It’s a good time-killer. When we’ve exhausted that game, we move onto the next one we can think of to play from afar. And then the next one…
Eventually, Saipha lets out a monumental yawn. I’m not far behind. It’s impossible to tell how much time has passed in thebasement. The lights are just as harsh as they were when we first came in. I’d guess it’s somewhere around noon, now? Not that it matters.
“I think I’m going to take a nap,” Saipha decides.
“Another round?” Lucan asks me.
I shake my head. “I’m going to get some sleep, too, I think.”
“But it’s the middle of the day.” He seems genuinely disappointed I’m not going to stay up and play games with him.
“Perfect time for a nap.” We need to keep our strength up, and we’ve been up all night, our nerves clearly preventing us from sleep. I doubt they’re going to let us sit here and play games for days on end. “I don’t suppose we could dim the lights?” I say loud enough for all the inquisitors to hear. None of them move or react. “Yeah…didn’t think so.”
“By the way”—Saipha sprawls out on the floor, still near the front of her cage—“where were you two last night?”
“I went for a walk.” It’s not a lie, just not the whole truth.
“I heard her leave, and when she didn’t come back immediately, I got worried.” Lucan lies back, putting his hands behind his head.
As I stretch out in front of my cage door, resting my cheek on my biceps, I stare at Lucan, thoughts of last night returning to me.Without him, I would’ve died…What really happened when I fell? I try to think back, but everything is a hazy blur or a complete void in my memory. There are two sensations that stand out from the rest:
Foremost, the feeling of his arms enveloping me. Clutching me as though it was both of our lives on the line.
The second is the strange wind and what almost seemed like smoke blotting out the night.
I think harder, trying to remember what happened. And when that fails, I think of Lucan seeing me go out onto the ledge and being afraid of what would happen and running to a room below.I imagine him smashing through the window, a golden aura surrounding him. Then he catches me, and my body doubles over.What good timing he had…I yawn. There was the wind as he dragged me in over twisted iron and broken glass.Does it all make sense?It doesn’t have to. I’m safe, and he saved me. What matters more than that? I’m too tired to think too much on it, especially when the thoughts of what followed are deliciously distracting.
The sensation of safety in his arms carries me off into a light and dreamless sleep.
When I wake, I blink several times, not convinced that I’ve managed to open my eyes. The whole room is as dark as if they were shut. No. Darker. At least if my eyes were shut, I’d see the faint glow of the harsh lamplight from the other side of my lids. There is nothing.
They killed the lights.
“Saipha. Lucan.” I don’t know why I whisper their names. I can’t get to them. And the inquisitors will know we’re awake.
I stand, hearing movement from their cages but no response.
It’s then that I realize:
I’m not alone.Someone is in the cage with me.
54
Panic has a metallic taste.
After the first shock of being imprisoned, the bars had taken on a new meaning: safety. They were something that, even subconsciously, I’d thought of as keeping the inquisitorsaway.
How did they get in? I was in front of the door the whole time. Unless there’s a back door to the cage? I didn’t think to check all the seams. I was so focused on the prelate and then my friends, I hardly even looked behind me.
The movement nears. Light footsteps churn over the compacted dirt. Someone’s shallow breathing.
“Saipha, Lucan,” I say, louder.Wake up!I want to scream. But I don’t want to alert the person behind me that I know they’re there. As I speak, I sink a little deeper into my knees, ready to spring. “You two up?”
“What?” Saipha murmurs groggily.
I hear shifting from Lucan’s cage. I hope it’s him.
As I open my mouth to call out to them again, a sharp jab comes from my right toward my lower back and side. I hear the soft grunt as the man throws his weight into it.
