“Lady Suri. Thank you for coming.” I nod, tugging down my mask. “You look about as out of place here as a rat on the dinner table.”
Rian slaps me and chimes in, “Forgive him. He doesn’t know how to speak to a lady. You’d be the most delectable rodent ever to be served onmytable.”
She gives him an exasperated look, though there’s the slightest rush of pink to her cheeks.
“Believe me,” she says, “It isn’t my choice to be here. But the dungeon cells we have keys for are already full, so I have to unlock the secondary unit.” She huffs in the cold, skirting her satin shoes around a muddy puddle. “I’m not about to let my keys be separated from me.”
She slides the main gate key in the lock, and steps back for the soldiers to open the gate. We drag Gaez down the stairs, and she trails behind us, hunting for the keys that correspond with each cell.
“The previous Castlekeep didn’t label anything,” she explains. “One hundred keys on here, and for each door, I have to try them all.”
My boots splash in puddles in the hallway. The first unit of cells are full; Folke’s men have been doing a good job roundingup the remaining dissenters. A man cat calls as Suri passes, and Rian shoves his foot through the bars to kick over the man’s piss bucket.
“Hey!” the man snaps.
“She’s a fucking lady.”
Suri rolls her eyes, but there’s a slight tug at the corner of her mouth. “Here, I think this long iron key corresponds to the second unit…” She tests out two keys, and the third one opens the lock. She sighs with relief, stepping back as she tightens her shawl.
“I’ll leave this key with the dungeon master until a new one can be forged. Now, my bed is calling, if you gentlemen don’t mind?—”
What happens next is so fast I can barely track it.
The dungeon guards are helping drag Gaez in, when suddenly, he shoots to his feet, fresh as sunrise, and shoves the two guards into the newly unlocked cell.
They slam into me, unintentionally pushing me back with them.
Gaez slams the cell shut and twists the key. He jerks it out of the lock a second before I reach it, then wraps his chained hands around Suri’s neck, dragging her back to the wall.
She shrieks, clawing at his hands.
His beady eyes throw sparks as he spits, “Try anything and I choke her out.”
I slam my hand against the bars, rattling them. My mind races. The two dungeon guards and I are locked in a cell. The only other guard is a floor above, unaware.
And fuckingRianis the only one free.
Suri keeps struggling to get free, but he has a hundred pounds on her. The more she struggles, the harder he pulls the chain against her neck.
“Rian Valvere.” Gaez spits on the floor. “Here’s your chance to escape. Consider it a final gift from your general. Don’t say I never did anything for my short-reiningking.” He jerks his head toward the exit. “We separate, use the sewers to get out of the city. Meet up in the village where you lost that game of Hazard to the executioner.”
He chuckles, thinking he’s won.
And maybe he has.
My stomach falls to my feet. Rian could really fucking do it. Escape. Without me and Folke babysitting him, he could slip into the night. Hell, he knows every safe house in the city. Plenty of blacksmiths could be bribed to remove his shackles.
He could be on the road to Duren by the morning.
Fuck.
I grip the bars, squeezing so tight my knuckles blanch. “Don’t you fucking do it, Rian.”
Rian glances behind him at the hallway as though weighing the distance. His tongue darts out between his lips like a snake sampling the air.
How many times have I seen that cunning in his eyes, across the Basel table?
Rian slides a calculating look back at Gaez. He jerks his chin toward Suri. “What about her?”
