Thief (Brotherhood of the Throne Book 1) by Jane Glatt

king after him and his other three children, Comack, Aruntun and Fallad, he created the duchies for, so it would be the ruling families of the three duchies and the king.”
    Brenna shivered - she had two of the four bloodlines.
     
    The prophecy echoing in her head, Brenna waited while Randell looked for more passages about the Brotherhood. Soon enough he’d exhausted all his likely searches, so before he started looking in the unlikely places - which from experience she knew could take days - she thanked him and headed out of the library.
    She had left the Collegium behind and was deep into the adjacent streets before she noticed that she was being followed. A man was shadowing her, taking each turn she did and she cursed herself for her carelessness. It was full dark and she was in an area of town she was not completely familiar with - her inattention had put her in danger.
    Brenna fought the urge to run. Instead she walked slowly and kept her actions as predictable as possible. In this unfamiliar part of town it would be easy for her pursuer to trap her in a dead end. But she had to lose him as soon as possible.
    At the third intersecting street she ducked around the corner and with light feet, ran to an alley half a block down. Her breath rasped loudly in the silence of the night as she looked down the alley. A dead end, but it was empty. Brenna edged into the alley and dropped to the ground. She ignored the over-ripe scents of moldy food and instead concentrated on calming her breath as she lay in the muck.
    She eased her body forward until she could see around the corner. In the middle of the street she’d just left, a man walked quickly, his head moving from side to side as he scanned the shadowed doorways of the buildings that lined the street.
    No doubt he’d come into her alley. She’d need to hide, and quickly. She rose to a crouch and retreated further back into the alley but was stopped at the end by a wooden fence, warped and splintered by the elements. A board was loose and she tried to pry it up enough to squeeze through, but then her pursuer was at the mouth of the alley and all she could do was sink down into the shadows created by the wall and the fence.
    Eyes half closed in case they caught the light and gave her away, she waited, heart pounding, as he seemed to look right through her. He took one step, then two, towards her and Brenna clenched her fists and rose slightly from her crouch. She’d let him take another step or two and then she’d rush him. If she caught him by surprise she might be able to slip past.
    There was a noise from the street and her pursuer turned, distracted. Two drunks were walking past the mouth of the alley, singing loudly. Then one stumbled into the alley, his hands reaching towards his breeches. Brenna straightened up, ready to run, ready to take advantage of the drunk’s urge to piss. Then, just as her pursuer turned back towards her, the drunk darted forward, one hand raised towards her pursuer. The man turned and cursed the drunk and tried to bat his arm away, but he was too late. Brenna glimpsed a white cloth in the hand of the drunk and then her pursuer slid to the ground. The second drunk backed into the alley, alertly watching the street. The two of them lifted her pursuer and draped his arms around their shoulders. With him upright between them, feet stumbling, they headed back out into the street. One of the drunks looked back over his shoulder. She saw his head dip in a slight nod, and then he opened his mouth and started to sing, off key, a common drinking song. The other drunk joined in and they turned the corner and were out of view.
    Brenna exhaled a long, slow, shaky breath. Their noisy singing had faded away before she relaxed and unclenched her hands. She’d been helped, but by whom? The Brotherhood? Had they been following her the whole time and she hadn’t noticed?
    A few minutes later Brenna crept towards the mouth of the alley. At the spot where