Free In Her Shadow by Sally Beth Boyle

– foreigners all – payed her no mind until she was upon them, ready to pass them by.
    One, a tall slender man with a wicked scar across his nose, jumped to his feet and leaned his spear across the gate. "No you don't," was all he said.
    "I'm here to see Dux Lucius."
    "Too bad," the soldier said. "No one's allowed in. No locals, and especially no priestess of your whore-goddess."
    The soldiers laughed. Britta grit her teeth, narrowed her eyes. "I'm his intended."
    "So? You're not his wife yet. And that means–"
    A bell – or maybe an iron triangle – rang high and tinny from the porch in the distance. Not once or twice, not in any pattern that seemed like a code, but a long string of frantic reverberations. The soldiers grabbed their things, but didn't say anything, all straining to hear something else, as if expecting more.
    A young Regnal boy came running down the path, his feet kicking up dust behind him. Red faced, he bent over, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
    "What is it, Valex?" asked the tall soldier.
    "Ava," the boy said between gasps. "The Dux's daughter. Someone has taken her."
    Britta gasped. She covered her mouth as every eye shifted from the boy to her – except the tall soldier. "You two," he said pointing to a pair of soldiers. "No one gets in or out of this gate. You two take the north edge of the wall. You two south. Search the perimeter until you meet in the middle."
    "What about her?" said one of the soldiers, thumbing a finger at Britta.
    The tall soldier grabbed her by the upper arm and pulled her through the gates, heedless of her station or how rough he was being. "She's coming with me."
    He hauled her up the path and through the front door, the boy trailing behind them. For a place that seemed like it should be in a tizzy over the absence of a favored child, the ballroom was oddly silent. The soldier's fingers tightened around her arm. He pulled her up the stairs and down a hall that led, Britta assumed, towards the girl's room. And she wasn't wrong, mostly. It wasn't a child's room, but a soldier's with a little cot in the corner upon which rested a handful of stuffed animals and dolls. The Governor, the Dux, and a few others Britta didn't recognize, gathered around it in silence, as if each lost in his own thoughts, trying to figure out how this had happened, where Ava could be and what to do next.
    Dux Lucius was the first to notice Britta and the soldier's arrival. He swiveled towards them, his face as blank as ever. "Captain Marcus?"
    The soldier snapped his heels. "Dux Lucius, I dispatched men to secure the walls as soon as I heard."
    "Good. But why did you bring her here?"
    "She was at the gate when we heard the news. I don't know. I thought maybe. . ."
    "That I was involved?" Britta yanked free from the soldier's grasp. She'd had about enough of people jerking her around by that particular appendage, and was glad she'd left her dagger back at home because she was sorely tempted to gut the man.
    "I don't blame you for considering the idea, Captain Marcus, but I doubt she had anything to do with this," said the Governor. "Take her away."
    The soldier reached for her again but she stepped away. "I'm not leaving. I can help."
    "Help?" asked Dux Lucius, his voice cool, measured. How could a man whose daughter was missing be so restrained? If it had been her own, Britta knew she'd be up the wall with panic. "How can you help?"
    Britta furrowed her brow. "I don't know, but I want to."
    The Governor gave a little shake of his head. "Get her out of here."
    Britta threw up a hand. "Wait!"
    "What?"
    "I really can help. I can talk to the Abbess of Night, get her to marshal our forces. Between your soldiers and the abbey, we can find her."
    "Assuming you didn't take her in the first place," said the Governor.
    Britta's gaze swung wildly between the Dux and Governor. The abbey did bad things, yes, but only insofar as they controlled those bad things. People were going to rob, loot,