A Book of Spirits and Thieves (Spirits and Thieves #1)(56)

“Yes, Your Radiance.”

“How very, very . . . unlikely.” Her eyes narrowed. “Do you play me for a fool, witch boy?”

Uh-oh.

There was a commotion at the back of the throne room. Six guards ran in, quickly navigating the winding pathway through the thick interior forest.

“Apologies, Your Radiance,” the lead guard said, “but a substantial problem has developed in the dungeons this morning. Twenty prisoners have broken free.”

“What?” she snarled. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know.” He bowed deeply. “I wasn’t there, but . . . I don’t believe this issue can be contained without, well, without . . . your intervention.”

“Weak, pathetic, useless mortals!” she hissed. She slipped Aegus into a large porcelain jar beside her throne, and then descended the stairs. “You,” she said to the two guards who’d brought Maddox and Barnabas before her, “stay here with them until I return.”

“Yes, Your Radiance,” the guards said in unison, their heads lowered.

“Who is responsible for this?” she demanded of the others.

The guard who’d given the news of the dungeon break glanced nervously at his partner.

“You’re both utterly useless.” She pointed at him, the long, loose sleeve of her black dress swishing. There was a crackle in the air and both guards let out pained gasps. Maddox watched in shock as their skin turned to bark, their fingers to leaves, their feet to roots. In moments, they were nothing more than two six-foot seedlings to join the rest of the goddess’s indoor forest.

As she passed them on her way out of the hall, Valoria shoved one of the new trees, breaking a branch off in her wake.

All was silent for several heartbeats after she left.

“I must admit, the woman does have a remarkable green thumb,” Barnabas said under his breath.

“Are you ready, Barnabas?” the dark-haired guard with the lucky hen’s toe asked.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” He leaned backward and placed his hands on the mossy floor.

The guard swung his sword, slicing through Barnabas’s chains.

“What is the meaning of this?” the blond guard asked. “What is—?”

The other guard swung his sword again, permanently halting his compatriot’s voice.

“An escape, that’s what it is,” Barnabas informed the dead guard.

Ah, Maddox thought. This must have been the part of the plan that Barnabas had neglected to share with him.

He glanced back and forth between the two men. “You know each other.”

“Yes, indeed.” Barnabas grinned, his teeth stark white in the middle of his dirty, bearded face. “This is my brother, Cyrus. Cyrus, this is Maddox.”

“A pleasure to meet you.” Cyrus wiped the blood from his blade.

Maddox saw Becca appear through the ivy-covered wall to his left. She looked back at it in amazement. “You’re right. I can walk through walls. That’s useful.” She skidded to a halt at the sight of the dead guard, her eyes growing wide. “Um, the plan . . . ?”

“Went, uh, quite well?” Maddox replied. “Did you find the room?”

“Of course I did.” She tore her gaze from the fallen guard to meet his eyes, then gave him a weak smile that lightened his heart in a mere moment. “Did you expect me to fail?”

He returned the expression. “Not for a single moment.”

“Your spirit friend must certainly be a girl,” Barnabas observed. “That moony look on your face right now confirms it.”

Maddox’s smile fell, and he cast an impatient look at Barnabas. “We need to leave before the goddess returns.”

“Yes, excellent idea.” He clasped Cyrus’s gloved hand. “Much gratitude, brother.”

Cyrus gave Barnabas his sword and the dagger from the sheath at his side. “Take these weapons. I’ll send message when I can.”

With Becca leading the way, Maddox and Barnabas moved swiftly out of the throne room and along a narrow passageway.

“It’s not far,” Becca said. “Barnabas’s intel was right; it’s the only plain door in this entire hallway.”

All the doors they passed were carved with intricate, ornate patterns, but Barnabas had told her to look for an unadorned one. Plain oak.

“Stand back, my young friend,” Barnabas said. He kicked the door. The lock splintered and the door swung open.

Maddox gave him a surprised sideways glance.

“He’s strong,” Becca said, eyeing the man skeptically, her arms crossed over her chest. “Keep in mind, this only proves he’s a thief who will kill to get what he wants.”

“Wonderful,” Barnabas said gleefully as he entered the room. “It’s exactly as I was told it would be.”

Maddox followed, gasping at the room full of treasures in which he now stood. Gold and silver coins, necklaces, bracelets, rings, handfuls of colorful jewels . . .

Barnabas went directly toward a gilded copper box, two feet tall and wide and studded with gemstones. There was a latch on its side and he tried it, but then pulled his hand away as if it had been burned.

“The lock’s enchanted,” he said. “It’s infused with fire magic.”