Page 71 of Gilded Curses

“I’ll be back before morning,” he promised. “They’ll never know I’m gone.”

“What do you plan to do out there?”

“Gather some weapons, learn more about this castle, and kill some of them.”

“If you kill any of them, they’ll know you left here.”

“You always put a damper on my fun.”

Her smile was small and fleeting. “But you’re going to do it anyway.”

“If I get the opportunity, especially with Sheree and Desmond. Taking out their Lords will send them into chaos; we can use that to our advantage. And if I bring back weapons, we’ll have a better chance against them.

“We know more about this place now. If we can get out through the gardens and make it to the woods, we can hide and survive by hunting, and there’s water out there. It’s not much of a life, but at least it’s something and gets us out of their cage.

“We’ll have a better chance of coming up with a plan if we’re not constantly questioning what they’ll do to us next. We require weapons, and these assholes to be distracted so we can get out of here.”

“At least you have a plan.”

“I do.” He stroked her silken cheek. “I have to go. It’s getting late, and I have to be back before daylight. They’ve been coming late in the morning for us, but I’m sure that will change. They’re determined to keep us on our toes.”

Sahira closed her eyes and took a deep breath before squeezing his knees and rising. “I wish you’d change your mind and take me with you.”

So do I, but he kept that to himself.

“I should have done this sooner, but they moved faster than I expected with their crazy shit. I thought they’d at least keep pretending for the first week, stringing us along and telling us we’d be able to leave soon. I underestimated them and paid for it; I won’t let you pay because of that too.”

“No one could have seen this coming.”

“I should have. I’m the one who likes to play games, after all, and I let them outmaneuver me.”

He’d beat himself up about that and have a missing hand as a reminder for the rest of his days.

“You’re being too hard on yourself. None of us saw this coming or have ever experienced anything like it. Even with as dark and twisted as you can be, you’ve never been this warped or cruel.”

“There are some who would disagree with you.”

“Then they should come here for a bit.”

Orin smiled before rising. She was probably right, but it didn’t make him feel better. He cupped her face and kissed her forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll be here.”

He hoped so because there’d be hell to pay if she wasn’t. “Lead the way.”

Sahira turned and walked across his room to the balcony doors. As he followed, Orin drew the shadows around himself and vanished.

When she opened the doors, the light spilling from the room and across the balcony illuminated the structure. Night had settled in, but thankfully, the moon had risen to shed its glow across the land and create shadows.

Ahead of him, Sahira’s steps faltered before she crossed to grip the railing. Orin frowned, but as he stopped beside her, he saw what had unnerved her.

A row of guards stood outside. They no longer worked in shifts to patrol the land as they stood shoulder to shoulder at the garden’s edge.

Well over fifty of them spread across the land in front of her balcony, his, the one to the brownies’ room, and all the other rooms that followed. For as far as he could see, they stood in a line outside the castle.

They were all staring at Sahira as she lifted her chin and focused on the moon. Orin glanced from the guards to the trellis between his and Sahira’s room and back again.

It would have been difficult to climb down with only one hand anyway, but he’d still planned to do so in between the guard’s patrols. That had been blown out of the water. There was no way he wouldn’t make any noise while climbing down.