“I wish I knew how the Queen was still alive, when the real one’s dead. I mean, she told me how she ‘woke up,’ but it sounded like a fairy tale.”
“After all this, you don’t believe in fairy tales?”
I scowled. “She thinks a drop of blood on the mirror is what woke her up. How is that possible?”
“I’m here because of a bite of potato. How isthatpossible?”
I grunted, because I didn’t have an answer. It turned out that grunts were very useful. I’d picked that up from Javier. Eventually we’d probably just be grunting at each other instead of talking. It was a shame that we were going to die, because I would have liked to see that.
Just face it. You’re more than half in love with him already.
I was. I’d been fighting it, but it was hopeless and Iknewit was hopeless, and my head was full of too many things, full of Roseand Snow and the dead queen and the living reflection, and this was the worst possible time to think about love, but here I was thinking about it anyway.
That’s humans for you, I suppose. In dreadful danger, with the weight of the world crushing us down, we’ll somehow still find ourselves thinking,I wonder if he likes me?
I didn’t know if that was a great virtue or a mortal failing. Both, maybe. I was pretty sure I knew what Grayling would say about it, anyway.
If I blurted out something like,By the way, I’m falling in love with you,there was a chance that Javier would reciprocate. There was also another, much larger chance that I’d just have succeeded in making the last hours of our lives incredibly awkward. Tough call.
Okay, if the guards come back and it looks like they’re about to stab us, I’ll say it. Then it’ll only be an awkward few seconds, and hopefully I’ll be dwelling on my upcoming death too hard to be embarrassed.
This seemed like a solid plan. I nodded to myself, pleased, and then something hit the door with a scrabbling thud that sounded like a mountain falling.
SKREEEEE-thump!
Both Javier and I jumped. My spine hit the wall, and he actually managed to sit up.
SKREEEEE-thump!
It sounded like something was trying to climb up the door, then falling back down. “Oh Saints,” I whispered. “Not another mirror-geld, please not another mirror-geld…”
SKREEEE… eee… eee…click!
Thump.
And then, a thin, cranky voice that didn’t quite arrive by the ears said, “Bolts are a stone bitch to work if you don’t have thumbs. Don’t make me deal with the doorknob, too.”
CHAPTER 25
“Grayling!” I yanked the door open, and he strolled in, tail held high, as if he staged single-pawed rescues every day. I went to one knee next to him. “I will get youso muchfish.”
“Yes, you will.” He gave my knee a proprietary cheek swipe.
“This is the cat you were talking about?” Javier asked.
“Good to know my reputation precedes me.”
Man and cat stared at each other. “You can’t be a cat,” Javier said finally. “Cats aren’t smart enough to talk.”
Grayling cocked an ear at me. “Who’s this tower of wit?”
“Grayling, this is my friend Javier. Javier, this is my friend Grayling. Could we save the discussion of comparative intelligence until we’reoutof here?”
“That’s probably wise,” Javier said. “But how did you get past the guards? Shouldn’t they have heard that?”
“There aren’t any,” Grayling said. “Haven’t you figured it out, Mister Cats-Aren’t-Smart? She’s only got four servants in total, and one’s her maid. One guard is with her at all times, one does a patrol…”
“And I made sure the third one isn’t walking anywhere soon,” Javier said. “So we’re just a stop on the patrol.”
