She frowned. “I’m not the one who passed out.”
“Well between the two of us, I think I had the more eventful morning.” I slammed the jug on Rhyan’s desk, and slid one glass toward her.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Where’s my sister?” I asked.
Kenna took a sip, her brown eyes watching me carefully. “She was moved from the medical wing to her ownguest room. She’s in a hall not far from here. Dario sent word. He’s keeping an eye on her with Aiden.”
“Oh, that makes me feel so much better,” I snapped, not even trying to hide the disdain in my voice.
“It should,” Kenna said. “Not everyone here is trustworthy. But they won’t hurt her.”
I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “They bound us. They nearly got us killed out there, and then they broke Rhyan’s nose. Twice by the way,” I said. “And now we’re trapped here as prisoners, because of them. I wouldn’t exactly call them trustworthy.”
Kenna sighed. “I heard about that, and I saw the conditionof Rhyan’s face down there,” she said diplomatically. “But you cantrust them when it matters. I consider them friends, they don’t harm for fun, nor do they harm those helpless to fight back.”
“Helpless to fight back? They broke his nose!” I yelled. “When he was fucking bound! So, how’s that for being helpless to fight back? They could barely be trusted to free us from our bindings when akadim attacked. And remind me, but I’m pretty sure it was Dario holding down a bound and helpless Rhyan this morning on your husband’s Godsdamned orders.Friends,” I sneered.
Kenna frowned. “I know how it looks. But they have a long history together, and many duties here. Oaths they must fulfill. I can’t say more, but you should believe me when I tell you that deep down, they do love Rhyan.”
I almost laughed. “Do they? They have a very strange way of showing it,” I said, unable to keep my emotions from causing my voice to shake. “Same with you.”
Kenna stared at me directly now, a kind of blunt openness to her face.
“A lot happened between them that you weren’t here for. I would leave them to work it out on their own.” Kennafinished drinking her water, swallowing almost defiantly before she answered. “As for the rest, we all have a duty to the Imperator. I am limited in what I can and cannot do, just as they are. I have my own people to protect. I will not apologize for it.”
“I don’t recall asking you to.”
“Look, despite the chains my position places around me, I’m trying to tell you that you can trust me.”
“That’s what this is?” I almost laughed.
“Lady Lyriana, I swear to you, my intention is to protect Rhyan. Just as it’s yours. The sooner you realize it, the better for you, and the better for him. You are in the Imperator’s nest now. You need allies. We have the same goals.”
“Really? Where is he now, then?” I asked. “What has yourhusbanddone with him?”
Kenna flinched. “He’s in prison. In Ha’Lyrotz.”
It was where they’d kept him before. My throat tightened. “Has he been seen by a healer?”
The look on Kenna’s face told me all I needed to know.
I bit my lip to keep from crying. If Kane hadn’t been a fucking Guardian, if his touch hadn’t incapacitated me, we might have made it. I’d been so close to the weapons. I would have held a knife to Kenna’s neck until she unbound Rhyan. Then he could have jumped to me as I grabbed our things—and we’d be gone.
I held Kenna’s gaze. “Speak truthfully then if our goals align. Is he okay down there?”
Kenna shook her head. “No. We need to get him out.”
“I don’t suppose you have the key?” I asked sarcastically.
“I did,” she said quietly. “Once.”
“What do you mean, once?” I asked.
She retreated to the chaise, carefully sitting back down, and readjusting her green gown across the swell of her stomach.
“I freed him last time,” she said. “When he was named forsworn after his mother died, I brought the key to his bodyguard. That was partly how he escaped the prison.”
