“Sam,” Pete said kindly. “Maybe you should just take a chance, you know? What’s the worst that could happen?”
I laughed bitterly. “Um. The worse thing that could happen is that he would laugh in my face and then hit me with his shield and knock me to the ground and then step on me as he walked by me.”
They all stared at me.
“What? You said the worst. He doesn’t even know my name!”
Gary snorted. It came out blue and yellow this time. “I’m pretty sure he does. You’re next in line for King’s Wizard. Everyone knows who you are. And then there’s the fact that you both live in the same castle and see each other every day when we’re here. And the fact that there’s pining involved.”
“That doesn’t mean he knows me! He doesn’t even say hi to me at all!”
“That’s because you run far when he show his face near your face,” Tiggy said.
“That is not even remotely true.”
“I hope not,” Pete said. “Because here he comes right now.”
I had run twenty feet before I realized he was lying. I turned and they were all laughing at me.
“You assholes,” I said with a scowl. “We need to go see Morgan. I want to get the yelling out of the way so I can sleep for hours and hours.”
“Think about it!” Pete called after us. “You’re not getting any younger.”
“Fuck yourself!” I called back sweetly.
YEAH, MORGAN was pissed.
My arrival was announced as soon as I entered the gates of Castle Lockes. I tried to get the announcer to shut his face, but he had already blown his horn and yelled out my name, so I instead focused on tamping down the urge to shove said horn down his throat.
It took Morgan less than twenty seconds to come storming into the lobby of the throne room. I was dutifully impressed, especially when he came in with long red robes flowing, looking all kinds of badass. I told him as much as I looked down at my road-weary clothes, trousers and boots covered in dust. My jerkin was torn at the sleeves. I was not presenting very well. No wonder people were giving me weird looks.
“Two days, Sam,” he said, voice flat.
“And I am aware of that,” I said. “And I have a perfectly good explanation.”
“Oh really?” he said, cocking an eyebrow. “It wouldn’t potentially have anything to do with the fact that there’s a dead Dark wizard in a cave in the Dark Woods?”
I winced. “Ah. Huh. I was kind of hoping news would not travel that fast and I would have a chance to totally lie to you about not being captured.”
He looked unimpressed. He pulled it off very well.
“In his defense,” Gary said, “Lartin was a jerk who called me a horse and bound us with vermilion root so he totally deserved to be smashed to bits.”
“Not helping,” I muttered.
“I smash him good,” Tiggy said. “He look like squashed tomato.”
“He was monologuing!” I said to Morgan. “You know how I feel about villains monologuing. Seriously, just do what you’re going to do and stop telling people about it.”
Morgan rubbed
his head like he was getting a headache. Which, to be fair, he often did around me. So I was completely unsure if he actually was getting a headache or if it was more of a Sam, You Suck kind of thing. “My life,” he muttered. “This is my life. I chose this to be my life. By choice.”
We all smiled at him because he was so lucky and he totally knew it.
He sighed. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to hand over the wormwood because I’m assuming you wouldn’t show your face back here unless you got it. You’re going to go see your parents, and then you’re going to bathe and sleep because you look like shit. You are going to wake up quiet and refreshed and you will stay as such as we attend the feast tonight. You will stay in my sight at all times, and tomorrow, I will kick your ass. And then we’ll figure out what to do in case the Darks seek any kind of retribution for the fact that one of their own is dead. Do we have an understanding?”
“Mostly,” I said. “I’m not so sure about the ass-kicking part—”