where the thorns grow

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO,

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO | WHERE THE THORNS GROW

HER HEART WOULDN'T stop pounding in her ear. She was scared, more scared than she'd ever been in her life. She grabbed the sack she'd dropped off outside the walls of Diego's residence and without hesitance she ran.

  She didn't go through any of the doors, instead hauling herself over the walls and landing outside of the palace. Everyone was preoccupied with the party. No one was around. The streets around the Scarlet Palace were quiet as tombs. She swallowed a breath, glancing around. Gira. She had to get to Gira. Fast. It would take her a few hours to get to the docks outside the city. After that she could get on the first ship—she'd brought plenty of expensive little trinkets with her, trinkets that could be sold for a decent price.

  Diego would hunt her down. It wouldn't take him very long to realise where she'd gone. Perhaps not exactly, but he'd know she wouldn't stay in the palace and start hunting for her. And the Meliqueans were the best hunters of all.

  She wasn't going to make it. There was no chance she was going to make it. Absolutely no chance.

  She was already regretting her choice not to finish him off right there, even if it meant she'd die as well. Even if she was unsuccessful and died in the process. It would have solved so many complications and saved her from so many troubles. Butcher hadn't done it then and it was far too late to do anything about it now. All she could do was curse her own idiocy, her own lack of forethought.

  Well then, she might as well attempt to run now. There was always that tiny, tiny chance she could escape to the Hatlen Isles. The moment she stepped foot on the island, she should be fine for the next few years. As long as no one extends their influence upon the island further, which should, logically be rather hard to achieve.

  But she wouldn't put it past all of them. Sai, Melique, Caershire or Arecia. They all wanted to expand their spheres of influence, and whoever got the Hatlen Isles first would be ensured an advantage in the skirmishes and wars of the years to come.

  But there was a reason there was an independent nation of wiccai and wiccai only in the middle of nowhere. Once upon a time they'd almost been hunted down to extinction. And Rhys always had a nagging feeling that the reason they were accepted now was also simply because they had a purpose. Once they lost, or if any of them showed any sign of wanting to break free of the unspoken rules and norms that held them back, what would happen?

  First of all she needed to hitch a ride to the city gates. There she could get on one of the many passenger carriages to the out-of-city docks. Shouldn't be all that difficult.

  The problem was with getting caught in Gira, because that was the part she couldn't predict.

  But for now...

  Only escape was on her mind. She tore off the mask on her face, quickly finding a quiet, abandoned alley around fifteen minutes away to change in. Once she was in peasant clothes, she disposed of her Wolf robes in a pile of trash. Now she could stop hiding in the shadows.

  Rhysa Jiang was a dead girl walking. Time to see just how far she could run before the hunters caught up to her.

✾

  HE WAS MET with surprise at the mansion when he and Zhang daren finally returned. The party hadn't ended yet, but any one of interest had already gone, only a few stragglers were left. There had been no point in them remaining, and both o f them had gotten tired.

Besides, they needed to talk to Rhys. From the daren's expression, he'd already pieced most of it together. Dom's idea of the story was still foggy, but it was starting to make more and more sense.