The wagon rattled across the grass as it drew closer to the mansion. Lying on our stomachs, Audrey and I watched from over the top of a slope as the wooden wagon stopped next to one of the side doors. While the drivers hopped down, the door was opened and some people who wore outfits that marked them as kitchen staff came out to help them unload.
“We need to make sure that the fruit actually gets put into the food for tonight,” Audrey said from next to me.
“I know. Except we won’t be able to get inside because the whole house is crawling with people.”
“I think I have a workaround for that.”
“Really? Do tell.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “What’s with the tone of surprise? Between the two of us, I’m apparently the only one with any actual intelligence.”
“I seem to remember that I was the only one who even knew which wagon to put the fruit on.”
“All I can remember is how you almost ruined our distraction by getting involved in the fight yourself.”
“I’ve already told you. You were taking too long.”
“I wasn’t taking too long. I was giving you time to get the stable hand ready. And I was just about to—”
“They’re leaving,” I interrupted.
Irritation flickered across her face, but she stopped talking and dragged her gaze back to the wagon. The two drivers climbed back up on it and then urged the horse across the grasslands once more. We waited in silence for them to disappear and for everyone inside the mansion to return to their normal posts.
Rain hung in the air and the grass we were lying on already smelled of damp soil. I cast a glance up at the dark gray sky. We would need to wait until after dinner had passed before we could return home again. If it started raining, it was going to be a miserable few hours.
“Let’s go,” Audrey said.
Without waiting for me to reply, she pushed off from the grassy slope and sprinted towards the marble mansion. I muttered a curse, but then followed.
Dull pain pulsed through my ribs as I moved, and I had to stifle a wince.
I hadn’t planned to start that fight at The First and Last Stop, but Audrey had been taking so long that I had started worrying that something was wrong. Since the stable hand already knew what to do, I had gone in to check on her. And found her sitting on that man’s lap.
Even from across the room, I could see her suppress a disgusted shudder when he drew his hands down her sides. The sight of it had made me want to cut the man’s hands off. Or better yet, his head. In fact, the thought of someone else’s hands on her at all made me want to start slaughtering people. I hadn’t told her that, though.
My gaze drifted up and down her body as she skulked across the grass in that tight-fitting riding outfit of hers. I was pretty sure that she was planning to betray me before we officially ended our truce. Though, for some reason, I was also confident that she would wait until we had actually gotten Henry away from Malcolm.
There was no love lost between Audrey and Henry, that was certain, but I got the feeling that she somehow still really wanted to rescue him. I wasn’t sure why, though. But once we had gotten Henry away from Malcolm’s mansion, she would make her move. So I would just have to make sure that I always stayed one step ahead of her.
“Hurry,” Audrey hissed over her shoulder.
After darting the final stretch, she pressed herself against the pale stone wall and glared at me as if I was slowing her down. I considered throwing a force blast at her, but I managed to rein in the impulse. Drawing myself up against the wall next to her, I shot her an annoyed stare.
“There are no guards out on the grounds anyway,” I answered.
“I know.” She flicked her gaze back and forth across the grass as if those nonexistent guards would suddenly pop out of the ground at the mere mention of their absence. “I still find the lack of outer security suspicious.”
“Yeah, well, have you ever been inside?”
“No.” Her eyes narrowed slightly as she turned to look up at me. “Have you?”
“Several times.”
Letting out a huff, she rolled her eyes and then flicked her hair behind her shoulder. “Of course you have.”
I opened my mouth to retort, but then closed it again. Was that… jealousy? Giving my head a short shake, I dismissed the ridiculous idea. Now I really was imagining things.
A strong wind swept across the landscape, making the blades of grass bend underneath its force. I shot another glance towards the gloomy sky. It wasn’t just the fact that we were far into the afternoon, the clouds were growing steadily darker too.
“So, you said you had a plan,” I began as I shifted my scowl from the depressing heavens and towards the infuriating poison mage beside me. “Wanna share or are you just gonna stand there peeking into the window like some kind of stalker?”
She was positioned at the very corner of the window, peering into what I assumed to be the kitchen. “I’m trying to figure out where… Aha!”
Pulling back, she turned and put her hands on my chest before giving me a light shove. Her fingers found exactly the spot on my ribs where I had taken a rather forceful pounding earlier, and I had to stifle another wince.
“We have to go around the corner to the window on the other side,” she said before I could open my mouth and question what the hell she was doing. “That one is open though, so keep your head down and your mouth shut.”
Irritation crackled through me. She still hadn’t learned not to take that arrogant and demanding tone with me. I was going to have to do something about that later.
Our boots left faint imprints in the thick grass as we snuck around the corner and approached the open window that Audrey had spotted. When we reached it, Audrey placed a finger against her lips as if she thought that I might have forgotten her presumptuous order in the forty seconds or so that it had taken us to round the corner. I gave her a flat look.
“Alright, get down on one knee,” she whispered.
I raised my eyebrows at her in silent question.
“What? I’m allowed to whisper because I’m the one with the plan. And besides, people can hear your whispering from across the fucking street.”
That had not been my question at all.
“Now get down and give me a boost up into the window,” she finished.
Oh. After throwing her an exasperated look, I crouched down and knitted my fingers together.
She placed her foot in my hands while bracing her palm on my shoulder. “Wait out here.”
I gave her a nod and then pushed upwards, lifting her as well.
Gripping the frame, she tried to climb onto the windowsill in the most ungraceful way I had ever seen. A genuine laugh built in my chest as she struggled to get her legs into the right position, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from making a sound.
Once she had finally gotten her feet where she wanted them, she slid down onto the counter on the other side. I pressed myself against the wall so that I could see into the room as she entered.
My heart leaped into my chest.
There was a young man sitting on a stool a bit farther into the room. He had his back to the window and was rinsing carrots in a monotonous rhythm that made him look very bored. But if he was to turn, he would see Audrey. I snapped my gaze to her.
Once she was crouching on the counter, she touched her palms together. Glittering green magic appeared between her hands. A second later, it shot straight at the young man. Since it came from behind, he didn’t even have time to see it before it had already made its way down his throat.
A small splash sounded as he dropped the carrot into the bowl of water while his head tipped backwards. In that position, he looked like he was asleep. I sincerely hoped he was because I had no idea how Audrey was planning to explain his sudden death in this mansion otherwise.
As soon as the man was unconscious, Audrey slid down from the counter and darted across the floor. The room appeared to be some kind of food storage space because it was filled with sacks and wooden boxes and bowls containing all kinds of vegetables and ingredients.
My pulse started up a rapid thrumming. The door into the rest of the kitchen was still open. If someone walked in right now, Audrey would be caught. I tried to strain my ears to hear any potential footsteps through the background noise of clanking pots and hissing pans.
Grabbing the sack we had snuck onto the wagon, Audrey positioned it on a table where someone looked to have prepared ingredients for some kind of dessert. After pulling out a few fruits, she placed them on the table as if they belonged there too.
I wanted to scream at her when she suddenly started turning the fruits to make them look even more like a casually messy pile.
She snapped her gaze towards the door.
A second later, I heard it too.
Footsteps.
Leaving the carefully positioned fruits, she sprinted back towards the counter while slamming her palms together. Green poison magic poured out of the young man’s mouth. I stared at her. How was she going to get out of the window before they noticed her?
She wouldn’t….
Realization dawned.
Oh, she would.
I backed up a couple of steps while Audrey used the stool beneath the counter to leap onto the smooth surface right as the young man snapped his head up.
“Crap,” he blurted out. “Don’t tell me I fell asleep again. If Ursula saw that…”
The rest of his sentence escaped me because Audrey came flying out the window. She hadn’t bother to climb out. Instead, just like she had done when I double-crossed her at The First and Last Stop, she had simply decided to dive straight out of the window.
My already aching ribs took another hit as she slammed right into my waiting chest. Wrapping my arms around her back, I let her momentum topple us so that we wouldn’t be spotted by the person entering the room. More dull pain pulsed through me as my back hit the ground while Audrey landed on top of me.
“Is this what we’re using for the dessert?” a woman’s voice said from inside the kitchen.
“Uhm,” the young man answered. “I guess.”
A rustling noise came from the other side of the window, but all of my attention was inexplicably drawn to the glittering green eyes above me instead.
Audrey braced herself against the ground above my shoulder while reaching up with her other hand to give my cheek a couple of brisk pats.
“See?” She flashed me a wicked grin. “Told you I could get it done.”
I know.
I had never doubted it.
