Page 50 of Iron Unicorn

“I handle the schedule, and when crabs are on her schedule, I find something very important to do on the other side of the palace,” I confessed. With the princess calmer, I examined the room, freed my hand, and got out of bed to stretch and check the window.

Alas, they’d put me on one of the upper floors, likely to prevent me from making an escape. “I bet I could set up a great ladder here. We could leave.”

“No.”

I heaved a sigh at the firmness of her tone. “But their faces upon learning I’d uninvited myself from the hospital would be excellent.”

“The answer is still no, but I’m happy you’re feeling better.”

I left the window, rolled my shoulders, and went to work doing a head to toe check to find out what would be sore tomorrow. My back would take the top prize for bothering me with my shoulders coming in a close second. “Outside of getting a fright and a jolt, I honestly don’t feel badly. Do I want to wake up in a hospital again following having my ass handed to me by a suppressor? No. But I’m game to try to escape out the window.”

“Terry, you can’t escape out the window!”

“I don’t see why not. I’m not afraid of heights.”

“Well, I am!”

I stared at her with wide eyes. “You are?”

“When it comes to the thought of climbing out a high window, I absolutely am.” She pointed at the window. “You will stay away from that, Terrance Oliver Pattens.”

While I’d read over Olivia’s dossier several times, I couldn’t recall anything about her being afraid of heights. I went to the window, stared down, and frowned. “How afraid are we talking about here?”

“I have no problems being near windows. I just do not want to climb down a ladder from a window this high off the ground. First, there aren’t any of those catch things to make sure I don’t splatter to my death. And I don’t want to splatter to my death.”

I could respect a reasonable fear of death, and her explanation relieved me. “Well, it’s nowhere near as embarrassing as being terrified of a crab.”

“Once Carl and Eddie promised it was just the suppressor, itwasa little funny.” Olivia bit her lip and stared at me with imploring eyes. “You’re not mad I laughed a little?”

While I, in some ways, missed her adorably crooked nose, I appreciated her revealed beauty. However, the poor woman would be her worst enemy at the rate we were going. “Olivia, it’s hilarious. I got taken out by a piece of metal while trying to take out a fuckingcrabwith a piece of metal. I have shamed the entire RPS with that stunt.”

“You shamed no one, including yourself. You have a legitimate fear of them. I can’t believe Eddie did that to you.”

I laughed at the dismay in her tone. “I’m glad he did that to me.”

Her eyes widened. “But why?”

“He’s comfortable with me. He’s comfortable with you, too. He feels like he’s in a safe place hecando something dastardly, including test a phobia in a controlled environment. You’ve seen me push my queen’s buttons from time to time to see how she’s progressing. He did the same with me. Of course, they’re being a little aggressive about it, but I can handle it. Eddie probably wasn’t expecting me to knock myself out like that, but that isnotthe first time I’ve knocked myself out with that suppressor today.”

“They had mentioned you’d gotten a jolt,” she murmured.

“There’s no problem, Olivia. And while I wouldn’t mind climbing out the window and staging an escape, if it scares you, we won’t.”

“Maybe if it were a slide instead of a ladder, then I’d consider it.”

Well, if I were to grab Queen Jessica, I’d have to get out of the palace somehow, and they tended to keep the monarchs on the upper floors whenever possible to make it harder on intruders.

A slide would be an efficient way to take my targets to safety and outside of the walls. I could even create a roller system to make sure everyone zipped out without incident. The thought of testing such a thing thrilled me.

“What has you so happy?”

“I have an idea,” I announced.

“Should I be concerned?”

“Only if you don’t want to be kidnapped during a scenario.”

“Is it a kidnapping if I consent? Because if you’re carting me off to escape the insanity, I am not going to be complaining.”

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