Page 116 of Nocturn

A small cry came from the other side of the door. Deborah stood and rushed away. She opened it and the cry became clearer.

“Do you know this area well?” he asked. I nodded sharply. “The plaza?”

I had gone with Miriam on plenty of strolls through there. It was near the pond covered by willow trees where we enjoyed feeding ducklings.

“Yes,” I croaked.

“Meet me there.”

“Wh-what?”

“I must collect what we need to leave the Barren. I left it hidden in case I was stopped and searched. If I was found with it, they’d have slit my throat.”

The weight on my shoulders compounded. I craved a nap—desperately, but I nodded my understanding.

Deborah came out, rocking a babe in her arm. A small, fuzzy bundle lay on the baby’s chest, still too small to distinguish what creature it would be.

“You should stay and hide,” Deborah said, her eyebrows knitted together.

Liadan shook his head. “I cannae risk that you will be taken to the Kingdom of Sycarious to be questioned.”

She would never come out. I eyed the little redblood baby. I feared what would become of the child if the mother was murdered for treason. Likely placed in an orphanage, another child to become a Nadien. Once the babe could walk, she could be placed with an Elite family. That fate was the babe’s as soon as she was born a redblood, but if her blueblood mother did everything as law decreed, the child could live a relatively ordinary life for a few annum rotations before she was ripped from her bosom.

“Go to bed,” I added. “It is best you do not hear our plans. Whatever you do, do not let them catch you in a lie. You know nothing and were awake caring for the little one.” A flash of the pit spilled into my memory. “You do not want to give them a reason to drag you to the House of Lords.”

I left it at that, hoping she understood the urgency in my voice. She nodded curtly and returned to the bedroom, shutting herself inside.

Liadan left the window, and the curtain fell back into place. “They are making their way through all the homes—forcibly.”

I clenched my teeth.

He met my gaze. “You must run. I need you to collect food. Bring enough to last a fortnight. The Barren is a gruesome place where half the things will try to kill us. We cannot risk starving as we travel through.”

“How shall I procure supplies?”

“Steal it, trade for it—I dinnae care. We must act now.” He clasped my hand. “Take care.”

“Wait,” I grabbed his arm. “What if they catch you?”

What would I do? I would be alone, terribly alone.

“I will not be captured.” The intensity in his voice, that assurance, struck me mute. Liadan’s arm went around my waist, and he stopped at the door, yanking the hood of the cloak closer to my face.

“Reach the plaza using the woods as cover. Hollows will be retreating to whatever place they slumber, so they will not be a problem. And do not,” he yanked the front of the cloak, “allow anyone to see you.”

That was all the time he allowed when he whipped the door open and shuffled me out, shutting the door behind us. He rubbed his boot across the dirt to mask our footprints.

“Go,” he insisted, nudging me to the edge of the foliage.

I bolted over the dirt as fast as I could until I was hidden by trees. Slowing, I worked to even out my breath.

Piper trembled, likely struggling with terror. A sensation I knew well since it was currently coursing through my body. I tucked her into my cloak, mind racing past all my options to get materials. There was a bread maker nearby, but his shop would not be open in time. Could I bring myself to steal? I didn’t have the same certainty as Liadan that I would not be captured.

Or . . . or . . . There was one place where I could seek food from.

The estate I had grown up in.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO