Roque touched his cheek and winced.“I’ll live.You?”
“A few scrapes.Nothing serious.”They’d both been incredibly lucky, but he couldn’t promise they’d stay lucky.“We should get out of here.”
Roque gestured at the entrance of the alley.“Lead the way.”
* * * *
ROQUE WATCHED DIMRIas he walked in front of him.The demon was beautiful, but right now, that wasn’t what Roque was thinking about.No, he was thinking about how lucky they’d been.If it wasn’t for Dimri’s quick thinking, they’d be in the process of being beaten to death.
And it would have been Roque’s fault.
Roque disliked admitting when he was wrong, but he couldn’t deny it this time.Even after Dimri’s warning, he’d thought he could get something out of Medea.In a way, he had.He knew that she disliked Berith to the point where she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt one of his friends.It wouldn’t have ended up well for her, but he supposed that she would’ve had time to plan her exit strategy since he and Dimri hadn’t stopped to tell anyone where they were going.
Which again, was Roque’s fault.
He wasn’t a planner, and that was okay.He didn’t need to be.Maybe it could be useful to plan stuff sometimes, though, like how to interrogate people who obviously hated you.If Dimri hadn’t been there, Roque would be dead, or as good as.There had been too many demons to defend himself.Medea hadn’t been particularly strong or good at fighting, but what about the other demons?And even if none of them could fight, their number would have been enough.Roque wouldn’t have escaped relatively unscathed from that tavern.He certainly wouldn’t be walking down an alley on his way to a safe house.
He wanted to go back to the palace, but Dimri had said they’d go to one of his safehouses, so that was what they’d do.Roque still wasn’t entirely sure he could trust the spymaster, but even if Dimri hated him, he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to him.He knew how important Roque was, and not only because he was Berith’s friend.He was also Berith’s bodyguard, and he was good at his job.
Unfortunately for him, his job seldom involved investigating and finding spies.He’d thought he could approach this situation the way he approached everything—head-on and quickly—but clearly, he’d been wrong.This wasn’t his area of expertise.It was Dimri’s, though, so Roque should probably start listening to him a little more, even though it pained him to admit that.
It wasn’t like he had to admit it to Dimri, anyway.
Dimri had saved Roque’s life.That was something Roque wouldn’t forget.He was pretty sure that Dimri wouldn’t allow him to forget it, anyway.He hadn’t done so yet, but what were the odds that he wouldn’t point out that he’d told Roque that was a bad idea?Roque would if their places were reversed.He was petty like that.
Maybe the best thing to do right now was to talk to Dimri, admit he’d been wrong, and hope the spymaster wouldn’t hold it against him.
“So, what’s next?”he asked instead.
Dimri glanced at him.His black curls had become messy during the fight, and Roque had to resist the urge to reach over to push them down.The messiness made Dimri look younger and more innocent.Right now, he didn’t look like a prince’s spymaster.It made Roque wonder how he’d ended up in the role.He wouldn’t be Berith’s spymaster if he wasn’t good at it, buthowhad he become good at it?How had he ended up in charge of a network of spies?
“We’ll lay low for a few hours,” Dimri said.“The safehouse is just a few streets down, so we don’t have to walk a lot.You can take care of the scratches on your cheek once we’re there, and we can get some food and rest.”
“And then?”
“We’ll go back to the palace once we’re sure things have calmed down.”
“Will they actually calm down?Because I don’t think that’ll happen until the war is over.”
“You’re not wrong, but I meant once things have calmed down at the tavern.I doubt that many of the demons will continue coming after us, but just in case, this is safer.”
“They’re probably back at the tavern getting drunk again.”
“There’s a good chance they are.”
“But we’re still going to hide.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but remember what happened the last time you didn’t listen to my advice.”
Roque grinned.“That’s cold.”
“It’s true.How’s your cheek doing?”
Roque wanted to shake Dimri as badly as he wanted to kiss him.He did neither of those things.He needed to keep his hands and lips to himself before Dimri went to Berith and told him he wanted nothing to do with Roque.
Roque needed Dimri to keep Berith safe, which meant he’d do whatever the spymaster asked.
Well, mostly.It didn’t mean he wouldn’t argue as he did so.Dimri might have been right this time around, but that didn’t mean he would always be right.Roque had made a mess today, but he’d be more careful next time.He didn’t want to die, but even more importantly, he needed to stick around and protect his prince.That would be hard to do from the grave.
