Nope. There was about twenty feet of rocks between us and the level of the castle, which we had to...climb?
Fuck me, this was why I didn’t jog. Or surf. Or...do anything more strenuous than hunt through my closet for the right shirt. Or laundry.
And speaking as someone who could win a “world’s worst” award at laundry, I really wished I were doing that instead.
“Can’t I just change into a dragon, fly up there, and menace them?”
Caspian looked more amused than annoyed by my whining, but he shook his head. “What would stop him from dropping your cousin off the top of the castle if you did that?”
Fuck.
He wasn’t wrong.
And even if I might be able to catch him, risking Sexton’s life on my mediocre dexterity was a gamble I wasn’t willing to take.
So climbing the slick gray-black rocks it was.
Davin and Caspian were both apparently champion rock-climbers, so by the time I reached the top, panting and sputtering and with cuts all over my fingers from the too-sharp rocks, they were already up there waiting on me.
Damned vampires.
Davin reached down and hoisted me up the last of the way, and then kissed me on the cheek with a smile.
“Kitten all right?” Caspian asked, and I cringed.
Fuck, I hadn’t even checked in with Twist while banging my way up the rocks, falling against the damn things repeatedly.
She clearly heard Caspian asking after her, though, and was uninjured enough to poke her head out of her pocket. “I am well, Great-Grandfather.” Once more, I had to stifle my laughter. Except...no, Caspian was not the guy who’d be bothered by that.
“She says she’s fine, Great-Grandfather.”
As expected, he let out an instant laugh, and had to cover his mouth to hold in any more, lest he give away our positionto possible guards. He doubled over, though, his shoulders shaking, and when he finally righted and composed himself, there were tears in his eyes. “She calls Fiona Grandmother, doesn’t she?”
“Sure does,” I agreed. “I have not passed that on to Mother yet. I think at least.... Dad...Would be amused. If it extends to him.”
Dad. I’d never really thought about calling him that before. He wasn’t the kind of guy who’d have to be “Father,” like Mother was...well, that. It was a strange paradigm change, and it warmed my freezing bones.
I only wished the warmth was more real.
Caspian peeled off the coat he’d been wearing, which seemed nuts to me, but again, vampire. He probably didn’t really do cold, and had worn the jacket for show.
Glancing back out at the water, I wondered if the men on the boat could...except there was no boat. It was gone. Fuck, had it sunk? Were they?—
“Nina is coming to pick us up,” Caspian explained. “We’re going to handle this, then Nina will land on the airstrip on the other side of the island.”
Davin was frowning at him. “Is there a reason we didn’t come up that side, instead of climbing slippery wet rocks?”
That was a good fucking question, but of course, Caspian had an answer for it. “Because no one saw us here.” He motioned around us, where there was...well, nothing. It was an area where, on any other castle, there might have been a garden or...something? But it was just bare dirt. I didn’t know if it was because nothing could grow on such a godforsaken rock, or because my grandfather didn’t really care, but either way, it was an excellent point. No reason to keep a guard watching this barren field of nothing, and no one in their right minds would have come up this way.
Which was what we had done.
Davin cocked his head, but not at Caspian or the conversation. At the side of the building. He went over to a wall and knelt down next to it, and it only took me a second to realize why. Three of the huge stones there had fresh...mortar? Was that the word? Whatever the stuff was that they glued rocks together with to make castles. It was almost white, contrasting with the rest, which was as faded and gray as the stones themselves.
He looked up at me and tapped one of the fixed rocks. “Bet this is where your da escaped.”
It...well. That was a hell of a thought. I tried to imagine rolling out of my prison to find myself on a dirty ledge over a twenty-foot drop onto sharp slimy rocks, and...I was gonna have to buy Dad chocolates or something when we got home. Maybe I’d ask Arthur for a special batch for him.
He’d survived this to save me.
