Remembering the main kitchen was down to the left, I decide to try there first. Surely, there is a back door or even a servant’s entry because I have no doubt Alek has many of them. No one was in there before, so the coast should be clear.
And it is.
My feet skid along the polished tiles as I desperately search for an exit. But there isn’t a door. “Goddammit!” I curse angrily, about to flee, but something from the corner of the room catches my eye. An old red rug looks out of place, so going with my gut, I dive for it and kick the edge away, and what I see has my heart almost bursting from my chest. It’s a trapdoor.
I don’t know where it leads, but it’s better than being stuck in here. Besides, someone like Alek has to have a secret passage, and I bet this is it. Just as I drop to my kn
