“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter to Gaez, “You want a choke collar out of bruises? Stop moving. I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
He garbles curses at me, spit flying out of his mouth, but I ignore him and face Rian.
“What areyoutalking about?” I sputter.
“Kendan!” Rian explodes. “I was telling Captain Tatarin how much I wanted to throttleKendan.”
“Kendanisyour brother.”
Rian pinches the bridge of his nose, muttering a curse under his own breath. “He isn’t my brother, that’s the whole point. I’m not a Valvere. I was angry—I wanted Kendan’s damn iron sash ripped off him. I had a plan to frame him with a few whores, humiliate him.” He looks up, a waver of hurt in his eyes. “You thought I was telling Tatarin that I was going to muzzleyou? Why would I do that? You’re the only damn person from hell and back who hasn’t betrayed me.”
My heart thumps hard, so hard I can’t speak for a minute.
“I had sex with your bride.”
He groans, exasperated with me, as he twists the knife deeper in the sentinel’s neck. “Please. I told you, I got over that in a week.”
He’s lying. Of course he is. Sabine has a hold on every man, woman, and horse she crosses paths with, and Rian is no exception.
And yet, I know the sound of Rian’s pulse when he lies, and I’m not sure he’s lying. Not entirely.
For a heartbeat, I just stare at him.
Because if he’s not lying…
If he truly let Sabine go when he gave her to me…
“Rian—” I start.
But I’m cut off by Folke, who crashes back into the kitchen with blood pouring down one shoulder, his cloak nowhere to be found.
“Gentleman,” he says. “Time to go—now.”
Rian and I exchange a look—something has changed here, between us, but I don’t even begin to know how to put a fucking name to it.
A sentinel groans as he rolls over, trying to stand, but Rian clutches the knife between his bound hands and slams it into the man’s chest, making clean work of it.
Then he and Folke climb over the other dead bodies and help me haul Gaez to his feet.
I focus on binding Gaez’s hands behind his back to keep me from thinking too hard about this misunderstanding with Rian. I tug hard, so hard he curses.
For weeks, I’ve been seething at Rian. Stewing in it. Thinking he wanted to muzzle me like a dog, that I meant nothing to him. And now…fuck, I don’t know how to feel.
More shouts sound from outside, and we hustle into the alley, dragging Gaez with us.
We shove Gaez into an empty wheelbarrow and push it forward into the shadows.
While Folke leads off any rogue sentinels that might be following us, Rian and I cart Gaez straight to the city dungeon, run again by the royal army since our forces retook the city.
The sentinels used the dungeon to house prisoners of war, and did a poor job of it; it still reeks of stale piss and dried blood. Our men have cleaned it out and laid straw, but it’ll take a while to get it back into shape.
Not that I mind when it comes to Gaez.
He can rot down here, for all I care. As long as there’s enough life in him by the Fae Games for Vale to make a big show of sparing his neck.Life in prison.Yeah…sure. We’ll throw him back down here and let the rats do the rest—he won’t survive long.
The dungeon tower, a square monolith with “JUSTICE” carved above the door, sits to the north of Valor Circle.
Now, Lady Suri paces in front of it, guards flanking her, her Castlekeep keyring jangling with every tight step, as she huddles beneath a heavy velvet cloak.
