“People we trust. The more we have, the faster we can get them out.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and ran his hand over his face once again.
“I know, it’ll be hard for both of us, but we can do this, Fletcher. You know I’m right. If this works. This is it.” A sullen smile touched my lips. “Then we can live freely here. We can go travel the world together. The enchantments won’t be dangerous if the Cidris are gone.”
He finally looked at me. And with one long sigh, most of the tension fled from his posture. He tucked an errant lock of hair behind my ear. “I want to meet with Mirin then, and I want to see that it’s possible to deactivate those cages before we involveanyoneelse.”
I squealed and rushed forward, throwing my arms back around his neck and kissing his lips. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he echoed softly.
I dismounted the bed and got on my knees in front of him, folded arms over his lap. “If all goes well, who else do you trust to take them down with us?”
“You and Aldris.”
I scrunched my lips to one side. “That’s it?”
“Yup.”
I rested my head on my arms, gaze riveted on the rectangular window at the top of the wall above the bed. “What about Graff?”
“You’re telling me you trust him?”
I lifted my head to gaze into his cinnamon eyes. “He’s bonded with me, no?”
He shrugged. “I guess. But that doesn’t make me trust him.”
Eyeing the basket of ocaberries on the nightstand, I reached over, grabbed two, and popped them in my mouth. “Okay, what about Rosaanne?” The sweet juices of the berries coated my tongue and seeped through my bloodstream as I swallowed.
“She would only distract you. I will not risk you getting distracted while in the facility.”
I shook my head and ate another one. “She wouldn’t—”
In a swift movement, he joined me on the floor, grabbing the back of my head, and crashing his lips to mine. When his tongue entered my mouth, it played with the remnant of ocaberry, taking it for himself. My mind alerted in excitement, desperate for his mouth to return to mine after he retreated and chewed on the berry. As I leaned forward for more, he said with a smile, “Let me meet Mirin first and see what happens.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FOUR
Standing outside the barrier with Fletcher’s hand in mine, we watched as Mirin approached on the other side with a long gait and a fast pace after we asked the guard to seek him out.
His intense orange eyes latched on to me and his head of sandy blond hair bounced in a messy array with every step he took.
As soon as he was close enough to the barrier, he fell to his knees, sat back on his heels, and stretched his arms, pledging to me. “My princess, I am so,incrediblysorry.”A thin layer of tears glistened in his eyes before he bowed his head and magic spiraled down his arms.
Fletcher leaned into me, his breath landing on my cheek with his soft chuckle as he said, “Okay, I like him.”
“I pledge to you—”
“Mirin, you don’t have to—” I began.
“Let the man finish,” Fletcher ordered with a smile erupting on his face.
Then, around my feet grew glittering icicles. They increased in height until the gleaming crystals towered over me by a foot, snowflakes spreading outward at the top like a dazzling winter wonderland.
“I pledge to you, Princess Ripley Griever, I will make it up to you.”
Fletcher gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and said, “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”
