Lies in Blood (Dark Secrets #4)(110)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Right.” He nodded and opened the door again. “The things I’ll do for a girl.”

I laughed, but it was bit too loud.

“Shh.” Jase shut the door again. “He’s standing up.”

“Crap. Do something.”

His smile moved slowly across his lips. “Done.”

“What’d you do?” I pushed past him and looked out into the hall: everyone was sleeping—Quaid and the five otherwise usually invisible guards lining the halls. But lying on the floor like that, half of them snoring, all of them sprawled out, they were very noticeable indeed. I turned back and grinned at Jase. “You are so cool.”

He brushed his collar. “All in a day’s work.”

“Now, come on.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him from the room. “We need to hurry.”

“More for Quaid’s sake than our own. If Falcon sees him, Ara—” He motioned behind us to the lump of a guard on the ground.

“I know.” I stopped right outside Arthur’s door, momentarily reconsidering this. “I don’t wanna get anyone in trouble.”

“Well, there’s no sense in turning back now, sweet girl. Let’s just get it over with.”

“You’re right.” I reached out to touch Arthur’s door handle, but stopped. “He’s not an early riser is he?”

Jase laughed breathily. “Most days, yeah.”

“Great,” I said nervously. “Well, I’ll turn the handle, and you put him out as soon as the door’s open.”

“Okay. One . . . two. . .”

“Three.” I pushed the door open and readied myself for Arthur to look up and ask what we were doing, but he was sound asleep in his bed, just a pile of blankets and pillows: snoring blankets and pillows. I shut the door behind Jase and I. “He snores?”

Jase just laughed. “Yeah.”

“Wow. Who’d have thought?”

“Nah, wait for it.” He grabbed my wrist and stopped me. “Just wait . . . about . . . two seconds.”

I waited and, there it was: a deep, thundering roll of a sound like a handful of pebbles had been thrown down the back of Arthur’s throat. It peaked to a high whistle, his breath stopping for a second. And I held my own, pausing until his started again, hissing out of him like the deep groan of an angry cat.

Jase and I burst out laughing. I covered my nose with the back of my wrist so I wouldn’t snot all over the place. “I have got to stop laughing through my nose.”

“Want a wipe?” He offered his sleeve.

I bumped it away. “I’m fine. Let’s just find this dagger.”

“Okay.” Jase turned all business. “I’ll get inside Arthur’s head while you get the fake.”

“Right.” I nodded and tiptoed off to Arthur’s dresser drawer, slowly and quietly pulling it open while Jason positioned himself on the bed, placing both hands to his uncle’s head. The dagger was there, in its box, just where Arthur had left it—open to any who might want to get their hands on it. I was certain it was the fake. “How’s the hunt going?” I asked, stuffing the box under my shirt.

“I—” He squinted. “Just gimme a sec.”

I huffed a little impatiently, looking around the room. The sun was peeking over the hills outside, bringing the dawn and all that came with it. The Guard would change over soon, and if we hadn’t finished our mission and climbed back into bed by then, someone would come along and find six men sleeping in the corridor.

“Ara?” Jase said, but he sounded kind of nervous. “You’ve got it.”

“Got what?”

He pulled his hands away from Arthur’s head and looked at me, then at the lump under my shirt. “That’s the real dagger.”

“What?”

“I’m not kidding.” He appeared by Arthur’s long oak table and waved me over. “Lay it out here. I wanna see it.”

I drew the box out from under my shirt and handed it to Jason. “Are you sure it’s the real one?”

“As sure as the sun will rise,” he said, thumbing the lid open.

“How can you tell?”

“Because there is no fake.”

“You’re kidding?”

“Nope.” He grinned, closing the box again.

I looked back at Arthur. “That cheeky devil.”

Jase just nodded. “He’s pretty clever. I did wonder how he had time to forge a fake.”

“It wouldn’t have surprised me either way.”

“Well—” He tucked the box under his arm. “Best we get this somewhere safe.”

“Any ideas?”

“In plain sight.”

“Where in plain sight?”

“The weapons room.”

I nodded. “Good idea.”

It was still dark down this end of the island, the sun hidden behind the tops of the trees, leaving the shelves, the rows of swords in stands, and the shields lined up around the space all shadowed and grey. The guard on duty had fallen asleep at his post before we even got here, so sneaking in hadn’t been tricky at all. Knowing where to put the dagger, however, wasn’t as easy.

“So much heartache over such an ordinary blade,” I said absently, running my fingers along the jewelled handle.

Jase reached down from the towering shelf he was climbing. “Pass it up.”

As I went to close the lid, though, a small corner of yellowing paper caught my eye. “Wait.”

“Ara, I’m hanging on with one finger right now.”

“Well, just . . . hang on for longer,” I said playfully and put the box down again, ignoring Jase’s sigh as I dug the frayed parchment out from under the velvet lining.

“What is it, Ara?”

“I—” I read it for a second. “Oh, it’s just the page describing how to use the dagger.”

“Wait.” He showed a flat palm. “Don’t put it back in. I wanna see it.”

“Okay.” I tucked the page into my jeans pocket and closed the box, tossing it all the way up to Jase.

He caught it awkwardly between his chest and the side of his forearm, then reached both hands up to the very top of the shelf, shifting and shoving things aside until he dropped back to the ground with a graceful bend of knees, dusting his hands off on his jeans. “All done.”

“Great. And no one will know it’s up there?”

“Not unless they take inventory.”