Ellie offers him a shy smile as Adena tries to stifle a shriek before calling, “No, Your Highness, not at all!”
I duck my head, trying to suppress a smile from both embarrassment and amusement. Kitt is already looking down at me when I peek up at him, his lips quirked in a smile. “Shall we?”
Their giggling follows us all the way down the hall, and I sigh before asking, “So, where are you stealing me off to?”
“Actually,” Kitt glances around nervously, “I was hoping you could steal me away.”
I blink at him, my heart beginning to beat quickly. But I school my features, feigning confusion. “I’m not sure I follow.”
Kitt slows and leads us into a corner before leaning over me. I’m startled by this sudden turn of events, his sudden proximity, and the sudden scent of spices that washes over me.
His head dips close to mine, his voice dipping to a low hush with it. “Loot.”
And there it is.
That one word has my heart hammering.
“I want you to take me.”
“Really?” The word comes out breathy and a little too eager for my liking.
Kitt doesn’t seem to notice, too busy scanning the corridor to make sure no one can overhear. “Yes.” His eyes are back on mine, searching. “I shouldn’t, but I…I should. What you said was true. All of it. I need to see my people. I can’t rule over a kingdom I barely know, over people who have needs I haven’t learned of.” He pauses, considering something. “I need to start deciding what I think is best.”
He sighs. “I need to do this. As much as I don’t want to go against my father, and as much as I know this is a damn awful idea,” he chuckles but the sound is strained, “I know if I don’t do this now, I never will. And I have you to thank for reminding me of the type of king I never want to be.”
The joy that had warmed me only moments ago is gone, replaced by the frigid, icy fingers of guilt. I’m suddenly reminded of his kindness, his tolerance for me telling him off, his willingness to listen.
And look where it’s gotten him.
Betrayal.
I swallow the lump rising in my throat. “You’re doing the right thing. And I would be happy to show you my home since you’ve so kindly shown me yours.”
I smile, trying to look casual and not at all calculating as I wait for him to show me the one thing I have been searching for.
The tunnels.
He nods slowly, looking suddenly serious. “Are you sure you can get me there and back without anyone identifying me?”
“Do you trust me?”
The words taste like ash in my mouth, and yet they slide off my tongue like silk. My chest constricts, and yet I breathe a little deeper. My knees threaten to shake, and yet I stand a little taller.
You are betraying one man to save the lives of hundreds. To save the lives of your people.
Kitt’s smile is soft. “Yes.”
It’s astounding how severely a single word can damn someone.
And then my hand is in his as he unwittingly leads me towards the first step in finding my people’s salvation.
I never figured that salvation would be in the dungeons.
Kitt pushes through a large, heavy door connected to one of the corridors before we are stomping down the staircase behind it. The air grows musty and cold with every step we take. He nods to the guards scattered in this damp dungeon beneath the castle, looking completely casual. As if he always brings his lady friends down here to visit.
We pass by dozens of dirty, dingy cells, some of which are still decorated with the bones of their past residents while others are occupied by the living. They watch us as we pass, their eyes prickling my skin, arms reaching through the rusty bars.
“In here,” Kitt says, snapping my attention back to the task at hand. His head sweeps back and forth down the hallway, and after deeming the coast clear, we step into the last cell.
My heart leaps into my throat, and I swallow. The passage is in a cell. It’s brilliant, really. I would have never guessed that an escape out of the castle would be connected to the one place they don’t want anyone to escape from.
“We don’t put prisoners in this cell, though they would never be able to get into the passage even if they knew one was in here,” Kitt murmurs as his hands slide across the wall.
He pushes on a large stone just above his head, one that looks completely ordinary alongside the others. It slides back about an inch, and I tear my eyes away from it as I count the stones, marking its spot on the wall.
Kitt has a ring of jingling keys in his hand, shiny metal glinting in the dim light as he grabs hold of the last one and slips it off the ring. It’s large and dulled by age with faded raised swirls looping across the top.
Kitt tosses a smile over his shoulder as he shoves the key into a small keyhole that was only made visible after he pushed back the stone. He talks casually as he works on turning the key. “Like I said, even if we did hold prisoners in this cell, and even if they found this particular stone, they still wouldn’t be able to get out. I always have my key ring on me.” I hear a metallic click sound from the wall. “I figured the safest place for it is on my person.”
I manage a hum of agreement, my pulse racing in anticipation. Kitt drops the key back onto its silver ring before dropping them both into the inside of his pocket.
Then he pushes on a section of the wall, and it swings open in response.
The stones that once looked totally ordinary have now become a camouflaged door. Kitt grabs my hand and pulls me in after him before shutting the door and plunging us into total darkness. The blackness falls over us like a blanket, heavy and pressing.
I can’t even see my hand in front of my face, so I jump when it connects with his chest. That same chest rumbles with laughter before flames flare in his fist, nearly blinding me with its brightness.
“Shall we?” Kitt asks with a smile.
We walk down a wide tunnel, damp and slimy, our footsteps echoing off the walls. I think on my next words carefully, knowing I need to craft them as though I’m simply curious rather than desperate.
“Where does this tunnel lead, exactly? And are there a lot of these, like a maze underneath the one that is the castle?” I ask, keeping my voice casual.
My feet falter when we come to a fork in the tunnel where the path splits in two. Kitt halts with me, his answer as casual as my question. “This actually happens to be one of the main and larger tunnels, hence why it’s one of the only ones I have a key to. Several of them are blocked off or too dangerous to use now.”
I keep my face neutral despite the worry weighing on my shoulders. What if the passage leading to the Bowl is one of the dead tunnels? What if it has been blocked off or caved in or—
Kitt nods his head towards the tunnel to the left, cutting through my thoughts as he says, “That one leads out near the training grounds, but you can’t open the door from the outside.” Then he gestures towards the tunnel to the right. “And the one we are going down leads to Bowl Arena and into the room under the box. The one we stayed in before the interviews.”
I nearly choke. Between coughs, I blame the outburst on the grimy air and not the information he so easily shared with me. The exact information I needed.
My head is spinning. I invented the idea of Kitt using one of the tunnels to see Loot in order to learn where the other ones were, and which one led to the Bowl. And here we are, casually going through the exact one I needed to find.