“What is it?”
He put up a hand to stop me, looking very serious all of asudden. “Wait.” He bent over with his hands on his knees and took some deep breaths.
“Oh my god, will you just tell me?” I began walking to the spot, and I was about to look when he held his arm out in front of me. He held his light right at the opening.
“Don’t get too close,” he warned.
I crept toward the light. There wasn’t anything to see. I shook my head. “I can’t...”
“Here. But I’m not going any closer to the body.” He held the light deeper in the crevice. I leaned in. And then I saw it: her feet and legs, then the rest of her body and her face, partially veiled by the darkness, and something moving. My throat constricted because, at first, I thought her lips were moving, and then I realized that wasn’t it at all—it was a beetle. So many of them. Crawling out of her nose. Of her ears. Of her mouth. They were everywhere.
I screamed and jumped back, nearly knocking Lucas over. I put my hand over my mouth, eyes wide with fear. “She was cursed!”
He nodded. “Yeah, that’s a curse, all right. We should leave now.” The fact that Lucas was freaked out freakedmeout even more.
“I agree,” I said. Now I was the one shaking. “So itwasa mambabarang. Who can it be?” I murmured, more to myself than anything.
“We can talk about it later. Right now, we need to leave.”
We hurried back through the corridors that had brought us there. All the way, I felt like something was right behind me, about to grab me or crawl on me. I clung to Lucas the way I once held onto my mother the first and only time she ever took me to a haunted house.
Just as we were about to burst through the door back into the palace, Lucas stopped. “Wait,” he whispered.
“What is it?”
He put his finger to his lips. My heart was pounding in my ears. Then I heard it, too; someone was in the other room. Multiple people. Their heavy footsteps were echoing against the walls. I heard the slight clang of metal. I wanted to ask Lucas: guards or insurgents? But I was afraid to speak and give us away.
“No one here,” a voice in the room said.
“Theywerehere,” said another.
“Where’d they go, then?” the first asked.
There was a moment of silence. The first voice spoke again. “You think? I don’t know why they would go in there. I don’t even want to go in there.” Quiet again. Then boots against the floor, this time softer. They were trying to sneak up on us.
We moved back into the corridor more. Lucas put his light out. “They’re going to open the door,” I whispered.
“Yes, I’m quite aware,” Lucas hissed.
This was where my high school experiences were finally helpful. Three schools ago, couples were getting busted in an old storage closet behind the driver’s ed classrooms on a daily basis. “If they come in here, you’re going to kiss me,” I said.
Lucas whipped his head around to look at me. “What?”
“Trust me. They’ll think we just came in here for some alone time.”
“I can’t, Princess. You don’t understand. I have my honor to uphold.”
“Don’t worry about your honor right now,” I told him. “This is just to save our behinds.” The strangers were right on the other side of the door, mere feet away. We could hide in the darkness, but that would only work if they didn’t shine a light inside or start searching the catacombs. We couldn’t run, either, because they’d hear us.
The door began to open. Without another thought, I leaned back against the wall and pulled Lucas close to me, smashing my mouth against his. At first, it was just that—a phony, stage-type kiss. Then something changed, and I felt him relax into the real thing. I opened my mouth tentatively, and he breathed into me, and soon all I could think about was how close we were. I could feel his heart pounding against mine. He drew me in closer, and then he was kissing my chin and my neck, soft, sweet kisses that turned urgent and made my head spin. His whole body was wrapped around mine, and I ran my hands through his hair, marveling at its softness. While the rest of him was so hot... and hard. Somehow, he’d pinned me against the wall, and it was all I could do not to swoon.
Before I could process what was happening, the light from the other room revealed the two of us locked in a heated embrace.
I looked up as two Royal Guards stepped back. “Your Highness,” they said in unison, bowing. One was older, and the other must’ve been around my age. “Sir Lucas.” They bowed.
We immediately released each other. I pretended to be mortified. Lucas, on the other hand, appeared verygenuinelyflustered. His cheeks were bright crimson, and he looked like he was about to break out in a sweat, and he kept his hands in front of him, standing in that formal way soldiers are taught to stand.
“We were just discussing some schoolwork,” I said, forcing a nervous laugh. “It’s about, um...” I turned and looked around me. “Ancient Biringan architecture. And Lucas offered to show me the best example, right here underneath my own palace.” I added that last bit on purpose, to remind them who they were talking to.
