Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 20

She had to wait two more minutes, but finally a girl with a sour expression burst through the door of the kitchen carrying the refreshment tray and muttering about extra work. She was so focused on the injustice of being sent to fulfill an order that wasn't given to her, that she failed to notice Cole hidden in the shadows at the side of the hallway, nor that Cole fell into step a few yards behind her.

They wound through a maze of the servant's hallways, to the point where Cole was certain that she'd never remember the way. She did her best at memorizing what little landmarks there were, but by the time the other servant girl muscled her way through a doorway and into a grand hallway, Cole was dizzy with all the staircases and turns they'd taken.

The door swung shut, and Cole rushed forward to snatch it before it entirely closed. She had a small window of time to make sure she'd make it into the king's room, and she had to act fast.

She barely had time to register just how extravagant this main hallway was even in comparison to the one that led to the prince's room, before she rushed after the girl who was stopped in front of two grand and carved double doors.

"Oh, hold on!" she called out, faking heavy breathing and exhaustion as she pulled up to the girl's side. "I'm so glad I caught you!"

The girl gave her a strange look up and down. "Who are you?"

"I was sent to relieve you and take the refreshments in instead," Cole panted. "The boy in the kitchen... he said that he didn't want you to take the brunt of whatever happens." She gave a small smile and a tilted chin, implying to the girl that the apprentice in the kitchen had deeper intentions than even that.

The girl cleared her throat and looked down, but not before Cole could see the twitch of her lips and a small blush on her cheeks. "He doesn't have to keep looking out for me like that," she said.

"He said he can't meet you right now, but I think you should go down every once and a while and talk to him. He risked upsetting me by asking me to take it on, but luckily for him I have a romantic heart."

The girl laughed lightly. "Thank you. I was dreading it. I've never been so close to the king, and I know he has a temper when things are not just right."

"Believe me," Cole said, thinking back to the fits that Helene and Drew would get into when Cole did so little as track Sparkstone dust onto their carpet. "I'm used to the hissy-fits of our betters. Leave it to me."

The girl passed the tray over, and after one last thank you, dashed back to the servant's hallway and disappeared from sight. This left Cole alone in the hall, and she took advantage of it.

Dumping the tray behind a pillar, she looked around for some way to gain access to the king's room without drawing attention. She hadn't really thought about how she would enter, but now she was glad to see that his room was at one end of the house. A balcony sat at the end of the hallway, and to the right of the balcony would be the windows of the king's room. She wasted no time in running over and throwing open the doors to the wind and sunlight.

Stepping out, she craned her neck to see that the windows were indeed there. She was still too far away to see through them, but a ledge ran just a few feet underneath them. It was just wide enough that she'd be able to shuffle along it on her toes, and hopefully be able to keep her balance by leaning into the wall.

Climbing up onto the balcony banister, she leaned over and stepped onto the stone ledge. For a split second she was sure she was going to immediately fall, but after a few heart-beating moments she caught her balance and smashed up against the wall as she fought to regain the bravery needed to travel the few yards to the window.