“This way. Remember, you have to be really quiet.”
Luke nodded and pinched his lips tight together. It wasn’t often his cousin Doren even spoke to him, let alone showed him a secret way out of the family wing of the palace. Doren was thirteen to Luke’s ten, and had other, older, friends and interests.
He ducked through a narrow door hidden behind a curtain and followed the dim shine of Doren’s braid-edged tunic up some steep, dusty stairs.
Doren paused at the top, heaving in a few breaths. “We’re nearly there. Repeat what I told you so I know you understand.”
Luke leaned against the corridor wall, pretending to be as out of breath as his cousin and recited. “We’re going to spy on the conference between Grandfather and Uncle, and some people from across the sea.” He frowned. “Where are they from?”
“Who cares? They’re from Away, and Father says this is an important meeting, so Jocasta had to attend as his heir. If it’s that important, I should have been invited too.” Doren pouted for a moment, then said. “And what else?”
“We’re watching from really close, so I have to be quiet.”
“No matter what.”
Luke nodded. “No matter what.”
The DNA of Stories 