𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 | 𝟏𝟖+

𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 | 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒

ততততত

𝐓 𝐎 𝐁 𝐈 𝐍

Getting inside the castle walls? Easy. Not even a misstep. For approximately thirty seconds, I felt real good about my odds for figuring this place out.

Now that I'm inside, I realize I am completely fucked.

I study Gareth's map, but even then I recognize major faults. According to the map, there should be a stable around here, but instead, all that remains of that stable are stones for the foundation. No horses. Just the faintest smell of horse shit.

I study the map again, analyzing important landmarks from the castle and keeping an eye on the guards as they make rounds. The courtyard remains dark, unlit. Usually, I have nothing to lose when I decide to do shit like this, but Gareth's given me a chance to gain everything I lost back.

Aspen.

She'd be so old now. It's been ten years since I last saw her, and she was hardly six years old then. What does that make her now? Sixteen? Would she even remember the day her fifteen year old brother left without a trace?

I snap my thoughts away from Aspen and try and take Gareth's advice. He swears by a blindspot on top of the library's rooftop. From analyzing the guards, I hate to admit he's right. It's out of the way of the watchtowers. The only one who would have a view comes from the faint glow emanating off an empty balcony, a perceived "low-threat". I tread in that direction. Out of sight. Out of mind.

I swing myself up the walls, bouldering the edges of the carved stone. I dress in dark clothes, my identity concealed as I warp my facial features with dark cloth like a mask. When my feet settle on the roof, I scurry along the perimeters of the castle. The royal library should be below me now, but I need to get inside. Perhaps an open window, or an unlocked back entryway, or—

WHACK.

I canter back. The silver head of an arrow wedges my tunic into the wall, somehow scathing my bicep and sinking into the stone mortar.

Fuck.

Either I got lucky and it missed my heart, or this ain't a shot to kill. It's to capture.

I attempt to pull the arrow out, only to have another arrow fly through the air, snagging the cloth of my other arm. I'm pinned to the wall—sort of. If I wiggle my arms enough, or even just manage to take off my tunic, I can get the hell out of here before the guards find me.

Because either way, this mission is fucked. I'm so, so, so—

A dainty hand garnered in golden rings presses against my chest and pushes me back up against the castle wall. A pair of grey irises stare back at me, fierce and illuminatingly dangerous. Honey gold waves fall down her scalp in sweet waterfalls. The world comes to a halt as heaven and earth collide, and I gaze upon the physical embodiment of moonlight.

A girl.

She's the first to ever catch me like this, to stop me.

Gods, she smells of vanilla.

She leans in a little, her lips a playful smile. "You must be pissing your pants right now."

"Pissing is an understatement," I grumble, fighting with my clothes.

The girl presses her hand deeper against my chest, keeping her grey eyes locked on my own. She tears the arrow from the wall, freeing my left arm.

The girl lifts the arrow head up to my neck, forcing me to crane upward as the sharp point digs into my skin. She smirks with those soft pretty lips. "How'd you get inside the castle walls?"