I kissed his cheek.
His mouth twitched a little.
“You know that one thing you like that I do with my tongue underneath your balls?” I whispered in his ear. “I’ll do that to you later.”
“Blech,” Lady Tina said. “We can hear you.”
Ryan flushed furiously, but he looked placated. The promise of a hummer will do that to anyone.
He put the key into the lock, and while I didn’t think it would explode the moment it opened, I wasn’t going to take the chance. I readied myself to freeze time if I had to (something I didn’t even know if I could do, but it sounded good, so whatever).
The tumblers clicked loudly as he turned the key.
We all held our breaths.
The door did not explode.
He pulled the key out.
We sighed.
“Okay,” he said, shaking his head. “I think we’re good.”
And then he reached for the handle and opened the door to Castle Lockes.
Chapter 10: Do You Even Lift, Bro?
IT WAS odd being back in Castle Lockes after all this time. I’d been through the knights’ entrance countless times, but the moment we stepped through the door and shut it behind us, it was like I was seeing everything with new eyes.
A long stone hallway stretched out in front of us, lit by torches that hung on the walls. The ceiling was so low, Ryan could have reached up and touched it. The air was musty and dank, and it smelled so much like home that I had to take a moment to breathe it in to commit it once again to memory.
“Remember,” Justin said, sounding just as affected. “We move quickly and quietly. Do not engage unless necessary. Keep your heads low, and don’t draw attention. Sam, that means no getting distracted by—Sam, are you even listening to me?”
I wasn’t but said, “Yeah, yeah, sure,” as I stared at a painting of a Dark wizard throwing a child into a moat while other Darks cheered around him. “Was this here before? Because if it was, remind me to put in a request to the King to have the artist sent to the dungeons. And if it wasn’t, I call dibs on taking out the artist who thinks he can paint better than me.”
“Noted,” Justin said through gritted teeth. “Now, can we focus, please?”
“I mean, do they think it’s okay just to hang up art anywhere they want—”
“Sam!”
“Right. Focusing. Carry on.”
“No distraction, no deviations, no engaging. We are in, and out, and that is it.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “After all, what could possibly go wrong?”
The others groaned.
“Why would you say that?” Tina demanded.
“It’s like you want us to fail,” Justin groaned.
“I mean, there were only four of them,” Ryan growled. “And in case you hadn’t noticed, my biceps were bigger than all of theirs. Combined.”
We stared at him.
He glared at us.