Then, “Okay.” He nods slowly and returns his gaze to mine. “But you have to go to her yourself, and beverycareful, Sawyer. She’s staying in the Head Keeper’s quarters. It's a highly restricted area, so if you get caught…” He blows out a breath, a flicker of amusement twinkling his eyes. “I don’t know if I can help you.”
“Why is she there?”
His brow arches. “Hmm?”
“You said she’s in the Head Keeper’s quarters.” I shake my head when it spins. “Why?—”
“It’s the most guarded.”
He gets close and peeks around as if someone might be watching us. “Luna’s room is on the east side of the building, on the second floor. It’s the third window from the north. There’s an ivy-covered trellis that leads straight up.”
My mind starts to map the path, a new plan forming immediately. But there’s a hitch… The slightest hitch slows my blood along with my thoughts, but when I try to analyze it, I can’t. I don’t know what it is.
I’m missing something.
The flicker of humor is gone in Thorne’s eyes, but it was there. Like he’d be thrilled if I got caught—or at least part of him would be. He could be setting me up…
No. I just admitted everything to him. I am already ‘caught.’
He would gain nothing from me climbing into the wrong room.
“You should hurry.” Thorne looks behind him. “There’s no telling when my mate will return. She’s known to be feral.”
So I’m told.
I follow his gaze behind him before nodding. “Okay… Thanks.”
He says nothing more as I turn and walk down the steps.
The trellis is exactly where Thorne said, leading straight to a window, to Luna’s window presumably. Moonlight glints off the darkened glass, free of bars. No Keepers walk the perimeter.
Its convenience only unsettles me more. And unlike when I arrived at the Keep, I’m not eager to go inside.
I’m missing something.
As I begin to climb, the thought repeats… But I climb anyway. There may be another way to get to Luna, but there isn’t any time.
I’m an idiot. Each inch I move up the trellis, I know I’m an idiot.
I just don’t know why.
CHAPTER 31
LUNA
“Luna…”
A tug—low, gentle, and completely unwelcome—rouses me half awake, my eyelids crinkling.
“Luna, wake up.”
No.
Something warm nudges my shoulder, welted yet soft. A palm, a person. Their presence looms above me as my brain comes alive, but I don’t open my eyes.
Three weeks.
It has been three weeks since I slept with both eyes closed. I’m owed a night free of responsibility.
