I plant a kiss on her forehead. “Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?”
“Well, anyone willing to kill someone who hurts me must love me.”
She hits me with the threat I gave Morren. “He told you about that?”
“He did.” She waits a minute before giving into a smile. “I laughed when he told me. I don’t think he liked that very much, but eventually I broke him down. He won’t be impolite to you anymore.”
“Thank you.” I give her hand a quick squeeze. “And you have my word that I will try to get along with him.”
She lets out a breath that seems like she’s been holding in for days. “Alright. What are we looking for?”
“Papers. Plans. Anything about Foxhead.” She heads off towards a table on the left and I take the desk. “My mother is convinced he has intentions of reconstructing Foxhead.”
“Can he do that?”
“You tell me. He’s your father-in-law.”
The desk is pristine, not a pen out of place and no papers. I find a journal, but it’s only filled with names and moinling amounts. Suspicious, but not what I’m looking for.
The drawers are the same, most are filled with random trinkets. Everything is perfectly organized. The only issue is there aren’t many papers. There are a few notebooks, but each is unused.
“Ariah.” Luna stays fixated on a sheet as she unfolds it before her. “I think I found it.” I cross the room in three quick strides. She holds out a map of Foxhead. “That’s your parent’s place.” Luna points to a cottage that has been circled with red ink. “That’s my parent’s shop and their home.” Both are circled with the same ink. “What does this mean?”
Shaking my head, I reach for the other papers on the table. The top document is addressed to Queen Cayleen. The contents are too long to read now, but the last line is for her signature.
“I’m taking these.” I fold them as best as I can and shove them in the back of my pants.
“He’s going to know they are missing.” Luna cleans up what she’s touched.
“Good. Let him. I will give them to my mother so she can take a look, and she’ll sneak them back in.”
“Your mom?”
“Yeah, that’s part of the longer story. Now, what’s the fastest way out of here?”
It might be cheating having her show me, but I’ve been here too long.
Following her out, we don’t go back to the stairs at the end of the hall. Instead, we run to the next room. She shuts the door behind me and then leads us to a wardrobe. There are a few coats she shoves to the side and then she pounds on the top right corner. The back of the wardrobe separates, allowing her to push it open, like a door.
“This path leads to stairs that will take you to the back gardens. No one really knows about this passageway, so you won’t get caught.”
“How do you know about it?” I move past her and take the candle that she holds out for me.
“Ummm…Morren showed me.” There is too much bashfulness in the reply.
“Yeah, what else has he shown you?” I tease, and then hold the light up to her face and she can barely keep eye contact. “So, Morren has been taking care of you.”
“Stop.” And there is no hiding her grin, even in near darkness. “He’s actually a really good man.”
I lean in close. “How good?”
Her smile still beams and she bites the corner of her lip. “Really good.”
We both laugh until we realize we’re meant to be quiet.
“I’ll write to you. I want to know everything. You take care of yourself.”
“Wait!” She tugs at my arm before I can pass through the door. “When do you leave?”
