When they reached the outer wall, Kai led the sisters to a disused crawlspace beneath the stables. It was narrow—Kleo had to carry Firra on her back, and Kai had to dig his fingers into the dirt at times to force collapsed wood out of the way. The wood groaned like it remembered being alive.
On the other side, they emerged into the palace grounds near a forgotten garden, long abandoned and swallowed by time.
Moonlight spilled over crumbling hedges and drowned fountains. The flowers, once regal and manicured, had gone feral. It was thick vines choked the rose beds, twisting around the legs of marble nymphs with moss-eaten faces. The statues wept green streaks, their gazes lost in mourning.
It was the kind of place that felt like the world had stopped breathing.
"This place…" Kleo whispered, glancing over her shoulder. "We're not supposed to be here."
"I know," Kai said. "That's why we're safe."
