Igniting Darkness (Courting Darkness Duology #2) - Robin LaFevers Page 0,130

across, he steps around me, then reaches for the winch. Although the muscles in his arms bunch and flex impressively, he does not even have to breathe hard. It is beyond annoying.

“You promised you would not stay behind,” I remind him.

“I’m not.” He grins. “There.” He reaches for a nearby torch and jams it into the turnwheel. “Most of the weight is up and balanced on this side of the fulcrum. You should be able to get it up the rest of the way. Try it, but leave the brake in.”

I reach for the spokes again, relieved that they do indeed move when I pull on them hard enough. “There. I can do it. Now how will you get down if the drawbridge is not—”

He grabs me once more, this time in a rib-cracking kiss meant to both silence me and reassure me that he does not bear a death wish. Then he releases me and trots down the stairs. I hurry after him in time to see him take a running start, then leap, reaching for the top of the drawbridge with both hands. With the length of his body pressed against the wood, he begins to pull himself up, his heart beating rapidly with the effort—no, wait. “Someone’s coming!” I whisper. He nods, then hoists himself the rest of the way, balancing on the four-inch lip of the drawbridge, graceful as a cat. I race back upstairs to finish raising the bridge as soon as he is clear.

I hear a grunt as he launches himself across the moat. With no time to ensure he has not hurt himself, I place my foot against the spokes of the winch to remove the brake, then hoist the bridge all the way up. No sooner have I done so than the door to the gatehouse opens. With trembling arms, I step back against the wall, inching toward the corner where the shadows are the deepest.

“The regent said she saw the old priest wandering around down here. Wanted us to patrol the gates and make sure nothing was amiss.”

“Everything looks fine,” a second voice says, then grunts. “Except there ain’t no guards in here, like there should be.”

Their heartbeats grow louder as they cross the first room, then move into the second, where they stop. “Portcullis is down, bridge is up. Just the guards are missing.”

“Do we tell her that?”

A long pause as they consider the price of displeasing the regent. “Not yet. You stay here while I go see who was supposed to be on duty. If I can’t find out who and where they are, then we’ll tell her.”

I lean my head back against the wall as my own pulse begins to return to normal, not quite believing that they have gotten free.

 Chapter 71

My head has scarcely touched my pillow when Elsibet is shaking my arm. “Wake up, my lady. The king has sent for you.”

Alarm clangs against my ribs like a bell. Praise the Nine he did not send for me two hours ago. As I dress, I try to reassure myself that he cannot have discovered Beast’s absence. If so, he would have sent an armed guard. The thought is not as reassuring as it should be.

Once I am presentable, I am ushered, not to the king’s audience chamber, but to his private apartments, past the main salon, past the bedroom where his valet is overseeing the last-minute packing for his hunting trip, to an office of sorts. The king sits at his desk. A stack of correspondence is shoved to one side while a small white letter sits in the middle. He does not bother with a greeting.

“Do you know where she is?”

Not Beast, but Gen, and I am prepared for this. “No, Your Majesty. Her departure was a great surprise to me. While she and I have known each other only for a short time, I would have thought she would have informed me of her plans, but she did not.”

That pleases him, although he tries not to show it. He splays one hand on the desk, straightening a corner of the letter with his finger. “Perhaps she did not trust you, just as I do not trust you.” His fingers curl in on themselves. “Or perhaps you are lying. It would not be the first time you have lied to your king.”

“I am sorry circumstances forced me to lie to you, but I would do so again to protect those I love.”

He makes a dismissive