Just outside the palace, behind the eastern wing where only servants who worked in the royal kitchen typically passed through to transport cooking goods, Sorayah and Dimitri moved silently. They were dressed in cheap, shabby attire....garments so humble they barely resembled anything worthy of nobility.
A white horse waited patiently for them outside the service gate, its reins held by Liam, who stood calmly by.
Their escape had been made possible because the palace kitchens had already closed for the day. The royal chefs had long since retired, though many had found themselves summoned to the Empress Dowager's quarters, trembling as they attempted to explain their failure to prepare a proper meal. It had been a disastrous day for them. Without Sorayah's quiet efficiency and guidance in the kitchen, everything had fallen apart. Now, their heads were figuratively and perhaps even literally on the chopping block, as they scrambled for excuses to appease the Empress Dowager's wrath.
