Wraith(77)

‘You’re new to this party.’ I growled. ‘I’ve been doing nothing but try to stop the damned goblins from getting the damned Stone.’

I glanced at Gabriel’s slack face and my heart wrenched. Truth be told, I should have already abandoned him and gone after the Stone. It would have been the sensible choice – but I wasn’t going to say that aloud. I could barely admit it to myself.

‘My tutor didn’t just babble on about the Stone of Scone,’ Isabella said, turning from me to watch the twins. They’d succeeded in pulling away one guard by Ophelia wrapping her arms enthusiastically round his neck. ‘He was a well-educated man even if he was rather too dedicated to conspiracy theories. He said that if you wanted to unmask a wraith, all you had to do was to watch for someone who recoiled at physical touch. Apparently the shadow beasts hate the sensation of another’s skin on their own.’

I didn’t let an eyelid flutter betray me but my insides were screaming. Loudly. Fortunately Tilly, of all people, came to my rescue. ‘Bells, do you have any idea how heavy this sodding Elf is? Can we please get a move on and stop with the stupid lessons from your stupid tutor?’

Isabella tapped her mouth before offering a shrug. ‘Very well.’ Without glancing at any of us again, she sauntered out towards the goblins and the twins.

I adjusted my hold on Gabriel. He was still breathing but he was also still comatose. Tilly was right about his weight. Slipping him out of the castle while he was like this would be tremendously difficult, even with the help of every society girl from a goblin arse-kissing family in Stirling.

Come on, Isabella, I prayed. Give us what we need.

Cordelia and Ophelia were distracting but Isabella was something else. Even my attention was caught by the way her hips swayed in a mesmerizing fashion. Tilly noticed my reaction and whispered, ‘Some Like It Hot.’

I blinked.

‘It’s Bells’ favourite film. She spent hours teaching herself to walk like Marilyn Monroe does in that film.’

By the time Isabella reached the guards, they were virtually drooling. With a swift about turn, she positioned herself so she was facing us, forcing the guards to turn their backs on us to look at her. As soon as they did so, Tilly and I moved. To get this right, our timing had to be impeccable.

I wasn’t used to depending on others like this; then again, I wasn’t used to helping others to this extent. Regardless of Isabella Marbury’s Monroe-inspired sway or her family’s connections, if we were noticed now she’d lose her head just like the rest of us.

The twins began laughing, their giggles masking any scuffing noises which Gabriel’s feet made on the cobbles as Tilly and I dragged him along, inch by inch towards the gate. Isabella glared at the guards.

‘Thought you were going to see the Dark Elf with his missus,’ the bolder of the goblins said.

‘Yes, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? You’d like to see me humiliated. You know, that little girl he claims to be in love with isn’t as sweet and innocent as she pretends to be.’

I stiffened but I didn’t stop moving. I had to trust Isabella.

‘No.’ Isabella’s voice rose. ‘In fact, you should keep a close eye on her. She wanted us to go into that building with her. The one that’s on fire!’

We were about twenty metres behind the guards. Judging by the look on her face, even Tilly was starting to get nervous.

‘You know,’ Isabella continued, ‘I have a mind to have words with your superior. It’s not on that you let her waltz around the castle. She’s not a goblin, she’s not even from a proper family like me or my girls. For all you know, she could be a Gneiss spy in disguise.’

All three guards laughed at that, even the one who’d been distracted by the twins. Before he could glance at us, however, Ophelia planted a wet and passionate kiss on his lips. Eugh. Kudos to her – I could never have managed that. I owed these women a great deal. So did Gabriel.

Tilly and I kept moving and Isabella kept talking. Every time their attention was about to stray, she made a slight movement that fixed their eyes back on her. At one point she began toying with her neckline, tiny movements that displayed tiny amounts of cleavage. Then she ran the tip of her index finger across her moistened lips. I was impressed. I was also growing in confidence; maybe we were going to escape the castle walls after all.

When Tilly, Gabriel and I reached the gate – and the guards were less than five feet away from us – Isabella went in for the kill.

‘I mean,’ she scoffed, ‘would you want to have that scrawny bitch on your arm or would you like a real woman like me?’ She gestured to her ample curves while Tilly and I heaved Gabriel’s limp body under the shadow of the gate. Freedom was a mere breath away.

Isabella placed both hands under her breasts and pushed them up. I didn’t need to see the guards’ expressions to know what they looked like. Humans like Isabella Markbury were usually off-limits but if she was going to hand herself to them on a platter, they were hardly going to say no. While the guards leaned towards Isabella, Tilly and I exchanged brief, amused looks of triumph. And that was when everything went wrong.

Gabriel, unaware of our risky situation, flicked his eyelids open in confusion. If he spotted the goblins, their presence didn’t register on his consciousness because he groaned loudly. The twins did their best to cover the sound by giggling but they were a fraction too late. All three guards heard him and whipped round in our direction.