Aveline
The second moon was a sliver of bone in a bruised sky.
I moved through the servant tunnels, my breath coming in shallow, rhythmic hitches. The amulet against my chest was ice-cold now, almost as if it were sucking the heat right out of my skin to fuel the shroud it cast over my scent. Knox had said it would make me invisible to a wolf’s nose. I prayed to gods I didn’t believe in that he was right.
Every shadow was a threat. Every drip of water in the stone passage sounded like a footstep. I reached the eastern gate—a small, rusted iron door hidden behind a dense thicket of ivy.
Five minutes. Knox had said to wait five minutes.
I pressed my back against the damp stone, my pulse thrumming in my ears. One. Two. Three... I counted the seconds like they were the last beads on a ros
