Chapter 16
Jessiah
Xavier would have been a much more rational choice. But there was no way I’d leave Rummy in that castle with King Cornelius after the way he had been looking at her during dinner.
Did the man have no respect?
She arrived with two men. We might not have been romantically involved, but how could he know that so soon?
Likely because Rummy made it very clear where her interests lay. And it sure as all hells was not with me.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Rummy whispered.
Now that she’d changed out of the red dress, I could think straight again. How could any man sit there and eat dinner when she looked like that just inches away?
Or maybe I was the only one with an issue. King Cornelius had no problem. He ate plenty, though he didn’t even try to keep his eyes to himself.
Even Xavier had more restraint, and that said a lot.
“No,” I whispered back. “But it beats waiting around for Cornelius to bring it up, especially when we don’t know that he’d be truthful.”
I crept down the dimly lit hallways of the castle with Rummy at my back. Though I’d studied every detail of the path to our rooms, we weren’t using the main entrance. Instead, we snuck around through back doors and into small tunnels that were surely only used by the guards and the castle staff.
And guests with too much curiosity.
Miraculously, Rummy followed without argument as we slunk through the shadows, silent as air.
It was only when we approached the door that would lead to the city that we encountered a slew of guards. There were at least twelve, standing shoulder to shoulder near the opening in the massive wall that surrounded the castle.
Before they could see us, I grasped Rummy’s shoulder, and the two of us slipped behind a large pillar in the castle courtyard.
“How are we supposed to get past them?” she hissed. “They’re never going to let us through. Not without alerting Cornelius.”
The moon was high in the sky now. The guards were alert, but they seemed more interested in mingling with one another than they did with keeping the surrounding wall secure.
I glanced to our left, toward a part of the wall more shadowed than where we were hidden. “This way.” Instinctively, I slipped my hand in Rummy’s.
The second my palm was pressed to hers, I tensed, waiting for her to pull away. When she didn’t, I took off, jogging through the darkness with Rummy in tow.
“Great,” she sighed when we were once again ensconced in shadow. “Now what? There isn’t a way out over here, and this wall is too high to climb.”
I didn’t let go of her hand. “Do you trust me?”
Her eyes widened. And for a heartbeat, I thought she would say yes. I was a delusional man. A man living in the past.
Because this Rummy didn’t trust anyone or anything.
“Absolutely not,” she replied.
But her hand remained in mine.
“Perfect,” I sighed. “Then you better hold on tight.”
I hauled her into my arms, and as we cascaded into the sky, she gasped, locking her arms tightly around my neck. She clung to me for dear life, and memories of flying together in those early days of Scarlata ripped through my mind.
She hated flying, but that delusional part of me once thought that maybe with me, she didn’t hate it half as much.
But things were different now.Wewere different now.
