Page 155 of Ignite
The door clicks closed. I rush over to it, pressing my ear against the grainy wood.
“Good evening,” Graylen drawls, his voice muffled.
I can’t make out what the guards say, but it makes Soren growl.
“I’m not sure telling the beastnois something I feel comfortable doing.” I can hear the smirk in Graylen’s words. “But if you’d like to stop us from going out, then be my guest. Tell the creature it can’t.”
A silence follows, and then a crash sounds.
“Oops,” Graylen says without a bit of remorse.
There’s a string of curses and more crashing; I determine now is as good a time as any to sneak out.
“Let’s go,” I whisper to Adrian.
While I’m not particularly fond of involving him, it would be far better to be caught with him and the collar on rather than sneaking around alone.
I creak the door open, peering around to where the guards are stationed one room down.
Soren is goinginsane. Jumping on the soldiers, chewing on their shields, and bouncing off of expensive-looking decor on the tables lining the hallway.
I bite back a laugh and slip out, feeling Adrian move with me as the guards scramble to get Soren under control. He keeps them distracted enough that we slink down the opposite end of the hallway without them even glancing in our direction.
The castle is eerily quiet as we disappear down the corridor—half of the sconces remain unlit, no other guards to be seen.
“Where is everyone?” I bite out in a whisper.
“I don’t know,” Adrian mumbles. “But it doesn’t feel right.”
I can’t argue with that.
There aren’t any suspicious-looking shadows around, but it still feels far too quiet.
“We just need to make sure Opal is okay, then we can head back to our rooms,” I tell him.
He huffs in agreement. We slip through the hallways without encountering a single guard, servant, or maid. Warning bells chime in my mind, but my goal is still to find Opal.
We get to the doors of the library, where the sound of soft cries echoes around us. I step forward, the hair on the back of my neck raising.
The library is dark, not a single sconce lit inside or by the entrance.
“I don’t like this, Lunaria,” Adrian says, gesturing for me to stop. “Something isn’t?—”
A scream pierces the air, feminine and sharp.
I don’t think. My feet move before Adrian can grab me, and I sprint into the darkness alone.
Sixty-Three
Aureum Obsidian
Soren is incredible.
A creature of high intelligence with the uncanny ability to scare the shit out of these guards while also managing to piss them off. Frustrated and scared is good—it makes them sloppy.
Sloppy enough that when I whistle for Soren to follow me, they simply release a breath of relief and mutter their annoyance as we slip down the hall.
Either the beast and I make an incredible team, or these soldiers are idiots. Maybe both.
