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“I just wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall,” I told them with a pretend casual shrug before they could bark at me or harass me in any way. “I have my answer.”
I figured that was all they needed to know, so I walked calmly back to Hayk and Dmitri.
“Lord Vikhrov has ordered everyone to stay inside the estate,” one of the guards told me lamely, as if he had to say the words because it was his duty.
“I know,” I said, turning back to him with a smile and raising a hand. “Sorry. Curiosity got the better of me.”
That was enough of an explanation to turn the guards so they could wander back to their posts.
“You have a plan,” Dmitri said, marching up to me, excitement and hope in his eyes. “Quick. We need to find another spot, on the other side of the estate, and you’ll do that again. While you draw the guards away from their posts, I’ll scale the walls and—”
“There are houses and yards immediately on the other side of the walls,” I interrupted him. “You’ll jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
“I can fight my way through whatever awaits me on the other side of the wall,” Dmitri growled.
I shook my head and made an impatient sound. “Why? Why would you bother doing that? You’re making more trouble for yourself than you need to.” Of course, that was Dmitri’s entire problem. He was brave, in a way, and tough, but he didn’t think things through.
“What do you propose I do, then, pup?” he snapped at me.
I sent him a flat look for calling me pup. It was a significant action, actually. Only three days ago, I wouldn’t have challenged or disregarded him that way. I counted that as growth.
“There has to be another way,” I said, rubbing the bottom of my face in thought.
Ironic as it felt, I needed to shave. I wasn’t particularly prone to being hairy, but I noticed how scruffy I was right then. Of all the weird things to make me feel more mature, that was probably the weirdest.
“The estate is on lockdown,” I went on, thinking aloud, “but the guards seem to know who we are, and they don’t seem particularly inclined to cause trouble with us. We can use that to our advantage.”
“How?” Dmitri asked, imbuing the single syllable with a huge amount of disdain.
I didn’t have the first fucking idea, but Dmitri didn’t know that.
“Follow me,” I said, feigning surety.
And miracle though it was, Dmitri followed. Hayk jumped in front of him, taking up a place by my side. I felt his fingers brush against mine, as though he wanted to take my hand, but even he knew it wasn’t the right time.
Dmitri strode up to walk on my other side. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to show Hayk up or make a point to me, and I didn’t really care. I didn’t know where I was going, and I didn’t actually have a plan. The closest I had to a plan was to head around to the front side of the estate, where the gate that led down to the harbor and the other that led to where Magnus’s boat was moored.
I got lucky. Extraordinarily lucky, as it happened. Because there were already commotions at both gates when we turned the corner to the front of the estate.
“I demand to be allowed out this minute!” Lady Zendaya shouted at the gate leading to the harbor. “This is absurd. I am not a spy and I am not a traitor to my family or my city!”
Olympus and Lefric stood near her, along with Billie, Patrius, and both of Vikhrov’s younger sons. Patrius had a hand clamped on Zendaya’s arm, and she was struggling to get away from him in vain. Three guards held torches near the scene they were making. I could tell there were people on the far side of the gate as well by the flickers of torchlight shining over the wall.
But that wasn’t the only commotion taking place.
Magnus, Peter, and Neil stood at the gate leading down to our boat, and surprisingly, Lord Vikhrov was with them. So were Jace and Gennadi, Sebald and Avenel, and half a dozen of the estate guards. Magnus seemed to be arguing with Lord Vikhrov, but unlike Zendaya, their argument was more of an impassioned discussion in which Magnus and Vikhrov were both trying to make a strong case of some sort.
Again, there were people on the other side of that gate, but I couldn’t tell who or how many.
I held out my arms to stop Hayk and Dmitri higher up the hill, an equal distance between both gates. Without knowing every detail about what was happening, I could feel that Dmitri’s chance to flee was right there.
“Be ready,” I told him. The fact that I’d gotten so, so lucky as to lead Dmitri right into what was bound to turn into chaos made me feel stronger than I probably should have been. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but your one chance to get out of here is about to happen at one of those gates.”
“Which one?” Hayk said, glancing between the two. “They’re both swarming with people.”
“Whichever group moves first, I suppose,” I said. “We need to find out who is on the other side of each gate. Dmitri, you—”
I turned to address Dmitri, but he’d disappeared into the shadows again.
