Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
The ‘downright hidden’ type was where I was headed.
Illusion was the most infamous of all the information guilds in the empire. It could get the kind of info that others could only dream of with unimaginable speed and discretion. While it was fronted by a tea house, it was a rundown, shabby space in the poorer side of the town that not many people knew about—and even fewer knew of what it hid behind a magical passageway.
In the book, Alicia happened upon the guild master, Ezra, after she’d already married Kalon. She and her knights saved him from bandits, and he promised to pay her back whenever she needed it. She’d eventually called that favour in to get information on Lillia to destroy her.
It was almost impossible to get a meeting with him, and he kept his identity shrouded in mystery. Even Alicia hadn’t known that Ezra was the guild leader—she’d always been under the impression that he merely worked there. His appearance in the book had been fleeting, and I couldn’t remember him ever showing up again. Even when Lillia and Torin had visited later on, he’d only allied with them from the shadows, speaking to them via one of his men.
This time, I would be the one making the first move.
Information was the key to changing my fate. I knew meeting him would be hard, but I had a trick up my sleeve.
I knew exactly who Ezra was and what he did in his free time, thanks to the book, and I was counting on that to get me the meeting I wanted.
I wasn’t above a little blackmail.
The carriage came to a stop, and I met Bella’s eyes. “Are we here?”
“I think so,” she replied, eyeing the door.
Two knocks rapped at it. “We’ve arrived, my lady,” the coachman said.
“Put on that cloak,” I instructed Bella. “And don’t say a word, do you understand?”
“Of course.”
I put on my cloak and secured it before pulling the hood up over my head. The hood was huge, and it hid almost all of my face with shadows. It was perfect.
The coachman opened the door, and I took his hand as I got out.
“Are you sure the carriage is hidden?” I asked him quietly.
“Yes, my lady. Exactly where Miss Bella instructed us to pull up. Nobody will recognise this as a carriage of House Vermillion anyway.”
“Good. Please wait here—we shan’t be long.”
“As you wish.” He bowed his head.
“Let’s go, Bella,” I said, motioning for her to follow me.
Luckily, the way to the guild had been detailed in the novel after Lillia and the Crown Prince had visited to get information on Kalon’s planned treason. They’d stopped a nondescript carriage in the exact spot I’d instructed Bella to tell our coachman, so I knew the correct path to take.
I led Bella through the rundown streets until we reached a small tea shop. It was nothing like the tea shops Alicia had frequented in my memories, but it was the exact place I’d seen described in the book.
The door creaked when I pushed it open. Despite being a front for Illusion, it served as a functioning tea shop for the lower class, and there was a low hum of chatter throughout the rundown store that was occasionally pierced by the laughter of children.
I approached the counter. “I’d like a milk tea with sugar and honey on the side, please.”
“Would you like to sit upstairs or downstairs?” the young woman asked me with sceptical eyes.
“Upstairs.”
She nodded and flicked her wrist. “Allegra. Show this lady to a seat upstairs while I make her tea.”
I turned to Bella. “Order what you’d like and pay. I’ll wait for you upstairs.”
Bella opened her mouth to say something, but as if my words from earlier resounded in her mind, she quickly stopped and instead turned to the woman behind the counter.
“Please follow me, miss.” The young woman who’d been called Allegra motioned for me to follow her, and I dipped my head as she guided me towards a staircase in the back of the shop.
We carried on up the staircase until we reached the top. There was a door to the left with a sign for no entry marked on it and an archway that lead to a small seating area. I assumed that was the waiting area in case there was nobody here, and I half-expected her to take me there.
Instead, she ran her hand along the panelled wall, muttering under her breath. She stopped and pushed on the wall, and a click filled the empty air as the wall gave way to a doorway.
I knew that was going to happen, but there was nothing cooler than a secret door.
“Mind your step,” she warned me.
“Thank you,” I said, sweeping past her into the dimly lit corridor.
Her footsteps echoed behind me, and my heart pounded for a second until the passage opened into a bright room that was decorated far more extravagantly than the tea shop had been.