“He worked in the kitchen,” I continued. “He’d lived and worked in the palace his whole life, just as I had, and he always had a kind word for everyone. Even me, the ignored shadow in a world of light. But... but they caught him stealing.” I swallowed a sob, but more built up in my throat. “I had no idea he was so desperate, or I would’ve... I would’ve done something. Anything. But they arrested him. I pled for him. But they sentenced him to death. I attacked his executioner—no thought, no plan—but they killed him anyway and sent me here,” I finished in a dull voice.
I could still hear the thud of the axe, even though it was years ago. It would haunt me until the gods found my soul. I hated using Julian this way, using my real emotions to lie about what really happened to him.
But it was all I could think of to convince Aiden of my place in his cell. He was the true criminal here. Butwhy?
“Well, does that satisfy you?” I asked, impatience carving through my words.
“For now.”
For now.His words echoed my father’s. Both men reserving judgment on me, waiting for me to make a mistake.
My hands fisted in my lap, the key digging into my palm. “What about you? Why are you here? What makes you so special that you think I was beaten up and chained here to spy onyou?”
Another long silence. His shadow didn’t budge. His head was tipped back against the wall as if he were sleeping.
I fought the urge to speak again, but he was like a tricky lock. I had to find the right pressure at the right angle. If he was using silence as a tool, so could I.
But waiting was torture. Renwell would be back at dawn. The thought of witnessing another execution soured my stomach. How much time did I have left?
“They captured me impersonating a Shadow-Wolf here in their Den,” Aiden said.
I blinked, surprised he’d admitted it. Then I laughed. “You lie. No one would be stupid enough to break in here dressed like them. That’s... that’s?—”
“—what a madman or a fanatic would do?” Aiden finished for me.
“Holy Four,” I whispered, trying to keep the eagerness out of my voice. “Why?”
Aiden’s long fingers wrapped around his chains and choked them. “A sad story, not unlike your own.”
I frowned. What in the wandering hell did that mean? “Were you trying to save someone? Someone in here?” I remembered the other cells doors lining the passage.
He chuckled, warm and deep. Goosebumps prickled my skin. “I’m happy to hear I’ve gone from murderer to rescuer in your eyes. But no, nothing so noble.”
“Then what?”
He hesitated. “Gold.”
“Gold?” I sputtered.
“Yes, gold,” he said, dropping his chains. “I need a great deal. Quickly. As I’m not foolish enough to rob the palace vault, I thought perhaps our dear High Enforcer kept a stash of it in his Den.”
I rubbed the key in my palm with my thumb, back and forth, over and over. This was what Renwell had wanted to know. At least part of it. Except, why would Aiden risk so much on the frail hope he would find gold?
Unless he was lying.
“Did you find any?” I asked out of true curiosity.
“Not a single coin. Were you hoping to steal some on your way out?”
I narrowed my eyes at the mirth in his voice. “It’s not a terrible idea. I’ll have less than nothing if I escape.” I gnawed my lip. Perhaps I could push him one answer further. “Why are you so desperate for gold?”
His tone darkened. “Now that is one secret even you can’t pry out of me, Kiera.”
For now, I taunted him in my mind.
But I would steal it from him, eventually. Renwell assumed I would have to escape with him to uncover all his secrets, buthowI convinced Aiden to ally with me was up to me.
Aiden said he needed gold, but for what? He could be funding an army of rebels for all I knew. Or sending support to my father’s enemies in other kingdoms. The barbaric Dags from the north were always raiding along our borders. Pirates from the Eloren Isles occasionally attacked our ships. Keldiket was the farthest away, on the other side of the treacherous Twaryn forest, but Renwell had told me it had the most skilled spies and assassins in Lancora.
