Chapter 17: The Shadow In The Courtyard
848 Words
CHAPTER 17: THE SHADOW IN THE COURTYARD
The shadow was gone by the time Kadir reached the window.
Only moonlight on the stones. And silence.
“Did you see it?” Seo-ah whispered.
“Yes,” Kadir said. His jaw was tight. “And whoever it was, they knew we’d be watching.”
He turned to her. The crest fabric was still in his hand. Silver thread glinting in the torchlight. Serenya’s crest.
“This is a trap,” he said. “Someone wants me to arrest my mother tonight.”
Seo-ah took the fabric from him. Ran her fingers over the stitching. “Then let’s not give them what they want.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We do what you said. We hunt.” Her eyes met his. “But not the council. Not yet. We hunt the watcher.”
Kadir stared at her. Then a slow, dangerous smile. “You’re terrifying.”
“Good.” She dropped the fabric on the table. “So where do we start?”
---
Midnight.
The palace was supposed to be asleep.
But the east corridor wasn’t.
Kadir moved without sound. Sword sheathed. Only a dagger at his hip. Seo-ah was behind him, in dark clothes. Hair braided back. She looked like a palace guard.
“You don’t have to do this,” he murmured.
“I’m not a queen who hides,” she whispered back. “I’m the queen who fights.”
Pride hit him so hard it hurt.
They stopped at the servant’s stairwell. The same one the kitchen boy used.
No guards.
“Too quiet,” Kadir said.
“Exactly,” Seo-ah replied.
Footsteps. Soft. Above them.
Both of them froze.
A figure slipped down the stairs. Hood up. Carrying something small. A letter? A vial?
Kadir stepped out. “Stop.”
The figure spun. For one second, moonlight hit their face.
Young. Male. Scared.
Then he ran.
“After him!” Kadir barked.
They chased him through empty halls. Past sleeping rooms. Out into the courtyard.
The shadow from before.
The boy vaulted over a low wall. Kadir followed. Seo-ah right behind him.
They cornered him by the stables.
“On your knees,” Kadir ordered.
The boy dropped. Hands up. Shaking. “Please, sire. I didn’t— I was told to—”
“Told to what?” Seo-ah stepped forward. Voice calm. “Who told you to run?”
“I don’t know their name!” The boy sobbed. “They paid me. Said to leave this in the Queen Mother’s room. Said if I didn’t, they’d hurt my sister.”
Kadir crouched. “What did they look like?”
“Tall. Cloak. Voice like gravel.” The boy sniffed. “And a ring. Silver. With a black stone.”
Seo-ah and Kadir looked at each other.
Black stone ring. Only one person in court wore that.
Lord Varek. From the list.
Kadir stood. “You’re going to help us,” he said to the boy. “You’re going to take the letter where they told you. And you’re going to tell me everything after.”
“Sire, please—”
“If you do this, your sister lives,” Kadir cut him off. “If you don’t, I can’t protect you. Choose.”
The boy nodded frantically.
Kadir handed him the fabric. “Put this back. In Serenya’s room. Like you were told.”
The boy took it with trembling hands and ran.
Silence.
Seo-ah exhaled. “Varek.”
“Varek,” Kadir agreed. “But he’s not working alone. No one frames the Queen Mother and gets away with it unless someone higher is covering.”
“Your cousin,” Seo-ah said quietly. “Darian.”
Kadir didn’t answer. Because he knew she was right.
From the shadows of the stable, something moved.
Kadir’s dagger was out in an instant.
But it was only a cat.
He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
Seo-ah touched his arm. “Hey. We got one. That’s more than we had an hour ago.”
Kadir looked down at her. Tired. Brave. His.
He pulled her in. No thinking. Just did it.
His forehead to hers. “You could’ve died tonight.”
“So could you,” she whispered.
His thumb brushed her cheek. “Come home.”
They walked back through the dark palace. No guards. No servants. Just them.
At his door, he stopped her.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “We call the council. But not to arrest them. To watch them. While Varek thinks he’s winning.”
Seo-ah nodded. “And Darian?”
Kadir’s eyes went cold. “Family or not. If he touched you, he’s done.”
He opened the door. Pulled her inside.
For the first time all night, he locked it.
The last thing Seo-ah heard before sleep was Kadir’s voice. Low. Against her hair.
“Thank you for not running.”
The last thing she saw before her eyes closed:
A second shadow. On the roof across from their window.
Watching.
- Writer
