Page 114 of Exquisite Monster

“Shit,” Dalas muttered, and ducked backward before we could turn the corner.

A guard stood at the end of the hallway we were headed down. His back was to us, but it didn’t look like he was moving. We ducked out of sight. “Talk or sleep?”

“Sleep,” she said. “We’re still too far from the vault to get into conversations with every guard.”

“Will he be missed?” I asked in the softest whisper.

Isaelle shook her head. “Not here.”

Glancing at Dalas. “Catch him?”

I didn’t wait, sneaking around the corner toward the guard. If he was anything like the guards in Rensara, I knew exactly how he would react. With his hand on his sword.

“Excuse me?”

The man startled and whirled, but I was already moving, slicing the tip of my dart over the back of his hand where it had gone to grip the hilt of his sword. His eyes went wide, and a second later he crumpled into Dalas’s waiting arms.

The prince snickered softly as he sat the guard down inside the hallway and we closed him inside. “I’m not sure whether to be impressed or terrified.”

“Probably both,” Isaelle said. “Come.”

I didn’t bother to catalogue the directions we went. All I knew was that we were going down. And down. And down.

“It’s there,” she said, nodding around the corner. “Two guards atthe door. There are more inside, but they won’t be a problem until it’s too late for them.”

Dalas took a brief look and then smirked at Isaelle. “Like old times?”

She nodded, and the soft smile on her face told me everything I needed to know.

He winked and stepped into the hallway in full view of the guards, swaying on his feet as if he’d been drinking the whole evening.

“I’m glad we met,” I told Isaelle, “if only so you could see what is possible.” More than one man. More than one lover.

“Me too,” she whispered, but her eyes were peeking around the corner at said lover.

“You there.” Dalas slurred his words. “Where have you been? The captain of the guard has been looking for you.”

A rough laugh. “I doubt that, lad. You’ve been drinking and you shouldn’t be here.”

Dalas joined in their laughter. I could just barely see him sling his arm around the man’s shoulders. “I think I should be here though. You know what they say they keep down there?”

Both guards tensed.

“The key to Princess Isaelle’s heart. You wanna help me find it? See, I stole this key. A real key, not the heart key. It’s supposed to open this.” Dalas fumbled toward the door, and if I hadn’t just seen him entirely sober, I would have believed him.

“Hey. Stop that.”

“It’s fine.” He waved the guards away.

“Give me that.” The guard reached for the key, and Dalas leapt out of reach.

He glared at them while swaying on his feet. “How dare you.”

“Give us the key.”

The prince smiled. A crooked, boyish smile that told me this was a game he’d played before. “If you want it, you’ll have to take it from me. Imagine what will happen if you don’t. A stolen key to the royal vault?”

He sprinted down the hallway in the opposite direction with the guards following him at top speed. And leaving the door unguarded.