Chapter 6 - SISTERS BY NO BLOOD

“Run!”

Rowan drew his sword.

Elara grabbed Celestine.

They raced through the underground passage as steel clashed behind them.

Severin's men followed.

Celestine knew the monastery.

That terrified Elara.

“How?”

“Severin brought me here as a child.”

“For what?”

“To teach me what happens to people who disappoint him.”

They reached a fork.

Celestine chose the left tunnel.

An arrow struck the wall beside Elara's head.

“Faster!”

They reached an iron gate.

Locked.

Celestine pulled off her black ring.

She pushed its edge into the lock.

The gate opened.

Elara stared at her.

“You've been carrying a key this whole time?”

Celestine gave a humorless smile.

“I told you.”

“My life was never what it looked like.”

They escaped through the monastery cemetery.

Rowan appeared minutes later with blood on his sleeve.

“Move!”

They rode through the forest.

Severin's men pursued them.

At the river crossing, Celestine's horse stumbled.

She fell.

Elara could have kept riding.

For one second, she considered it.

This was the woman who had humiliated her.

The woman who had slapped her.

The woman who had ordered guards to hurt her.

Then Elara turned around.

She pulled Celestine onto her horse.

“Why?”

Celestine shouted.

Elara kicked the horse forward.

“Because I'm not you.”

The words hurt more than the fall.

They reached the palace before dawn.

But the gates were closed.

Royal soldiers stood above them.

Rowan shouted.

“Open the gate!”

Nobody moved.

Then a familiar figure appeared on the wall.

Captain Darius.

Severin's man.

“Commander Rowan has betrayed the Crown.”

Rowan stared upward.

“What?”

Darius raised a document.

“By order of King Aldric, Rowan and the two women accompanying him are to be arrested.”

Elara's blood went cold.

Celestine whispered.

“That's impossible.”

Then the palace bells began ringing.

A soldier shouted from the wall.

“The King has been attacked!”

Elara looked at Rowan.

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