“Of course. How many can you bring?”
“Just you, for now.” Eira leaned in. “It’s probably safest we keep this between us.”
“Right. Right…” Mel looked up to the sky with a slight smile. She couldn’t be much older than Eira. Maybe only by three or five years. Maybe she was younger and this place had aged her far beyond her natural years. “I’ve been here for six years now…Iwonder if I’ll even know how to live outside these walls. I wonder if Grendyl waited for me…”
“A lover?” Eira asked softly.
Mel nodded. “We were engaged to be wed, before I ended up here.”
“What happened?”
“I was a baker, an artisan of bread at the imperial winter palace. I was one of the best bakers in all of Carsovia…I never found out how the poison got in the loaf for Her Majesty.” Mel’s voice hollowed. Her expression relaxed, going blank. It was impossible to read. Grief? Pain? Or…was she trying to hide her lingering joy and frustration at nearly killing the empress of this land but not quite succeeding or getting away from it? “All my assistants were killed. But my skills made me too valuable to kill. So, in all hermercy, Her Majesty sent me here for reformation and repentance with the hope of one day returning.”
Eira chewed over the story, gnawing on the stale, hard bread with her thoughts. Varren had been wrongfully imprisoned here. Mel, on the other hand, faced a punishment for an actual crime. Eira couldn’t imagine even Solaris would be lenient on someone who tried to kill the empress. Though, it didn’t sound like Carsovia’s empress inspired loyalty or love, only fear.
“Thank you for sharing.” Eira ultimately returned to the notion that these weren’t her struggles, so they weren’t her place for judgment.
Mel shrugged. “Thank you for listening.”
There wasn’t time for further discussion. The knights blew their horns again and everyone stood. They continued their tired march into a large cavern that was used as the barracks.
The squalor was staggering. There were no beds, no bunks. People slept on piles of refuse. Scraps of clothing that Eira suspected were long without owners. The ceiling was singed by smoke from the braziers that burned in the center of the room.
Mel guided Eira to her place as a fight broke out to their left. Judging from the shouted arguments, the two men couldn’t seem to agree on who had a tattered cloak the night before. They resorted to fists. No one stepped in. They passed countless people laid out, exhausted from the day.
A woman with sharp hazel eyes, almost yellow, stared at Eira with near recognition as she passed. She drew her scarred hands into her sleeves, narrowing her hungry gaze. Eira didn’t allow her attention to linger, certain she’d never met the woman before.
They settled down on one side, by the wall.
“When night falls, I’m going to step away,” Eira whispered. “But I’ll come back for you.”
“They’re going to find you, if you do,” Mel whispered back.
“I don’t have one of these.” Eira tapped the shackle on Mel’s wrist and gave a slight smile. “I’ll be fine.” Her long sleeves hid the lack of magical binding.
“Right…” Mel glanced to the entrance of the cavern—a short tunnel that connected back to the main plateau they’d eaten at. “Let me at least make a distraction for you?”
“Mel—”
“Please?” Mel gave her a piercing stare. She had more fire to her eyes than Eira had seen so far from any of them. “I don’t want to be a useless bystander to my own rescue. I want to help.”
“All right.” Eira sighed. She could sympathize with the feeling, it probably would help, and she couldn’t exactly stop Mel without drawing attention to herself. “But please be careful.”
Mel nodded.
The room settled to sleep. Eira lay facing Mel, wide awake even though her eyes were closed. In the growing silence, her mind wandered.
Where were the rest of her friends?A lump was growing in her throat. They were either all too good at being hidden…or something was going horribly wrong.
A tap on her hand had Eira cracking her eyes open, meeting Mel’s.
“Now?” she whispered.
“Sure.”
Mel gave a slight, eager smile. “Thank you for your help.”
“Thank you for yours.”
