I didn’t ask her to follow.
She emerges from the small wilderness and, in less than a second, pieces together my next actions.
“You cannot be serious,” she breathes as I reach and dig my fingers between stones, hoisting a foot against the wall. “You’re serious,” she adds flatly.
“It’s not like I can ferry, Eve,” I retort in a whisper over my shoulder.
My fingers falter, forcing me to grip the stone painfully tight. This, I discover, would be easier with talons.
But I do what I can with the fingers I have.
Reaching overhead, I pull at the window by its frame. At first it doesn’t budge. A second pull proves useless as well. With a third, desperate yank, it swings free, nearly knocking me from my careful perch against the castle.
“I’m sure Cyran has told your Sovereign King by now,” Eve drawls, but she still keeps her voice low.
Gripping the windowsill, I scramble and pull myself up. “I’ll be… in my quarters by the… time they get here.”
With a last push, I heave myself over, and tumble into the room in a less than graceful manner. Landing hard on my hands and knees, I sit up, eyes wide, lungs frozen.
The room sits empty.
Thank the gods for that.
It’s a study of some sort.
I heave a relieved sigh as Eve, the feline creature she is, lands silently beside me.
“You’d make a terrible thief,” she whispers, smirking.
Before I can retort, she offers me a hand.
Taking it, I dust my knees as I stand. It becomes clear, judging by the ashless hearth, this study is rarely used. But, interestingly, there’s a towering mirror. It consumes nearly the whole of a wall.
Even my quarters don’t have a mirror that large.
I think they should.
“Let’s get out of here,” I whisper, but Eve’s already steps ahead.
I rush to catch up, crossing the room in a few steps.
She swings the door open but stops abruptly, and I slam into herback.
“Eve what the shi—” My eyes land on the pair standing near the center of the grand foyer and my voice finds death.
The pair shifts… in our direction. Drawn by my voice. Lilith leans, peering past the male standing before her as he turns.
Shit.
Lilith and—
“Vestaris?”
The Sovereign King of Vis stares at me, utter disbelief on his face.
Beside him, Lilith flattens her lips into a tight line as she levels a firm stare in our direction. Clearly, I’ve interrupted an important conversation.
My jaw clenches as I consider myverylimited options.
