If sneaking into the castle had been terrifying, waiting in the frigid underground was a thousand times worse. I’d found the mouth of the tunnel—Zenna hadn’t been crazy about that—but I was certain that the men from my village would change their minds. They’d never approved of me or my wild ideas. What if they simply went to bed hungry again, convinced this was another one of my fancies?
Otto will come, at least, I thought. Won’t he?
From the tunnel I watched as darkness spilled down the hill and into the valley. The cold seemed to seep into my bones, and my hopes sank as the hours passed. Pressed against black stone, I listened to rats scuttling in the cellars and the sound of my heart beating in quiet terror.
My name is Hannah Dory, and I have made a terrible mistake.
At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because I woke to the churring call of the nightjar. I got up with a start, banging my head against the low ceiling. It was Otto’s signal! He’d come!
I scrambled over to the opening. I could see nothing below, but I let down the rope that I’d smuggled in around my waist, the other end of which I’d tied to the grate at the tunnel’s entrance. I held my breath as the rope tightened, bearing the weight of a climbing man.
I could hear his torturously slow progress. Every scrape of shoe against rock sent a shiver of dread through me. Could the guards, high on the castle walls, hear it, too? Any moment might come the hiss of arrows.
Fed or dead, fed or dead, I whispered. Either way, our troubles will be over.
Moments later, hands appeared at the mouth of the tunnel, and Otto’s straining face appeared in the opening as he pulled himself the rest of the way up. For a moment he lay sprawled on the stone, breathing hard.
“That’s more difficult than it looks,” he said, righting himself.
“You made it!” I whispered, relief flooding my body. I wanted to fling myself into his arms.
He leaned forward and took my face between his hands. “You are a mad genius, Hannah Dory,” he said. And then he kissed me with warm, soft lips until I pushed him away, breathless. “We have work to do,” I reminded him.
We moved deeper into the tunnel as Maraulf and Merrick clambered up to join us.
“Just Vazi now, right?” I asked.
Otto looked away.
“Is he not coming?” I asked, panicked. “He’s the strongest of all of us!”
Otto still would not look at me. “Oh, he’s coming,” he said.
Sure enough, the rope was pulled tight, and soon I could hear the grunting final effort of his ascent.
“Almost here,” Otto said softly.
But when I saw Vazi, I gasped in horror. Because on his back he carried my sister, Mary.