Gilded Serpent by Danielle Jensen (top 10 novels txt) 📕

her past it, opening a door to a narrow staircase, which led down to a small cellar. A hole had been knocked in one wall, allowing access to the sewer system, judging from the smell.

Pulling out her sword, Dareena motioned for Lydia to take the waiting lamp. “Let’s go.”

They moved swiftly through the sewers, heading in the direction of the harbor gate. From time to time, they heard the pounding of boots, and the pair of them were forced to hide in side passages with the lamplight hidden behind Lydia’s robes. But she knew eventually they were going to have to climb out into the streets. And when they did, they’d have to fight.

Finally, Dareena stopped. “I have a ship waiting out in deep water. But we’re going to need to get to it ourselves, because I’ve no way to signal them without drawing attention to us. And the harbor is crawling with blighters.”

“What about the boats in the cavern at the base of the cliffs?” Lydia suggested. “Is there a way to reach them?”

Dareena rubbed her chin. “Seas are too rough to try to swim. We’d have to go through the palace and down into the tunnels.”

“It’s not where they’ll expect us to go.”

“Worth a shot.”

They moved closer to the palace, finding a place where they could climb out of the sewers. They hid in an alley as a group of blighter soldiers strode past, none of them speaking a word.

They wove through the dark alleys until they were as close as they could reasonably get to the palace gates, which were open, but guarded by a small force of men.

“Are they alive?” Dareena asked under her breath.

Lydia gave a slight shake of her head.

“I knew them,” Dareena said softly. “In life. Sat around a fire and drank with them.”

“It’s not them anymore.”

“I know you can see that,” she answered. “But I can’t. To me they look very much alive, and I’m going to have to kill them to get through that gate.”

“Is there another way?”

The High Lady shook her head, then unhooked a bow from around her shoulder, drawing three arrows from the quiver strapped to her back. “Stay close, but stay out of my way, understood?”

Without waiting for a response, Dareena moved, the bow twanging three times in what seemed no more than a breath and three of the soldiers dropped to the cobbles. The others were trained—or at least, their bodies were—and they immediately dived behind the barrier, shouting the alarm.

But the High Lady was already halfway across the open space, sword raised. Lydia sprinted after her, watching as the woman leapt over the dead men, her blade colliding with that of one of the soldiers. He managed to parry twice and then fell, screaming, but Dareena had moved on to the next.

Lydia had seen Killian fight, his skill and speed beyond anything she’d ever seen, but whereas he was heavy blows and brute strength, watching the High Lady was like watching a dancer moving between men, her violence visible only in the bodies that fell in her wake.

The blighters retreated back against the gate. “High Lady,” they pleaded. “Stop!”

But she didn’t hesitate, nothing more than a blur of dark leather and steel as she carved into them, parting their heads from their necks one after another until the ground was drenched with blood. Only once they were all truly dead did she stop, and Lydia saw the tears glistening on the woman’s face. “Let’s go!”

Shoving open the gate, they ran through the camp. It was littered with the bodies of those who hadn’t been turned but killed by their comrades, the carnage unlike anything Lydia had ever seen. But there was no time to hesitate, because from behind, shouts filled the air.

“They know we’re here,” Dareena hissed. “We have to hurry.”

Inside the palace, it was dark, blood and bodies littering the floor, but they leapt over them, making their way to the stairs and hurtling downwards, then toward the room containing the hatch that led to the tunnels. Pulling back the thick bolts holding it shut, Dareena heaved it open. “In you go.”

Lydia’s terror ratcheted higher, the memory of her last time in these tunnels layering old fear upon new until it felt she could scarcely breathe. The torchlight flickered off the walls, casting bouncing shadows as they ran, barely having rounded the first switchback when their pursuers entered the hatch.

The roar of the sea grew, soon loud enough to drown out the shouts of the blighters, and she and Dareena burst into the chamber containing the boats. Lydia’s eyes skipped to the opening to the sea beyond. And the gate that barred it.

“Get it open!” Dareena shouted, and Lydia raced forward, shoving the tip of her belt knife into the lock. Her whole body twitched as steel rang against steel behind her, the blighters upon them. Snatching a stone from the damp ground, she slammed it against the hilt of her knife until she broke the lock and the gate swung open.

Only then did she turn, her stomach dropping at the sight.

Dozens of blighters filled the tunnel leading into the cavern, and while Dareena was holding them off, she wouldn’t be able to do so for long.

Running to one of the boats, Lydia dug in her heels and pushed it toward the opening. Waves struck the stairs with enough force that she questioned how they’d avoid being dashed against the cliffs. Balancing the boat on the edge of the stairs, oars inside, she watched the timing of the waves, knowing that she had to be precise.

And that there’d be only one chance to get it right.

Now.

“Dareena!” she shouted, then leapt inside the vessel.

The boat slid down the steps, and she twisted, seeing the High Lady—face splattered with gore—racing toward her, the blighters in pursuit.

Dareena jumped off the top step right as the boat hit the water, landing half on top of Lydia as the retreating wave pulled the boat with them.

“We need to row!”