instead at the tapestry with the hunting hound and pressed the panel behind it. The wood gave. A narrow passage opened into the dark. She had used it as a child to steal cakes from the kitchen and to spy on her sister's tutors. It ran straight to her own old bedroom. She closed the panel behind her and moved by touch. Dust caught in her throat. She kept the guard's cloak tight and did not cough. At the far end she pushed the second panel open and stepped into her room. She stopped. The bed was made. Her books sat on the shelf where she had left them. A dried flower still lay on the desk. No one had touched it in a year. She sighed once, low, and let her shoulders drop for the space of a breath. Then she moved. Her sister's chamber sat two doors down. She slipped the connecting door open. Cecilia slept on her back with her mouth part open, blonde hair spread across the pillow, the crown on the stand by the bed. Sienna crossed the rug in four steps. She clamped one hand over Cecilia's mouth and drove the other under her jaw. Cecilia's eyes flew wide. Sienna leaned close. "Scream and I cut you," she whispered. Cecilia went still. Sienna stuffed a sash into her mouth and knotted it behind her head. She pulled the bell cord from the wall and tied Cecilia's wrists to the headboard, then her ankles to the frame. Cecilia thrashed once and stopped when the knife touched her cheek. Sienna searched the room. She opened the writing desk. Under a stack of letters she found a small leather book. She flipped it open. Dates. Doses. Her father's name. A list of tinctures added to his evening wine, week by week, thinning him. Cecilia's own hand. Sienna's stomach turned. She slipped the book into her belt. A knock at the outer door. Then a girl's voice. "Your Highness. Breakfast." Sienna looked at Cecilia. She cleared her throat and pitched her voice up, bright and sharp, the way her sister spoke to servants. "Not yet. Leave the tray. I'll ring when I want you." "Yes, Your Highness." Footsteps went away. Sienna crossed to the stand. She lifted the crown. It was lighter than she remembered. She looked down at her sister. Cecilia's eyes were wet with rage above the gag. Sienna felt no pity. She felt only a cold, tired disgust for the girl who had poisoned their father in his own cup. "You did this to him," she said. "For this." She turned the crown in her hands. Then she wrapped it in the guard's cloak and tied the bundle to her belt beside the book. She had the crown. She had the proof. She had to get out of the castle alive.