Winterveil by Jenna Burtenshaw Page A

you.”
    â€œThen you should listen. This isn’t a plan. This is insane!”
    â€œSit.”
    At last the carriage stopped at the end of a long, straight street leading to a place that Edgar knew well. The driver knocked open the little hatch behind Silas. “Are you sure about this, sir?”
    â€œPerfectly.”
    The hatch clicked shut, and the carriage continued on, climbing up a slight hill toward a collection of grand ancient buildings circled by an old iron fence. Edgar sank back in his seat as they stopped in front of a heavily guarded gate. Wardens converged upon the vehicle, and Silas opened the window as a hooded man’s face filled the glass. The warden looked in at the two passengers, and his eyes widened in surprise. For a second Edgar thought he was going to order his men to attack, but instead he bowed slightly in Silas’s direction.
    â€œOfficer. Open the gate,” said Silas.
    The warden stepped back and immediately raised a hand to his men. Two of them pushed the gates aside, opening up a clear path into the most protected part of Fume, the chambers of Albion’s High Council.
    â€œThis has to be a trap,” said Edgar. “They wouldn’t just let us in.”
    The carriage horse walked slowly forward, and Edgar spotted three more wardens standing close by. The carriage rolled past their post, through an archway and across a courtyard, heading directly toward the chambers’ main door.
    â€œThere’s still time to turn back,” said Edgar. “The council will set every warden they have on us the moment they see you.”
    â€œTrue loyalty does not die when it becomes inconvenient,” said Silas. “Fume is under threat. This is where we must be.”

5
    SILVER & DUST
    W hen Kate and Dalliah arrived at the city on horseback, the disguised Blackwatch officers approached the gates first and spoke with two wardens standing on the other side. Dalliah had ordered Kate to keep her hood up once they were close to Fume, and Kate peered out from behind it as the wardens signaled for the two of them to move forward. One of the men unlocked the great iron gates and pushed them open while the other bowed his head in greeting.
    â€œLady Grey,” he said, “welcome to Fume.”
    Kate thought there was something unusual about the man. His accent was softer than the sharp voices that were common across Albion.
    â€œThe city is not as secure as its High Council believes,” said Dalliah.
    The warden smiled. “It never was.” He handed Dalliah a cloth-wrapped package that was small and thin. They talked quietly for a short time, and Dalliah hooked the package onto her saddle.
    The disguised officers stood alongside the wardens, and Kate overheard them giving the gate guards orders. She knew then that the latter were not wardens but Blackwatch agents. Albion’s enemies had infiltrated beyond Fume’s gates.
    â€œWe ride on,” said Dalliah, taking the reins of Kate’s horse and leading it alongside her own.
    The air trembled as the two women crossed the threshold of the city. Shades shifted in the shadows, filtered through the stones, and mingled in the air, making the flames in the wardens’ lanterns shrink and fade back to the tiniest spark. A shiver of fear and expectation ran through every soul and every memory still locked within that place. Kate felt it as a chill colder than any winter wind, as if a door had opened to the coldest part of the world, letting freezing air blast against her skin. Fume’s streets were bare and ghostly. The gray and black buildings stood out sharply against a white sky, and it felt as if the towers themselves were listening.
    The Blackwatch remained with their associates at the gate. The city’s silence was disturbed by the screeching of metal hinges, and Kate looked back to see the huge gates pulled shut. None of the wardens posted nearby had noticed the presence of