Read Online Grace of the Goddess (The Death Dealer Book 3) by Katie Roman - Free Book Online Page A

maid who brought it eat it herself and just tell George that Grace ate it. Her stomach growled now, making her regret the impetuous decision, but it was too late. The castle slept and Grace didn’t want to bother lighting a candle to rummage around the kitchens for food. She had places she wanted to go, and finding a late supper was a waste of time.
                  Grace dressed in black trousers and slipped into her coat. She armed herself with an unlit torch and her sword. Her old traveling pack was slung over her shoulder, its weight comfortable and familiar. She left the warmth of the castle and headed into the freezing night, where the only lights in the courtyard came from the wall. Men watched for activity, but she knew the blind spots and darted from one to the other. Sneaking around to the stables, she slipped inside unseen.
                  The inside was pitch black, but Grace’s eyes were used to the dark, at least enough to know where she needed to go. The smell of horse was heavy in the air. It wasn’t the most pleasant of smells, but hay and manure managed to soothe Grace some. She’d been a stable hand for a while in Glenbard, and it was easy to work out her frustrations and clear her head while mucking out stalls. But she wasn’t planning to clear her head in the stables tonight.
                  She made for the last stall on the north end. It was filled with four barrels and old tattered gear that needed mending. Grace walked over to the barrels and tapped each one until she hit a hollow one, and then she gently pushed it aside. Underneath was a square plank of wood. She knelt down in the dirt, groping for the edges of the plank. Upon finding them, she carefully propped the wood up against the newly moved barrel. Her hands ran along the dirt until they hovered over emptiness. Swinging her legs over the side, she carefully lowered herself into the hole.
                  The smell of damp earth surrounded her. The tunnel led into the forest, a passage to be used if the castle was endangered. The purpose was to sneak one or two out so they could run and find help, but it hadn’t been used like that for ages. When Grace had first donned her Death Dealer garb, she used it to sneak into the woods, but she never liked it. The blackness was oppressive, however, there was no other way to sneak in and out of the castle without being seen by the guards at the gatehouse.
                  Grace knelt in the dirt and reached into her pocket for her flint, putting the torch in front of her. It only took her a few tries to get a spark that caught the torch. The world around her filled with shadows and all she could see was brown earth and roots. The tunnel was big enough for one person to go through at a time. A tall man would have to walk hunched over, but Grace walked comfortably, her head a few inches from the roof.
                  She continued on, walking for what seemed like hours. It was only a mile of tunnel, but each step she took felt weighted. A circle of moonlight shone in front of her, and she stepped into it and looked up at the night sky. Tree branches obstructed the view, but Grace felt better to have the fresh air blow down to her. The walls in this part of the tunnel were stonework.
                  She inspected the wall until she found the side with the handholds. She pressed the torch into the ground to extinguish it, discarded it on the ground, and began her climb.
                  She came to the surface from inside an abandoned well and hoisted herself out. Nearby was an old cottage, battered by time and unused throughout the entirety of Grace’s life. As such, she frowned to see a candle lit now. It didn’t take her long to piece together who was inside. Only a few people knew she used the secret tunnel, and only one of them would be bothered enough to come out tonight, of all