Normally, I would have swooped back in and crushed her verbally. Normally, I would have tripped her with my words until she was stumbling and yelling. That’s how the meetings always ended.
But not this time.
Because this time, I had looked down at the autograph Ryan had signed for me.
And all powers of speech fled as if I’d never had them at all.
To Mervin:
Don’t worry.
I’m a Sam Girl too.
Our secret?
Ryan Foxheart
CHAPTER 11
And the Adventure Begins!
I DIDN’T have time to do any amount of research when I got back to the castle. I thought for sure I could sneak back in and try to find out anything I could about Ryan Foxheart before he came to Castle Lockes. I knew he’d been conscripted into the Knights of Verania after serving in the King’s Army, but before that, I really didn’t know much.
But as soon as I crossed back into the castle, Morgan grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back down into the labs despite my protests.
“How did your secret meeting go?” he asked as he shut the door behind us.
“Secretly,” I said.
“You still won’t tell me what it’s for?”
“Not even if you held a sword to my neck.”
“That bad?”
“Worse,” I said. “But why even ask? You could easily find out. All you’d have to do is follow and I’d never know it.”
“I could,” he agreed. “I wouldn’t, though.”
“Why?”
“Because you deserve your secrets,” he said. “Much like I deserve mine.”
“You have secrets?”
“So many.”
“Tell me,” I demanded. “We’re friends. Bros, even. Bros don’t keep secrets from each other.”
“What was your meeting about today?”
“Bros can totally keep secrets,” I decided.
“Wow, that bad? Should I be concerned?”
“Possibly. Probably. It’s certainly not healthy.”
“Underground cock fighting?”