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I’d made progress today, having learned the ins and outs of the castle and picked up a few clues along the way, courtesy of my blabber-mouth partner. That meant that I needed to find Mikey; something Aria had said to me spurred me on, something about him and Lucia and a mutual attraction.
Something that could be exploited.
I found him in the hallway as he was returning from the dining hall. He had a soft, secretive smile, his hair was ruffled, and his face was flushed. The way the smile dropped off of his face at the sight of me had me on high alert.
“Mikey,” I greeted. My eyes narrowed as he ran a hand through his hair self-consciously.
He didn’t meet my eyes when he responded, instead staring at something over my shoulder.
“Sariel. Just getting off patrol?” he asked, clearing his throat.
I nodded distractedly. “Yeah, you got a moment? I need to talk to you about something.”
My eyes lifted briefly at the door at the end of the hallway, which was just now clicking shut.
“Let’s go to my room. Come on,” he said, guiding me into his assigned room.
It was just as ornately beautiful as the one Aria, and I had been given. The four-poster bed was thick with the soft, gray bedding that covered it, and the hardwood floors were covered in a dark rug that I knew was soft to the touch. I already knew the doors to the left led to a bathroom and closet. The vanity, desk, and chair shoved against the far right wall seemed to have been untouched.
The giant windows above the bed were covered in thick curtains. Mikey hadn’t bothered drawing them open before he left, and they cast the room in darkness until he found the light switch.
“Make yourself at home,” he said sarcastically. “I need to shower. I feel disgusting.”
I glanced down at myself, my dark pants and shirt that were beneath the lightweight chest plate the Guardians had given me, and then back to Mikey. “Uh, I’ll be back, too.”
His response was a noncommittal grunt.
I hurried to my room, showered, and changed. I needed the time to think anyway, to figure out how to broach the subject of using Lucia with him.
I thought back to how I’d found him all smiling and disheveled, and then I thought about how grown my brother was. He’d been acting just as much as an older brother as I had; we’d both played the sacrificial lamb.
I hoped that was enough to make him understand that our only way out was either by getting Lucia on our side, or making her open the transport portal by force.
When I returned to his room, he was waiting for me. He sat at the end of his bed, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. His eyes followed me as I crossed to the chair shoved into the desk, pulled it out, and dropped into it.
“What did you want?” he asked, sitting up and extending his arms behind his back to support him.
“It’s related to getting out of here,” I started. My legs twitched; I couldn’t resist standing and proceeding to pace. I glanced up at him to find him studying me carefully. “My partner on patrol gave me a basic idea of the working routes to get in and out of here.
“The entrances are pretty heavily guarded. There are thirty pairs of patrolling Guardians at any given time, two pairs at each entrance, with the rest scattered along the grounds. It’s set up so that each pair will overlap at least twice throughout their shift.”
“Jesus Christ, have these people never heard of technology?” he cursed. “That’s sixty Guardians for patrols alone. What about the ones protecting the King and Queen? And staffing the castle? Down at the borders? Spread throughout the entirety of Europe?”
I blinked. I hadn’t thought about that. “I mean, they seem to live for a ridiculously long time. Some of them might even be as old as the King and Queen.”
Mikey stared at me. “That doesn’t make it better.”
“Maybe they’re considering the corruptibility of technology?”
He rolled his eyes. “Sariel, technology can’t be corrupt.Peopleare corrupt. If corrupt people control technology, then it obviouslywillbe used for corrupt things.”
“Good point, but we’re getting off track. They’re still progressive where it matters,” I said. “Getting in or out on foot might be impossible; they don’t leave much room for gaps, and there isn’t enough forestry to cover our escape. The fact of the matter is that the grounds are too well-covered and taken care of, and that’s not even getting into their magic. We don’t know exactly how it works, but if I were to guess, every blade of grass on the grounds is connected in some way or another to Tarragon or Blossom.”
Mikey’s brows furrowed. “Well, that’s fucking terrifying, Sariel. I took a piss on a tree today, and now you’re trying to tell me that I might’ve taken a piss on the monarchy?”
I sighed. “No, Mikey. I just mean that we need to be careful. We don’t know for sure.”
Mikey observed me skeptically. “But youhavea plan, else you wouldn’t be here,” he pointed out. “One that involves me. What is it?”
