I couldn’t believe how stupid he was. Maybe months shut up in that cell had done something to him. I smoothed out my red dress and looked at the clothes he was wearing. They were wrinkled, caked with mud, and torn where they shouldn’t have been.I sighed quietly and dragged him behind me again, going down.

“Where are we going?” he asked, worried.

“You don’t get to be Adelio’s mistress without learning a thing or two about the castle. It’s best not to ask questions. Just keep quiet and act like you’re going to die.” Upon further reflection, I could’ve been more descriptive, because he immediately went into a state of false panic. I shook my head slowly.

“No, just shut up and look scared!” I growled. I could’ve been nicer, but I didn’t want to. I was helping him, what else did he want? I pulled out my keys and unlocked another set of extremely well-designed locks, made to make lockpickers give up almost immediately. I dropped them each individually, until there was a pile on the floor.

“Come on.”