Page 85 of The Last Syphon

Huh. She’d managed to distract the Crowned Prince for long enough that he’d forgotten his duties. How interesting.

“That’s my bad. I can get chatty sometimes when I’m bored.”

He simply grunted and walked towards the door.

Inara thought it best not to push her luck. With a resigned sigh, she followed him back into the assembly hall of boredom and death.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

For the rest of the afternoon, Inara truly feared she would die from boredom. Citizen after citizen came forth and declared what their grievance was, and Prince Walder listened, promising to rectify the issue in a timely manner. By the time the last person was heard, darkness had long fallen over the kingdom.

Prince Walder engaged in no more conversation, and for once, Inara didn’t push the subject. She summarised that she should probably be happy with what she had achieved so far, since it was clear the man did not talk unless absolutely necessary.

She escorted him back to his bedchamber as per the rules. He opened the door and disappeared inside without a word. Inara thought it quite rude but did not make a comment on it. Instead, she shrugged and returned to her own room, escorted by the same guard who had dropped her off.

Felix was waiting for her. His chaotic eyes snapped to her the moment she walked through the door. His hair was a mess, sticking up in all directions, and his movements were frantic and jittery.

“You’re back! Good. Good. Come!”

Fraener jumped from her shoulder and took flight, sailing around the room and curving upwards to land on a beam high up on the ceiling. He scuttled along the beam until he reached the corner. Inara glimpsed what she could only describe as a nest of some kind, but it was made out of fabrics instead of sticks. Fraener spat something out of his mouth. It glittered, catching her eye. He nudged the item with his nose to the centre of the nest—which Inara was now sure was a treasure of some kind that he’d most likely looted during the day—circled three times, and sat upon it. He leant down, crossing his paws over one another, lowered his head, and closed his eyes.

Fatigue flitted down the soul-link. He was so tired that he’d fallen asleep almost instantly. Inara wished she could do that. It would sometimes take her hours to drift off into slumber, her mind taking forever to settle down.

Felix gripped Inara’s hand tightly, snapping her gaze to him as he pulled her further into the room. “I’ve been working all day. I have a plan. I have a plan.”

“Working on what?”

With a hand on each shoulder, he pushed her down onto the edge of the bed. “Stay.” Felix dropped to the floor and started rolling away the rug as he muttered nonsense to himself.

“You are acting crazy—oh my Fates.”

Hiding beneath the rug, written on the floor in chalk, was a plethora of drawings Inara couldn’t quite make out. There were buildings—that, she was sure of. Long hallways. Passageways. Doors. Possibly people? She honestly wasn’t sure.

Brows creased, her eyes flicked from the craziness on the floor to her best friend. “Have you finally lost your mind?”

“Not at all! My mind is clear. Clear, clear, clear,” he chanted, eyes wild. “I’ve been working on this all day.”

“What is it?”

He stood tall, chest puffed out and hands on his hips. “This is the plan to break into the librarium,” he said proudly.

Inara looked down at it again. She still couldn’t make sense of it. “It looks like something a youthen drew.”

Felix wasn’t offended. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t understand it. All that matters is that I do. Okay. I’ve spent the entire day getting the layout for the kingdom. ” He pointed to a building. “This is where we are.” He moved around the images, all the way to the other side. “This is where the librarium is.” Two items sat on the floor at his feet. He picked them up and positioned them at the first building. “This is me.” He held up a golden dragon figurine. “And this is you.”

Inara gave him an incredulous look. “The fuck is that?”

“It was all I could find.”

She picked up the potato, glaring at him. “You’re a dragon, and I’m a potato?”

“It doesn’t matter who’s what.”

“Okay, then.” She snatched the figurine out of his hands. “I can be the dragon, then.”

“No.” He snatched it back. “I want to be the dragon. Do you want to hear my plan or not?”

Blowing out a huff, she conceded. “Alright. Go ahead.”