Read The Dragonprince's Heir for Free Online

style. Now Jen thought you'd—Hey!"
    I never turned to face him. The moment I recovered from the shock, I bolted down the empty corridor, away from the stairway landing. Behind me, Toman cursed once then shouted Caleb's name. I didn't look back.
    A quarter of the way around the tower, I reached one of the broad crossways that cut toward the heart of the tower. As always, that was a busier hall. I threw myself into the mix of servants, weaving as deftly as I could among them. If there were any slapping footsteps behind me, they were lost in the chatter around me. The same noisy bustle could hide me just as well. I focused on that; I fixed my eyes ahead of me and tried to measure my pace so I wouldn't stand out so much. I followed two women in heavy white aprons some way down the hall, then stepped with them into a wide room off to one side.
    The room was cold and dimly lit, and it stank faintly of life and death. I looked down the wall and saw the butchers hard at work, carving up sides of pork and beef. I shrank away and backed into another servant coming in the door.
    I spun away from him just as he started yelling, but I spared no attention for him. My mind was all on the armored figure of Jen just stalking past in the corridor. Her face was twisted in fury, and she gusted down the hall like a thundercloud. Beside me, the apprentice butcher flew into a fury as I ignored him. He clapped a hand on my shoulder, and that alone would have been enough to draw all my indignation.
    But two paces farther into the room, the two girls I'd been following turned back. The commotion had caught their attention. Panicking, I threw one more glance toward Jen, then tried to jerk free of the butcher's grip. He gave me a little shake that clicked my teeth together, and didn't let go.
    The maidservants both gaped.
    The one on the right said, "Simon, what are you doing!"
    The one on the left said, "That is Taryn Dragonprince!"
    The grip on my shoulder vanished. Then the voice of Jen I hated so much said, "Taryn Dragonprince." Full of vindictive malice.
    I ground my teeth. I didn't look back. I ran straight ahead. Right between the two girls, jostling them out of the way. I ran past a startled butcher dressed in blood and linen, wielding a cleaver against a defenseless opponent. And then I dove into the forest of corpses.
    The carcasses of our prized herds hung from steel chains throughout the back half of the room. I'd been here only once before, but I remembered the darkness and the cold and smell. I remembered something else, too, something in the back corner that had gotten me in loads of trouble when I was still a child.
    I could hear Jen behind me, bellowing my name and stomping in her heavy boots. Wind and rain, why couldn't it have been Caleb who found me? Or even Toman? With their bulk, neither of them could have moved among the carcasses as easily as I did. But Jen stayed hot on my heels.
    My only advantage was surprise. She didn't know where I was going. I drifted like a much-needed breeze to the very back of the room, and I found what I was hoping for. A huge wooden door stood open, flung back against the stone wall. The open door revealed a cupboard two paces square and just as tall, set deep into the very wall. It held two crude wooden crates, each packed with thick-cut steaks and room for several more.
    I jumped at a full sprint, threw myself into the cupboard beside the crates, and as soon as I'd cleared the edge I cried out, "Down!" I just had time to see Jen dance into sight, eyes wide, before the cupboard dropped four floors in the space of as many hammering heartbeats.
    Darkness gulped me down, and then at the bottom new light washed in. It brought heat, too, and the rich smell of baking bread and searing meat. My favorite room in the whole tower. The kitchens. I had almost managed a smile when a hand like a ham closed around the collar of my fine shirt and hauled me bodily out of the dumbwaiter. Its owner heaved and sent me