Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Ellery
Perched on the foot-wide ledge running beneath the earl’s windows, Indon used his claws to bust out a pane of glass in one of the windows far from the his bedroom.
He did so with far more stealth than I’d anticipated as he knocked out the small section.
The glass barely made a sound as it fell to the carpet.
Leaning forward, Luna stretched her hand and arm inside. Her fingers tapped the glass as she fumbled for the lock.
This high up, the wind was an icy blast against my skin. I didn’t look down at the broken bodies of the guards and the blood coating the rocks beneath us.
I was pretty sure the gargoyles could catch me if I accidentally plummeted toward my death, but I’d prefer not to test it. Instead, I remained huddled against the rough, cold stone of the castle as I tried not to shiver—I was afraid the movement might cause me to plunge over the edge.
Luna found the lock, undid it, and pulled her hand free. Placing her palms against the glass, she slid open the window and crept inside.
Scarlet and I followed. Unable to fit through the window, the gargoyles remained outside.
It was our turn to do the dirty work. While I didn’t relish the idea of killing a man in his sleep, I’d do whatever was necessary to save this realm.
“We’ll fly down to his bedroom windows,” Indon said. “Come back out through them.”
“We will.”
“Stay safe, child.”
I didn’t like being called a child, but given that Indon was hundreds of thousands of years older than me, it was applicable here. “We will.”
I left the window open; there was no point in closing it. Scarlet and Luna waited a few feet away from me; they turned and edged further into the sitting room when I crept toward them.
Small sparks flared to life at the ends of my fingers as we crept past the settee, armchairs, and other assorted furniture organized around a gleaming, gold table. My light glinted off the gold; that table was worth more than all the residents of Nottingshire made in a decade.
Burying my anger, I focused on my surroundings. I couldn’t let my emotions get the best of me while I was in this place; it would get us all killed.
Luna jerked her head toward the right, where the hallway was obscured by shadows. She’d told us that, while the earl often had women in his room and his bed, he never allowed anyone to sleep with him.
Not only that, but he also never allowed his footmen or any other servants to stay in his rooms at night. That included his guards.
Things could have changed since the rebellion, but no one lurked in the shadows or stood watch near the doors we passed. I’d expected the earl to either keep his rooms empty of others to protect himself or to have them full of guards.
Apparently, he believed those under his employ might turn on him while he slept and didn’t trust them anywhere near him.
How does he sleep at night?
I’d never close my eyes. But I was assuming the earl did sleep.
Just because his lights went out didn’t mean he’d closed his eyes. The earl might lie awake all night, his heart pounding, alert for every creak in the floorboards. If that was the case, he may already know we were coming.
He still wouldn’t survive it, as I doubted he’d planned for my lightning. One or more of his servants coming to kill him, yes. But me? Never.
The hallway, with its numerous closed doors, stretched endlessly on before ending in another closed door. Luna pointed at the door. She didn’t have to speak to tell us the earl was within.
When Luna rested her hand on the knob, Scarlet and I stared at it as she moved to twist it. The knob didn’t turn under her hand.
Something else had changed since she lived within these walls. Luna frowned at the door and looked ready to kick it as she shifted her feet.
Before she could alert anyone within to our presence here, I brushed her hand away and rested my palm against the knob. Luna scowled at me but stepped back as I sent enough lightning into the lock to shatter it.
When Luna tried the knob again, it turned, but the door refused to move. Placing her palm against the wood, she pushed it, but it remained unmoving.
We exchanged glances before I stepped closer and lifted my hand to illuminate the area. My lightning didn’t reveal whatever blocked the door.
I edged away and waved at them before retreating down the hall. Scarlet and Luna followed me until we were about twenty feet away from the door.
“He must have bolts on the inside of the door now,” I whispered.
This answered my question as to how he slept at night. He believed he’d safely secured himself inside.
“What do we do?” Scarlet whispered.
I studied the locked door while I pondered this. I could blow a hole through it with my lightning, but that was far from the most discreet choice.
“Let me try something,” I muttered.
I returned to the door and stood before it as I raised my hands. With slow, calculating movements, I twisted them until a small current of wind spun before me.
Behind me, Scarlet and Luna hovered while I steadily created a silent current behind the door. I drew on more air and wind until I gathered enough to move the bolts—I suspected there was more than one.
Biting my bottom lip, I intensified the wind behind the door while also trying to keep it as close to the door as possible. I couldn’t alert the earl to our presence here. I might fail to gather enough wind to open the bolts, and I’d have to blow the door open anyway, but this was worth a try.
On the other side of the door, something clicked. Metal scraped wood as another bolt slid free, and Luna sucked in her breath.
I waited a few more seconds, but when no other sounds came from the other side, I retracted my wind. Luna reached around me, turned the knob, and pushed. This time, it swung open.
Luna’s hand went to the dagger at her waist, and she pulled it free.