“Rheka ? What’s wrong with you?” Avalon growled. She squeezed Narra’s shoulder, but the thief shook her off.
“I’m going to end this once and for all,” Narra said.
“What ?”
Narra took a step forward, leaving the safety of the shadows. Could she do this? Could she really end the life of Marina Kolarova? The princess had betrayed her, and forced her hand time and time again. And yet she still won. She still went to sit on the throne of Rova. She was going to destroy their country if she had her way.
No. Narra couldn’t let that happen.
Marina’s eyes widened suddenly and her lips parted in a surprised gasp.
Narra met Marina’s swirling hazel gaze, and it was then she realized her mistake. She shouldn’t have left the safety of shadows.
“INTRUDER!” Marina screamed. She pointed at Narra.
Shit .
The crowd erupted into chaos as if someone had shot off a gun. Palace Guards dove through the throng, desperate to reach her.
No. No. No . This couldn’t be happening.
A hand clamped down on her bicep and yanked her backward, nearly ripping her off of her feet.
“It’s time to go , Rheka!” Avalon barked. She left no room for argument.
Narra inhaled sharply, and tried to call back her senses as she spun away from the panicked cries filling the throne room. “Let’s go.”
Avalon sagged with relief, but Narra quickly grabbed her arm and yanked the pirate with her out the back of the throne room. “Where are we going?” Avalon yelped. Her heels clacked against the marble floor, and then the sound was muffled by the carpet runner.
“A window,” Narra said.
“Stop!” Two Palace Guards barrelled into the hallway and Narra took off, towing Avalon after her.
Avalon panted behind her as Narra raced down the hall. She spun into the first intersection she saw, twisting through hall after hall as quickly as she could.
Pain speared her back suddenly, and she fumbled, tripping over her own feet, and nearly crashing to the ground. The carpet came up fast, and Narra flashed out a hand to catch herself.
Avalon yanked her up before she hit and propelled the thief forward. “Come on!”
Narra dipped her chin in thanks before returning to the race at hand. They had to get to a window – one that opened, or they were doomed.
“Halt!” another guard shouted.
Too close. Narra ground her teeth as she rounded into a familiar hallway. It wasn’t the same hall as the one Marina’s study lie in, but it was nearly identical.
“One floor up!” Narra snapped. If they could get to Marina’s study they could sail out the window inside.
Avalon nodded, too winded to speak.
Narra spun into another hall and yanked Avalon after her into a tight stairwell that spun upward to the second floor. She’d been inside the servants’ staircases several times now, and they were their best bet. It’d take forever to climb up such a narrow staircase in a large suit of armor.
Again, the guards own equipment was working against them.
Thank Srah .
Before she could think on whether she should be thanking the Sun God for anything anymore, they burst into the second floor hall.
A servant yelped and tripped backward in her attempt to get out of Narra’s way. Avalon flashed the young woman a smile before Narra pulled the pirate down the hallway.
“Nearly there,” Narra panted.
Bronze sconces held burning flames that lit the stone hall with a burgundy runner up the center. This hall she knew.
She raced under the arches of the hall until she reached a thick dark wood door. She didn’t bother with her lock picks. Instead she released Avalon and stepped back before throwing her full body weight at the door.
Pain shot up her back, but the doors burst open on the first try – Marina must not have had time to fix it yet.
“This way!” Narra ran inside, wincing as her back continued to ache. Her adrenaline could only keep the pain away for so long. She glanced around quickly for signs of the enemy, but found none. At least luck was on her side for once.
Avalon shut the door behind them. It’d only gain them seconds, but at least they’d lost the Palace Guards for the moment.
Narra crossed the huge study with intricately carved furniture and a cold fireplace until she reached the window. She undid the latch and threw it open. There was a ledge just beneath it large enough for them both to stand on. It’d give her time to get a proper hold on Avalon.
“Come on,” Narra said. She held the window open as wide as it’d go, and motioned Avalon out first.
The pirate’s eyebrows furrowed as she approached the open window slowly. She peaked out, and her breath caught. “You’re serious?”
Of course she was serious. They were in the midst of an escape. “Yes.”
Avalon gave her large pleading eyes.
Right. Avalon was afraid of heights.
Narra sighed. “We don’t have time, Avalon. Please, do this for me. I can get us home.”
Avalon held her gaze. Panic continued to widen her dark brown eyes, flecked with gold. After a long moment she finally nodded and gulped audibly. “Okay.”
Narra tried to smile some kind of encouragement, but her entire body trembled, and she couldn’t get the smile to form.
Avalon took a dagger from a hidden pocked in her skirts and quickly cut into her dressed, living her some legroom, until she saw the wooden hoops of her skirt. She growled and swatted them. “Useless invention.”
Narra glanced down at the hoops. She plucked Avalon’s blade from her hand and hiked up Avalon’s skirt.
Avalon’s eyebrows shot up. “Rheka, if you wanted to undress me, you could have just said so.”
Narra narrowed her eyes at Avalon, giving her a look before she slipped the blade inside Avalon’s skirt and cut the ties holding the hoops together. Then, she handed back Avalon’s knife and tore the hoops away, leaving her once voluminous skirt to flounder in the gentle breeze.
“Oh,” Avalon said.
Narra’s lips twitched and she shook her head as she again propped open the window and motioned Avalon out.
Shouting in the hall made her heartbeat speed up, and Narra shot a desperate look at the pirate.
Avalon took a bracing breath before she slipped one leg over the window ledge and crawled out, shimmying to the left to allow Narra follow.
Narra wasted no time, slipping out the window and pulling her grappling hook from the confines of her cloak. She assessed the yard, which was full of parked steamwagons on this side of the palace. She snorted and wrapped an arm around Avalon’s waist, pulling her close.
Avalon’s large breasts pressed against her side, and Narra’s cheeks heated. She tried in vein not to think about anything but escaping as Avalon wrapped her arms around Narra’s waist, squeezing so tight that pain shot through her spine.
She winced, and aimed her grappling hook at one of the gargoyles on the outer wall of the castle.
“Hold on tight,” Narra said.
Avalon nodded against Narra’s shoulder, a tiny whimper escaping her as she buried her face in Narra’s cloak. The pirate really was afraid of heights.
Narra took a deep breath and hit the release on her grappling hook. The door inside the study crashed open then, making her pulse race. The hook wrapped around the throat of a gargoyle and snapped taught.
“Ready?” Narra asked.
Avalon nodded, and then Narra jumped.
Avalon’s scream was taken by the wind as they free fell. Then Narra hit the retract button and they were torn through the air. Wind buffeted her on all sides and tore at her hair and cloak.
The castle’s outer wall grew larger and larger until she spotted them. Two Palace Guards rushed from either side of the wall. At the rate they were going, Narra wouldn’t have time to retract her grappling hook and shoot it off again before the guards were on them.
“Brace yourself! We’
re in for a fight!” Narra shouted into the wind. She hoped Avalon could hear her.
Narra’s boots slammed down on the rough stone atop the castle’s outer wall. She released Avalon at the same time she hit the retract button on her grappling hook.
Twin battle cries rang out on either side of them. Narra ground her teeth as she ripped a dagger from her belt. She leapt up the pedestal the gargoyle sat upon, and sprung back down on the first guard. She aimed at the break between his chest plate and shoulder armor, but the man was younger than most, and much swifter.
He dodged to the side, and reached for her arm. Narra twisted from his reach at the same time her grappling hook thunked into her fist.
The shing of metal on metal told her Avalon was fighting as well, but she didn’t dare look back. Narra held up her blade as the guard lunged, bringing his sword down on hers. His strength weighed on her arms, making her muscles tremble with the effort to hold him back.
Narra hissed out a breath between her teeth. She had one shot. Narra slammed back on his blade with all of her strength, making him stumble.
Before he’d righted himself, she feinted left, then spun around to the right. Just as he went to slice through her side, Narra stabbed his neck. She pulled back, blood spurting from the wound.
The guard clutched at his spewing jugular but it was far too late to stop it. He fell to his knees, useless. With the first guard incapacitated and very close to death, Narra turned to see how Avalon was fairing.
Avalon ground her teeth, her dark gaze flashing with a fiery intensity as she parried the guards short sword before spinning in close and tripping him. He stumbled back against the pedestal of the gargoyle, very near to the edge of the wall.
The guard got his feet beneath him just as Avalon dove for the kill. At the last second, Avalon’s eyes flashed with realization, and she pulled back. Instead of going for a strike to the neck, she whipped her heel-clad foot out and slammed it into his chest.
The man yelped, then howled as he flew over the edge of the wall and fell toward the ground about two and a half stories below.
Avalon watched over the edge for a moment until they both heard a sickening crack. She pulled back abruptly and Narra’s nostrils flared.
“You fight well,” Narra observed.
Avalon blinked at her in wide-eyed shock. “This surprises you?”
Narra smiled. “I guess you are a pirate.”
Avalon rolled her eyes and stepped closer.
Narra again wielded her grappling hook, and the battle-ready spark in Avalon’s eyes faded to fresh fear. She gulped and took a tentative step forward.
With Avalon wrapped around her once more, Narra shot off her grappling hook and they leapt into the night.
Pain continued to flare through her back, making her wince every time they landed and took off. Exhaustion crept in now that her adrenaline had faded. Hot, sticky blood clung to her back, and her eyelids fluttered with the effort to keep them open.
Narra was just so tired. After a long day and night, plus her injury, she was ready for sleep.
“Rheka?” Avalon asked. “Rheka, are you okay?”
Narra didn’t realize her eyes had closed until they flashed open. Her boots hit the steeple of a roof hard, jarring painfully up her legs. She inhaled sharply before reeling her hook back in and taking off again.
“I’m fine,” Narra said between pained breaths. Wind pushed against her again, and she sucked in the cold air hungrily.
The scent of salt filled her nose, drifting up from the approaching sea. Before the coronation, Narra and her band of friends had planned to meet at the old fish cannery at the City Docks once the night was over.
Even with the black sea so close, Narra dreaded the coming hours. She wanted to sleep so badly .
Avalon squeezed her waist as they again landed on a rooftop. “You’re sure?”
Narra nodded curtly and took off again. They were only two blocks from the warehouse when black sparks began to creep across her vision. Narra blinked rapidly to rid herself of them, but they kept coming until her body went rigid and her fingers wouldn’t respond.
“Rheka?” Avalon gasped. “Rheka!” Her scream filled Narra’s ears.
Narra gasped as the street came up at them fast. She hit the retract as fast as she could. Her boots skidded across the cobblestone, and she slipped on the dew-slicked surface. Her heart skipped as she lost hold of her grappling hook, and she wrapped her arms around Avalon, twisting to land on her back.
Pain speared her spine, and her breath exploded from her lungs as they bounced once, then twice across the street.
They rolled to a stop a few feet from a streetlamp. Narra wheezed in air, and Avalon trembled from head to toe. Black flew across her vision, and she nearly lost herself to it several times before she bit down on her tongue, the pain forcing her to stay awake.
“Are you all right?” Narra panted.
Avalon shook as she looked up, her eyes wide. She nodded.
“Good.” Narra laid her head back on the cobblestone. She took a few minutes to catch her breath before she realized Avalon was still lying on top of her. She looked down, and Avalon seemed to realize the same thing.
Avalon quickly rolled off and bounced to her feet. “Apologies.”
Narra sighed and sat up. Avalon offered her hand and Narra took it, wincing as Avalon pulled her up.
“Are you all right?” Avalon asked.
Narra nodded. “I’m fine. Just tired.”
Avalon looked at her sceptically, but Narra just brushed passed toward the warehouse. “If you’re sure,” Avalon said quietly.
They continued in silence down the hill towards the black sea and the silver moon glowing upon its surface.
Continue Narra’s treacherous journey in book 4: Empress of Annihilation.
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Katherine Bogle is the bestselling author of the steampunk phenomenon, QUEEN OF THIEVES, as well as the international bestselling DOMINION RISING series.
She first found success with her debut novel, Haven, which came second in the World’s Best Story contest 2015. Since then, she has gone on to release 11 books with one core theme: kick-butt heroines. Though her series may span genres—from fantasy, to steampunk to science fiction—she will always write about strong women overcoming the odds.
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Magic. Chaos. Betrayal.
Narra has failed. With Marina crowned Empress of Rova, the empire quickly sinks into military rule under the ruthless former princess.
While Narra struggles to come up with a new plan, the Daughters are hellbent on beginning her training, and the Thieves want her to step up as the new Guild Master. Above all else, the mother she never knew is back, bringing with her a whole slew of new dangers.
With the empire crumbling around her, will Narra be able to stop the new empress and maintain her hold on the Thieves Guild?
If she doesn’t, death might be a blessing compared to Rova’s total annihilation.
Continue the series readers are calling a “thrill ride” in Empress of Annihilation . Narra has survived so far, but how long will her luck last?
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Clockwork Thief Box Set Page 66