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She nodded There was o, but her throat had closed up, too full of all those unspoken words She made to turn away
"Celaena" She looked back at hi around her His eyes shone as he flashed her a crooked grin "I missed you this su the smile as she said, "I hate to admit it, Sam Cortland, but I missed your sorry ass, too"
He merely chuckled before he strode toward the party, his hands in his pockets
Chapter Four
Crouched in the shadows of a gargoyle the following afternoon, Celaena shifted her nuroaned softly She usually opted to wear a mask, but with the rain, it would have lih, made her feel somewhat exposed
The rain alsoher position Six hours Six hours spent on this rooftop, staring across the street at the two-story house Doneval had rented for the duration of his stay It was just off the most fashionable avenue in the city, and was enormous, as far as city horeen clay shingles, it looked just like any other well-off hoht down to its intricately carved sills and doorways The front laas manicured, and even in the rain, servants bustled around the property, bringing in food, flowers, and other supplies
That was the first thing she noticed--that people cauards everywhere They looked closely at the faces of the servants who entered, scaring the daylights out of soainst the ledge, and Sa frouard on every corner," Celaena murmured as Sam settled down beside her "Three at the front door, two at the gate How many did you spot in the back?"
"One on either side of the house, three more by the stables And they don’t look like cheap hands for hire, either Will we take them out, or slip past them?"
"I’d prefer not to kill them," she admitted "But we’ll see if we can slip past when the ti every two hours The off-duty guards go into the house"
"Doneval’s still away?"
She nodded, inching nearer to hiainst the freezing rain She tried not to notice when he pressed closer to her, too "He hasn’t returned"
Doneval had left nearly an hour ago, closely flanked by a hulking brute of a uard inspected the carriage, examined the coachman and the footman, held the door until Doneval was ensconced inside, and then slipped in himself It seemed like Doneval knew very well just how coveted and delicate his list of slave sympathizers was She’d seldom seen this kind of security
They’d already surveyed the house and grounds, noting everything fro to what sort of latches sealed the s to the distance between the nearby rooftops and the roof of the house itself Even with the rain, she could see well enough into the second-storytohallway So sheets and blankets--bedrooms, then Four of them There was a supply closet near the stairwell at the center of the hall Froht that spilled into the hallway, she knew that the rand, just like the one in the Assassins’ Keep Not a chance of hiding, unless they found the servants’ passages
They got lucky, though, when she spied a servant going into the one of the second-floor roo a pile of the afternoon papers A few ed in a bucket and tools for sweeping out a fireplace, and then a ht in what looked like a bottle of wine She hadn’t seen anyone changing the linens in that room, and so they took special notice of the servants who entered and exited
It had to be the private study that Arobynn had mentioned Doneval probably maintained a for dark dealings, thenhis real business to a more hidden quarter of the house would ure out what tiht now, it could be at any point on the arranged day
"There he is," Sauard got out, scouring the street for a e Celaena had a feeling that Doneval’s rush to get into the house wasn’t just about the downpour
They ducked back into the shadows again "Where do you suppose he went?" Saed His forht; perhaps that had so to do with it, or the street festival that Melisande was hosting in the center of the city today She and Saether that a toasty warood, I’h, his eyes still on the house They were silent for a few minutes At last, he said, "So, the Mute Master’s son …"
She alroaned
"How close were you, exactly?" He focused on the house, though she noticed that he’d fisted his hands