Royalty

Chapter 12: How Each And Every One Of Them Dances

Still Sherlock's POV:

As if on cue, the heavy doors behind me creaked open once more, and I watched Astra's eyes take in the situation.

She froze when her eyes landed on Moriarty.

"You're kidding me," she whispered.

He laughed again. "Sweetheart, this is all real, unless someone's played an extremely clever joke on both of us. Why don't you explain to Sherlock, he seems a bit slow."

Astra doesn't look like she can speak properly. She absently grabs her phone, opening it and scrolling before handing it to me. I took it hesitantly, never moving the gun.

It's one of her contacts. James. She has texted him a lot in the past few days. And he's the man she met for coffee. He's also standing in front of us.

I bite back the "I told you so" on my tongue, handing her back the phone.

She takes it back as if dazed.

"Now, darling ... Can you figure out those other two hints I gave you?" Astra is silent. "Oh, come on ... it's really not that hard ..."

She speaks, her voice sounding almost far-away. "Your number. Folded into a star."

"Aaand?"

"You mentioned you were an amateur astronomer," she finishes quietly, her voice laced entirely with regret and bitter realization.

"Good!" He walks toward her, stopping so that he's standing directly next to her. I hear him mutter something, and force down the urge to pull him away from her and shove him into the pool.

Astra muttered something back. For a few moments, you could hear their quiet conversation, but I couldn't pick up any of the words.

Out of nowhere, she grabbed his collar and swung him around so she was holding him over the edge of the pool.

"Astra!" I couldn't stop myself from shouting out a warning, my finger twitching on the trigger, almost pulling it.

He chuckled ever-so-slightly. "Sweetheart," he began. Then his voice suddenly turned icy again. "If you drop me, I will personally ensure that you regret it for the rest of your life."

Astra's voice became icy to match his own. "I don't think I would regret it at all." She shook him slightly.

"Astra, what are you doing?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Do you need some extra incentive?" Moriarty asked.

No. No.

"And what would that be?"

Moriarty's head jerked toward John and I. "Don't tell me you didn't notice the sniper on the soldier boy?"

Her next word completely threw me off. "And?"

"Oh? You don't care if he blows up?"

Her voice was quiet. "At least if he blows up, you do too, and we finish the game. No one else gets hurt."

"Fine. Then look back at the man so determined to play hero today."

Her gaze fell back on me, and my jaw clenched as I knew the snipers were back on me.

I saw her jaw tighten.

She looked back at Moriarty. "So would you mind pulling me back up now, love?"

She pulled him back up with a look of great reluctance. He muttered something else to her as they both stood there. He walked past her, back away from the edge, bumping her shoulder as he did so.