I couldn’t die. Not while she was out there.
I had to find a way to survive this. For her.
9
THE EXECUTIONER
One more time.
The rune pulsed. Threads loosened, only to snap taut. Sweat trickled down my neck as I dug in, tugging, twisting. Hours of clawing at the lock had left me shaking, and the narrow slit of a window above the cell was paling from black to gray.
I focused on the rune where the bars met stone. Faint lines shimmered on an old welding rune. I pressed harder, peeling the strands apart. They quivered, resisting me, then snapped. A dull hum rattled the bars and a weld slackened.
I shoved against the iron. It groaned, shifting in its socket.
I slid through the gap. The corridor stretched ahead, lined with cells that reeked of rot. I slipped past, heart hammering. If I could just reach the end?—
“That’s close enough.”
A dark thrill scraped up my spine, like spotting a wolf in the woods.
A scrape of boots echoed through the dungeon, the steady pace of someone who knew exactly where his preyhad gone. Then the mist came. It crept along the floor, cold and thick, pooling around my ankles. The mist rose higher, swirling, carrying the scent of blood. Then he emerged through it.
The king’s executioner in full armor, the steel drawing what little light existed down here. Mist clung to the dark blue metal, rolling off his pauldrons, wreathing him. It reached for me, wrapping my legs with ghostly fingers.
My back hit the wall.
He kept approaching until I could see my terrified face reflected in his breastplate.
He had such a grim expression, beautiful, but like he was walking to his own execution. His stare dipped to my hair. Loose, deep brown strands framed my cheeks. I must’ve looked terrible: pale skin made paler by exhaustion, my violet eyes wide.
“You smell like the Halfbreed.”
I swallowed hard. “What do you care? You serve him, don’t you?”
He laughed bitterly. “I serve whoever the king commands me to serve.”
He inched closer, his hands shaking. A fragile thread of hope wound through my terror—maybe he wouldn’t kill me.
“Will you help me escape?”
“There’s no help for you, girl.”
“Then…why save me before just to drag me to the block now?”
“I cannot disobey my orders.”
It was like he’d said it many times.
He stared at his gauntlet, flexing his hand like it ached. He let it fall and turned sharply, his gaze catching on the window.
“Damn it.”
Light flared at his wrist where the rune on his gauntlet burned, and his body went rigid. When the glow faded, his eyes dimmed. His fingers closed around my arm like a shackle. Then he hauled me along.
I dug in my heels. “Wait.”
He shoved me. “Keep walking.”
