Chapter 108

AXL I pace the perimeter of the courtyard, my eyes scanning every nook, every stone, and every turret, looking for a weakness in Giorgios’s fortress. The house itself is built into the bedrock of the mountain, using the former monastery structure as its base. It has been fortified and extended since it was first built, but there is one way in and one way out. A gray stone wall, twenty feet high and three feet deep, runs around the entire perimeter of the half-acre courtyard, which was once the temple gardens. Six turrets loom over the area, vast and imposing. Two on either side of the gate, two on the east wall, and two on the west, each manned by at least six guards armed with swords. There are more guards patrolling the perimeter wall and at the gate. There is nowhere in this entire courtyard where we cannot be seen. Xavier falls into step beside me. Any luck finding a way out of this place yet? Nope. Giorgios has this place locked down tighter than Shawshank. You? No. He nudges my a