Free The Awakening by Nicole R. Taylor Page A

clean
version."
    His friend grinned as they found the stairs and
walked upwards. "Henry liked to do a lot of things in his bedroom. One of
them being coming …" he paused for dramatic effect, "…and
going."
    Rolling his eyes, Zac thumped up the ancient
stairway, medieval tapestries and swords hanging from the walls. It really was
lavish and nice to look at, but they hadn't come to gawk.
    "Elizabeth lived here for a while," Nye
said. "I came here a few times over the years. Being a spymaster meant I
was privy to the hidden passageways and hidey holes. They did them pretty well
and I could probably say with certainty that most of them haven't been opened
in hundreds of years."
    "Hidden stashes of medieval jewels?"
    "All kinds of things. Medieval spank
boxes."
    "Too much information."
    The attendant at the top of the stairs gave them a
look as they stepped onto the landing. Without glancing twice, the vampires
went into the first room, which was a formal throne room where whatever monarch
lived here at the time would receive guests. Beyond that there was another
throne room for the more important people, then a sitting room. All of them had
painted ceilings and gold leaf encrusted carvings and furniture to match.
Knowing how the other half must've lived made it a very stark contrast.
    "Here," Nye said, waving him forward into
the next room.
    The royal bedchamber was dark and small, a four
poster bed sat in the middle, flanked by ornate dressers and chairs. Rugs lined
the floor, elaborate tapestries covered the walls and the windows at their
backs opened out onto the manicured gardens below. The bed was smaller than Zac
thought it'd be, not exactly 'king sized', not by modern standards. He gathered
people were shorter back then and going by Nye's height he thought it must be
the case. He was almost a whole head taller than the spy.
    Standing beside the rope that blocked off the room
from the designated walkway, Nye glanced back the way they'd come, looking for
the attendant. "The one good thing about winter," he said, "is
that there ain't that many people tramping through the King's bedroom."
    When he was satisfied the coast was clear, he
stepped over the rope, striding across to the tapestry that covered a large
portion of the opposite wall. Lifting the corner, his arm disappeared behind
it, feeling the paneling behind.
    "A secret passage?" Zac asked, glancing
over his shoulder.
    "Escape route," came Nye's muffled voice.
"I don't know if anyone realizes it's here. There's a trick with this one
and if you don't get it in the right angle you could be here for days."
There was a dull thud and a click and the spy stuck his head out from behind
the tapestry and shot his friend a grin. "You coming?"
    Zac followed Nye through the gap in the wooden
paneling and the spy slid it closed. It clicked into place and they were thrown
into darkness. 
    "It's a crawlspace for a few yards, then it
drops down a floor, then into the underground." The spy started to inch
forward, his back against the wall. The air stunk like soot and grime and their
boots kicked up a thick layer of dust as they shuffled the length of the first
section of the crawlspace.
    "So, it was used as an escape route for the
King if ever the castle was breached?" Zac asked, his voice low.
    "Yeah, and secret messengers and prostitutes
and all kinds of debauchery."
    "Why this one?"
    "This is the only way down to the section of
tunnel I think Rix would be."
    The spy lead him down a set of crude stairs that
were only slightly wider than the crawlspace. At the foot, they opened out on a
passageway that was wide enough for them to stand face on, but their shoulders
still brushed the stone walls on either side. The path seemed to slope
downwards before they came to another set of stairs that Zac gathered led down
to the underground section of the tunnels.
    When they reached the bottom, Nye stopped in front
and gestured down the tunnel. A warm light was radiating ahead, breaking up