“Am I to believe the word of a half-naked man chained to a Shadow-Wolf prison cell?” I demanded, unable to keep the bite from my voice.
He made a low noise—of either derision or amusement, I couldn’t tell. “I suppose not. But if that’s true, then I shouldn’t trust a beautiful, bloodied woman in a royal guard’s uniform... who is also chained up in a Shadow-Wolf prison cell.”
I bit my lip, heat searing my cheeks. Not because he’d paid me a backhanded compliment, but that he’d twisted my words against me.
His melodic voice came again. “Areyougoing to hurtme?”
I took a deep breath and told the first lie. “No.”
Ringing silence filled the cell as if that word had struck a bell, marking the beginning of a time we couldn’t take back.
The meager torchlight that came through the barred window at the top of the cell door slowly shifted the black shadows into deep gray. His outline began to take shape—a man sitting against the opposite wall.
If I could see him, he could see me.
I quietly spat the key into my palm and clenched my hand into a fist.
“Would my name help put you at ease?” he asked suddenly.
By the Four, what difference did it make if I were at ease? Aloud, I said, “If you were intelligent, you’d only lie. If you’re a fool, you won’t live long enough for your name to matter, anyway.”
“Allow me to play the fool, then. My name is Aiden.”
I swallowed, my mouth dry and tasting of metal from the key. Was that the truth? Why would he give that so easily to me when Renwell hadn’t been able to beat it out of him?
“Kiera,” I whispered.
“Kiera,” he repeated, as if getting a feel for the weight of my name on his tongue. “Well, Kiera, if you’re planning to use that key you stole, I would do it soon.”
Suddenly, everything made sense. Why he’d protected me, why he was trying to put me at ease. He’d seen me steal the key and knew I was his best shot at escaping.
A cold ribbon of disappointment snaked through my gut. Which was ridiculous. Things were progressing as planned. I’d needed him to see me stealing the key so he wouldn’t be suspicious when I revealed it.
His features were like a smudged painting, but I felt his eyes on me all the same.
“I’m curious,” he continued. “I assume it’s the key to your chains as the door keys are much bigger. Tell me, after you unlock your chains, how do you plan to get out?”
Whatever he claimed, Aiden was no fool.
I lifted my chin. “I’ll jump that grubby worm of a jailer when he comes back and knock him unconscious.”
“And if it’s the Wolves again, what then?”
I frowned. “I’ll just hope they’ve come for you, not me.”
Aiden hummed, undoubtedly sensing the holes in my plan. “And if you get out of this cell, where will you run? Into the arms of dozens more Shadow-Wolves?”
“No, I’ll go the other way. I heard the waterfall more clearly at the other end of this passage. It could be a way out.” I knew it was—Renwell had told me.
Aiden shifted closer. A weak beam of light brought one side of his face into focus. “What if it’s not? What if you’re trapped?”
I flapped my chained arms, wincing at the clashing metal. “Then I’ll die faster! At least I will have tried. Better than waiting for my next beating like a caged animal.”
His glowing green eyes narrowed. “The shackles are worse than the beatings.”
I surveyed the cuts and bruises that mapped Renwell’s rage on his skin. They had to be causing him pain. My own fewer ones pulsed like painful heartbeats. Then there were the scars and ink on his back. Where did this man come from? Why was he here?
I dragged my gaze back only to realize he was studying me too. “You want me to free you.”
