Hildy stiffened beside George, who looked over in question.
“She’s taking too long. We don’t have much time,” Hil snapped.
“It’sfine,everything’s going to plan,” George replied, feeling far lighter now that Dunstan and Burke were guarding the room.They were one step closer to their goal.
Wynnie spun to walk between the departing soldiers, and they disappeared down the hallway. Four legs and a billow of skirt vanished around the corner.
“All right, let’s go.” George couldn’t help the grin that split her face. She was nervous as can be, but she was also happy—or almost happy—for the first time in her life. Surrounded by her friends, including Isahn, teaming up for a common cause. She felt... oddly fulfilled, despite the precarious situation they were putting themselves in.
They stepped into thetabliniumwhile Dunstan and Burke remained on guard in the corridor. Pausing just inside the door, George dropped the concealing mirage and took a few deep breaths. Doing magic that complex—and invisibility wascomplicated—for an extended period was draining. She felt as though she’d raced up a flight of stairs, twice.
Hildy expanded her sound buffer to pull in Isahn, hidden in the wall. She stayed in position just inside the door to handle her double duties: masking any noise they might make and falsifying Dunstan’s and Burke’s voices in the corridor.
“It’s all clear.” Isahn was muffled by the wall. “Look down. Don’t touch the wire there.”
“That’s new,” George muttered as she crossed to the desk, carefully stepping over the discreet cord Isahn had coated in mist, now nothing but a harmless ghostly snake bisecting the room.
“I used vapor to check for trip wires and alarm bells, as you asked. I’m good at taking commands.”
George snorted, squatting before the drawer where her father had stored the scrap of paper. Knowing Isahn was close and calm enough to crack jokes soothed her soul. Stealing information from the king made her hands clammy and her heart race. She’d have to get over that, though. Killing him would be a much bigger hassle than thieving.
The damn drawer was locked. George jostled it for good measure before sliding her palms under the desk. Catching Hildy’s gaze with wide eyes, she searched for a latch.
“Hurry up, my well’s half empty,” Hildy hissed.
Isahn asked, “Everything all right?”
The drawer wouldn’t budge. Of course. “It’s locked.”
“Shit,” Hildy cursed.
“Is there a keyhole?”
“Yes, why?”
“Move over,” Isahn said as a thin cord of water magic tickled her bottom.
She swatted at it and stepped to the side. Awestruck, George watched his minuscule thread of water slip into the keyhole. It wavered and hardened as it took a new icy form, then, with aclick,the lock opened.
“Oh my gods, I could kiss you right now.”
“Soon,” Isahn chuckled through the wall, his magic slinking back through the peephole.
“We need to go, I’m getting tired.” Hildy gestured to herself.
“He got us in. Give me a minute,” George replied.
When George grasped the handle, it was cold to the touch.Thank the gods for his help.
“I think I might keep you around. That’s handy,” George spoke to her lord in the wall as she fished around for the bit of paper.
His warm laughter rolled over to wrap her in a hug.
A sudden, shiny realization had George’s mouth dropping open: Isahn could have escaped their shackles, could have walked right out of their holding cells at any point during his imprisonment. Her heart thumped back in ardent approval. He wasn’t going anywhere, not then, and not now—not by choice anyway. Hechoseto stay, from day one.
Finally, she found the note, tucked away in a far back corner of the drawer.
“Hurry up! Quit dilly-dallying,” Hildy snapped when George waved the paper in the air like a flag.
