He paused, forehead knotted, and the singularly solemn,caringexpression he directed her way would have established his true identity even without the evidence he offered next.
“Forgive me for not offering a more polite bit of assurance, but…” When he reached out again, she didn’t stop him, and he lightly laid his hot, smoke-scented palm over her lips. “You like it when I do this.”
“I really do,” she told him, her words muffled by his hand, and launched herself at him. “How did you…”
No. There was no time for that now.
Instead of questioning his arrival, she clung with all her strength to his lean, sweltering frame and allowed herself one fierce kiss on his startled but willing mouth. Two. Three.
Then she shoved him away again, untangled herself from her blanket, and scrambled to her feet with his belated assistance. “I’m so glad you’re here, but we should go before anyone else comes or the guards recover. What’s the plan?”
“We need to get to the courtroom before dawn,” he answeredwithout hesitation, then placed something cool and round in her hand and curled her fingers around it.
She barely noticed. “All nine of us or…?”
Even as she spoke, the raw throb of her scalp wound became a mild itch. Renewed strength flooded into her weary limbs with each moment that passed. Startled, she looked down to see that he’d given back her pomander, complete with a fresh healing spell.
“All nine of us.” His lips quirked faintly. “I knew you wouldn’t leave the others behind willingly, and I had no desire to knock you unconscious too.”
She blew out a hard, relieved breath. “Thank goodness. Give me just one second.”
Jing-Jing’s cot wasn’t far away. Gwen hurried there, squatted, and molded the younger woman’s hand around the pomander instead. Jing-Jing peered at her confusedly before melting into the cot with a soft sigh of relief a moment later.
Satisfied, Gwen stood and addressed her fellow oracles. “Okay, everyone, get up and get moving. We’re blowing this pop stand ahead of schedule.”
“What’s a pop stand?” Timon sounded sleepy, but he willingly rose from his cot. “And why would you blow it? Unless…” His face screwed up. “Ewww. Why are you talking about penises, Gwen?”
“It’s old-people slang unrelated to penises,” Jing-Jing told him before rising with a murmured thank-you to Gwen. “Our fearless leader is ancient, remember? Just like Tilda.”
“Not as ancient as poor Harry,” Matilda said. “Please help him up and give him the pomander next, our Gen Z queen. It would be very sigma of you. No cap, rizzler.”
“That’s…” Even while cringing in secondhand embarrassment, the young woman assisted Harry to his feet with extreme care. “No. That’sno.”
“Hold on.” Even without raising his voice above a murmur, Hugh managed to draw everyone’s attention. “Before sunrise, we need to be waiting in the courtroom. Does anyone know how to get there from this location?”
Headshakes all around.
“We’ll search for it as a group, then.” Gwen directed her best strict-schoolmarm look at the assembled oracles. “Remember what we decided last night: We stick together at all times and have each other’s backs. Agreed?”
A round of firm nods.
Gwen rejoined Hugh and reached for his hand. Once he’d interlaced their fingers, they beelined for the closed door together, the other captives following closely behind. When he cracked it open, she peered into the hallway outside.
Nothing. No one. Just blank white walls and cold marble floors leading down endless branching corridors.
When Gwen took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever lay ahead, Hugh darted a concerned glance her way. “Are you okay, honey?”
“You’re here, so I’m fine.” She squeezed his hand. “How about you?”
“Much better now,” he told her, then pressed a quick kiss to her crown and pushed open the door to the unknown.
—
They must havejogged through the halls of the Realm Below for an hour before meeting any other signs of civilization oroccupation. Which was good—if no one saw them, no one could report them for trespassing or kill them on the spot—but also unfortunate, because the terrified, under-rested oracles were worn out. And since the courtroom was most likely located in a more populated area, they probably weren’t even close to their intended destination yet.
Eventually, though, Hugh gestured for them to halt several feet away from a not-quite-closed door. And as soon as everyone stilled, Gwen could hear a conversation between two Realm employees occurring within that room.
“I can’t believe Death and the Fates are still taking their winter break while we’re back on the night shift already.” A whirring sound indicated the use of some kind of equipment. “Without them here, we can’t hold court sessions for the newly dead, because there’s no one to sign off on the judges’ final-destination verdicts. Which is—”
