The Royal Thief

Chapter Sixty-four: Mysteries and Complications

THIS FREAKING CHAPTER

THIS FREAKING CHAPTER THAT KEPT GETTING DELETED AS WATTPAD GLITCHED AND MY COMPUTER KEPT FREAKING OUT AND I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK OH MY FREAKING GOD

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"You've never fallen?" She asked, wrapping her arms around the neck of a stone gargoyle to anchor herself.

"Not from this roof." I settled myself against the warm tiles and leaned back, closing my eyes against the sun. I had fallen in other places, of course, but Jaden wouldn't let me climb as high as the castle roof until I was past that stage.

"You know, I still don't think this is what the healer meant by getting exercise."

"Then she should have been more specific," I countered, unconcerned. Magali wasn't in danger up here, and climbing was a form of exercise. I'd been wrong in my estimation of how long it would take her ankle to heal; being the Heir apparently had many benefits when it came to how much power the royal healer would expend to heal an injury. Even just a twisted ankle.

But I'd decided it didn't matter. I had my plans for the Book already made, and if all went according to plan, I would take it to the rebels tonight-- right after stealing it. Whether or not I wasted time on the roofs with Magali in the mean time made no difference.

Well, at least not to me.

"I am not," Caer yelled from the balcony below us, "going up there!"

I sat up and peered over the curled-up edge of the roof. "Alright then, try and teach your lesson from down there. We can hear you fine if you keep squealing like that."

"I am not squealing!"

"Do you want to argue semantics, or do you want to do your job?"

"My job wasn't half this hard before you came along!"

"I bet it wasn't half as interesting, either."

Magali giggled, and inched her way along the gargoyle until she held on to it by the end of one of its tusks. Leaning forward, she could see Caer too. "It's not hard. And it's not steep here, either. We can just sit and have our lesson in the sun."

"We could have it in the sun down here."

"Caer," she said, "Are you the princess, or am I?"

"I suppose it's rather clear I'm not a princess," he called sarcastically.

"But I am. And I say we are having our lesson up here."

Caer shot a defeated look at Vain, who only rolled his eyes. He'd tried to stop this whole thing from happening, but couldn't say much when I pointed out that if Abram was okay with his princess going into the city at night, it stood to reason he wouldn't care about a little thing like this.

"Oh, alright," he groaned, and shoved his books into the leather bag that swung off his shoulder. "I hope you realize this is highly irregular. Can this ladder hold me?"

"You, yeah," I assured him. "It's the books I don't know about."

"Very funny," he huffed, scrambling up. "I liked it better before you could team up on me."

"I had very little to do with this, actually," Magali reported. "But you ought to branch out more often. See? It's not so bad."

It really wasn't, I noted with interest. Despite his whining, Caer didn't look uncomfortable at all. He didn't seem unnerved by the height or scared of slipping, and he sat down and arranged his books as easily as if he were sitting at my table. Not noticing my thoughtful stare, he asked, "Shall we begin?"