Page 61 of A Court So Dark
“Not so safe when you have the king himself scaling walls to break in.”
“I’m not breaking in.”
“Oh, you’re not?”
“No. That’s ridiculous. I’m just… I’m just…”
I lifted an eyebrow, waiting for his answer.
He gave me none. Instead, he proceeded to climb up the wall.
“Don’t come crying to me when a raptor snaps your head off.”
“I hardly think I would be crying without my head.”
“You’d be surprised.” I had seen some weird stuff in the ER while I was doing my residency. You could count on any number of strange things happening whenever Skews were involved.
As he climbed up the wall, I glanced all around, fearing someone would see him. There were a few houses across the street, but everything seemed quiet. Their doors were shuttered and no lights seeped through any of their windows.
I was squinting into the darkness when, suddenly, several knocking sounds reverberated through the night, followed by Kalyll yelping and falling on his ass right at my feet.
“Fucking Erilena!” he exclaimed, rubbing the side of his head. “Ouch.”
Kneeling next to him, I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away. “What happened?”
I squinted at his forehead. There appeared to be a bump forming right next to one of his tattoos. “A raptor?”
“It was no raptor,” he said. “It was a damn broom.”
Pressing my lips together, I did my best to stifle a laugh, but it was no use. It came out, a full belly hackle that nearly dropped me on my ass.
“Would you not?” He glared at me, stood, and dusted the back of his trousers.
I continued laughing, unable to help myself.
Kalyll opened his mouth to say something, but a clanking sound had us whirling in its direction. The wooden gate was open a crack. We exchanged a wary glance, then slowly approached.
I peered inside through the gap but saw nothing. Kalyll pressed a hand to one side of the gate and widened the crack. Now, we could see the sorceress standing on the other side, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at us.
We hurried inside, and the gate closed behind us of its own accord.
“Youarehere,” I said. “We thought you were out for the night.”
“So you decided to break in?”
Kalyll huffed. “I wasnotbreaking in.”
We both gave him raised eyebrows.
“For Erilena’s sake!” he exclaimed. “All right, I was breaking in. I wanted one of your enchanted brooms so badly that I figured I could steal one.” He rubbed the bruised spot on his forehead and rolled his eyes.
“You’re lucky you only had to face one of my brooms and not the raptors,” the sorceress said, giving me a quick wink that let me know she’d been listening to our conversation while Kalyll and I had been bickering.
Kalyll looked from the sorceress to me, then back again. He was judging us with narrowed eyes, suspecting that we were ganging up on him.
“Raptors, huh?” Hethumpedhis chest with one fist. “Send them in, and I shall teach them a lesson.”
“Just like you taught that broom a lesson.” I gestured toward the retreating offender, which was sweeping its way back to the stables.
