“How many people are in the castle?” I wonder. “They must be running out of shrieking fairy folk by now?”
“You tried to murder the king. It brings out the kingdom in droves. To see if you succeeded, to bask in the moment's chaos so they may tell their future grandkids what part they played, and where they were when such an event happened.”
I lean my head against the cool glass and stare up at Hart. He’s as gorgeous as his brothers, and forgive me, Idols, but his temper sparks something inside of me. I want to provoke him just to see how far I can push him. Malachi is the light and Hart is the dark. If I had to choose the way I would perish, would I be dazzled by the light or drown in the darkness? Screw choice, I would drown in both and enjoy it even if it landed my ass in Blazes.
“What are you thinking about right now?” Hart asks, his fingers gripping my jaw and forcing my eyes to meet his.
“The difference between fire and ice,” I utter as I get lost in his deep green eyes, which seem as if they’d been carved from the Jade Mountains. Tiny flecks of gold sparkle under the moon's radiance.
“One is hot, one is cold,” he says.
“Yet both burn.”
“I don’t understand what they see in you.”
I blink slowly. “Neither do I.”
His lips tip up in a smirk. “Perhaps it’s the clueless, clumsy, crazy way you waltz through life.”
“Perhaps.”
He inches closer to me, his eyes dropping to my mouth, which makes me lick my lips. Is Hart about to kiss me? My heart races in my chest, each beat reverberating through my body, making my skin tingle with anticipation, as an invisible thread draws us together.
Something slams behind us on the window. I jerk forward and my lips smack into Hart’s. Our eyes spring open as wide as saucers. He shoves me back and a loud laugh has me spinning to find Nash and Malachi outside. Malachi is the one laughing, while Nash tilts his head and stares at me like one of his books. I park my hands on my hips and don’t break his stare. I’m not being judged by a knight who’s yet to save a damsel.
He jerks his head to the left, and Malachi stalks after him. Hart grips my hand and tugs me along the now empty corridor. Malachi and Nash appear from the outside, then we rush through a door and across a room. A couple of tempos later, I’m being pushed inside the grate of the library and down the tunnel until we spill out into the cave.
Theo frowns at me as he eyes me up and down. “What happened to your gown?”
“Um, funny story.”
“She stabbed the king twice, throat punched a maiden, and caused a kingdom-wide panic,” Malachi supplies.
My mouth snaps closed as Hart and Nash go around me farther into the cave. “The tide is in,” Nash shouts from lower down. “We’ll have to wait it out.”
“So how does stabbing a king translate to you looking like a sexy pirate?” Theo inquires.
I raise my shoulders in a halfhearted shrug. “I can’t predict the path of fate the Idols send me on. I’m just here for the ride.”
I’ve long since given up trying to control my chaos. It takes a lot of effort and is rarely successful.
“Did you release the horses?” Nash asks.
“Of course,” Theo answers, turning from me and heading lower into the tunnels with the rest of the Stirling brothers. I follow and stare at the water, its glistening surface reflecting the light from the torches. Definitely no getting out of here until that level reduces.
“What now?” A shiver runs through me as the cool damp air settles on my skin.
Nash glances at me, and his eyes tighten. “We have about six turns to wait until the water is low enough for us to escape. So I suggest we get some sleep, because the trek back to the palace is long on foot.”
I grimace and follow them as they take a different tunnel in the opposite direction to the library. “I have issues with walking too far. Well no, that’s not true, walking has issues with me.”
Malachi chuckles as the tunnel opens up into a wider cave. The water here laps against a large dry area. There are blankets and wrapped packages, which I suspect are food.
Nash grabs some logs from a pile and places them centrally. Hart seizes a torch from the wall and lights the logs.
“How often do you come out here?”
The brothers freeze like I’ve stripped naked and done a happy dance. Theo takes my hand and drags me to the blankets. “No stripping and dancing, at least not until we are back in the palace.” I must be saying things out loud again.
