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I turned quiet, letting him work the lock over and over, scraping metal against metal. But then a lock finally clicked—and one hand was free. “Oh, thank the gods.” I pulled my hand tight to my body, covering my chest with my arms instead of my knees.
He did the same with the other lock, finally snapping it free. “Get dressed.”
“Did you think I was going to take a nap?”
“Shut. Up.”
“You. Shut. Up.” I quickly pulled on all my clothes, getting dressed as quickly as possible, even though Aurelias was kind enough to turn around and look the other way. I hadn’t had my sword, so I had everything I came with. “How are we going to get out of here? The gate is too high.”
“We’re going to climb.”
“You don’t think they’ll see us climb up the gate?” I asked skeptically.
“We’re climbing the mountains.”
“Did you just say mountains?”
“Yes.” He turned to look at me. “It’s the only way I can get you out of here. Can you do this or not?”
“I can do it, but—”
“There is no but. Yes or no.”
“Yes.”
“Then follow me.” He poked his head out the door first, and once the coast was clear, he motioned me to follow him.
* * *
We snuck to the edge of the city, in one of the districts that seemed to be deserted and right up against the rocky outcropping. It was dark, so the juts and indentations in the mountains were hard to see. I’d never climbed a mountain before, let alone in the dark.
“Go.”
“Me?” I asked in disbelief. “I don’t know what I’m doing—”
“I can’t catch you if I’m above you.”
“Who said I needed you to catch me?”
“Do you ever stop talking?”
“Nope. Never.”
He took a deep breath, like a moment of air was necessary to tolerate me. “Just. Go.”
I grabbed on to the rock, found a crack for my fingers, and then hoisted myself up.
“Don’t look down. Move as quickly as possible.”
I rolled my eyes and kept going, finding grooves for my fingertips before hoisting myself up. My boots hung on some ledges and helped me climb. When there was nothing above me, I had to shift sideways, which took me longer to get to the top. Whenever I did look beneath me, Aurelias was right there, watching me as if he expected me to fall.
“I told you not to look down.”
“Just checking on you—”
“Don’t worry about me.”
I tried to reach my next hold, but it was too far away, and I couldn’t stretch my fingers all the way. Then his big hand moved to my ass and gave me a lift. I was able to grab it, and then his hand left my behind.
