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“Is there another entrance?”
His brow furrows. “There’s a door in the back. Deliveries use it sometimes. There’s another staircase inside that goes down to the cells too. I remember seeing them bring someone through there once.”
Better.
“Where does that alley come out?”
“Near the church on one side and behind the bakery on the other.”
I look toward the narrow gaps between the buildings, reconstructing what little of the village I saw when we approached. The bakery sits far enough from the magistrate’s hall that we can enter the alley without being visible from the front steps. Darkness should conceal most of the rest.
“We are not going through the front.”
Boone nods immediately.
“We’ll circle around the village, come in behind the bakery and approach the rear entrance from the alley. You’ll show me where the stairs to the cells are. Then you will stay behind me.”
His expression changes. “I’m coming with you.”
“I just said you were.”
“No, you said I’m staying behind you.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not—”
“Boone.”
His mouth closes.
“You promised me every command.”
He glares at me but I don’t relent.
“Fine.”
“If we encounter anyone, you do not fight unless I tell you to. You do not run ahead if you see your father, and you do not leave my side because you hear him calling for you. If I tell you to stop, you stop. If I tell you to hide, you hide. If I tell you to run, you run.”
His face pales at the last one.
“Without you?”
“If I tell you to.”
“I can’t do that.”
I turn fully toward him.
“Boone.”
“I came back because I needed you. I’m not leaving you here.”
I wasn’t expecting that answer, and I hate how much I like hearing it.
“You will if keeping you alive requires it.”
His eyes remain fixed on mine until he finally gives me a reluctant nod. I look back toward the magistrate’s hall just as the front door opens again.
