Kingdoms of Gold

13 | Yummy, Dessert

Alistar shook me awake in the middle of the night. I almost reached under the bed to grab a knife and slit his throat, thinking he was one of the others at first. I would've if I didn't adore him so much. Sleep was so valuable these days.

I sat up, clutching the blanket against my bare body and rubbing the crust from my eyes. Valentino's arm slung around my waist, keeping me close.

His hand pressed over my mouth to keep me from speaking. His eyes were bright with excitement. When he was sure I wouldn't talk, he motioned for me to follow.

The weight of Valentino's arm made it difficult to maneuver from. He stirred when I slipped away. I had to shove a pillow under him to keep him from waking. He still took a second to feel around the bed, looking for my body.

Alistar handed me a loose pair of sweats and shirt. I stuffed myself into them, ignoring the soreness of my body from Valentino.

As soon as we made it into the hall, I turned on him. "Is someone hurt?"

He shook his head pressing his finger to his lips. "You're going to wake everyone else." He picked up a basket by the door and struggled with the blankets.

I snatched the blankets from his hands with more aggression than I meant. "Why are we awake in the middle of the night then?"

"You'll see." He only smiled at me and led the way.

We took a different route than the one he led me on the first night. That meant no hot chocolate. A little piece of me was disappointed.

The further we walked, the more tired and irritated I got. "Where are we going?"

He stopped in front of a hand carved wooden door. "Right here."

The other side was not a bridge, or another building. It was an open grass patch at the back of the castle. The entry way of a garden maze stood a few yards away. He wanted to do a maze with me, in the middle of the night . . .

I turned and opened the door back into the castle.

"Hold on. I know the way, and I promise it's worth it." He gripped my bicep, tugging me back.

Before we walked into the maze, I peered over the edge of the garden. The illuminated waters rolled below us by at least a couple stories. If we fell or this structure collapsed, I was blaming Alistar. Knowing everyone else, they'd blame me anyways.

Alistar guided us through the maze, not hesitating once. He had this entire place mapped out to every last detail. It didn't surprise me. If I'd grown up here, I would've done the same thing.

Eventually he stopped at a dead end, and I took back everything I said. Maybe so many centuries away had altered his memory. No matter what, I didn't see why we couldn't deal with this in the day, when there was more light and I had sleep.

He reached out and collected the leaves in his hand. Right as I was about to turn away, he parted the bush, sweeping it aside as if it was a light curtain.

I grinned and walked through. "Of course there's a secret passage. Every castle has one."

He stepped through behind me, the leaves falling back into its original space. It was completely inconspicuous unless you touched it. "I found that when I was 5."

I stopped, staring at the garden around us. Flowers of every kind bloomed at our feet, curling towards the sky in tall patches. Each one glowed like the rest of the world. This was somehow magical, being secluded into a small area no more than the size of a living room.

There was a perfect view of the sky. And when I looked up, there were stars. So many stars twinkled reds, golds, and whites. It was the first time I'd seen any stars on this realm.