“Leave. You will not approach this cell again without my express permission.” His tone was low and frigid. “Is that understood?”
Thea paled and pulled her shoulders back. “Understood, sire.” She curtsied while her eyes flashed with something that looked a lot like anger. Her gaze snagged on mine, brief and defiant.
I bit the inside of my mouth. I had no clue what that was about. Maybe she blamed me for getting her into trouble.
Without hesitation, she walked away, her skirts whispering over stone as she disappeared down the corridor.
Kai shifted his weight to one leg. The leather over his shoulders creaked with the movement, his posture going even straighter, like someone had shoved a steel rod down his spine. “Ashren.”
Something rebellious flashed in Ashren’s eyes, but only for a moment before he recovered and squared his shoulders. “Your Majesty?”
“You will come with me.” Rage bristled off Kai in waves. “There are matters we must discuss. In private.”
Ashren dipped his head. “As you say.”
Taking one step back, Kai swept his gaze back to me. Everything inside me tightened and twisted. Some stupid part of me wanted to tease him again, but the more rational part of my brain took over. Instead, I met his eyes without blinking.
“You’re alive because your life is more useful to me than your death,” he said. “But make no mistake, as soon as your usefulness ceases, so will you.”
He turned sharply, cloak snapping behind him like a living shadow. Ashren fell into step at his side, posture rigid, jaw tight, hands fisted at his thighs. Neither of them looked back as they rounded the corner and vanished.
The silence that followed rang louder than their footsteps.
For a few seconds, I just stood there, hand gripping the bar so hard my knuckles ached inside the gloves. My heart pounded against my ribs, still trying to decide if it was terrified, furious, or… something worse.
“I’m getting in my own head,” I muttered. There wasn’t time for that. I forced my fingers to unclench and looked down at the blade I’d stolen. It was small, about the length of the space from my wrist to the middle knuckle on my middle finger, but solid and well-balanced with a leather-wrapped handle. The edge gleamed, clean and sharp, the tip wickedly narrow. It sat against my gloved palm like it belonged there.
I waited another second, making sure that I was truly alone.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Let’s see what you can do.”
I moved to the hinges. Up close, the hinge plate was in worse shape than I’d thought. The thick steel was mounted flush against the stone, and the bolts were sunk deep. I wasn’t going toprya bolt out. Not with mortal strength and a baby-sized knife.
But the plate…. The plate had a faint sliver of space where cold air kissed the stone.
I angled the blade, slid the tip into that narrow seam, and eased pressure sideways, trying to lever the hinge plate away from the wall.
The metal gave a tiny groan. It barely moved, but ithadshifted.
Yes!I breathed, pulse jumping.Progress.
I set my feet, braced my shoulder against the cold iron door, and rocked the blade in small, deliberate motions, careful not to let the metal scrape too loudly. Each tiny jerk widened the gap a fraction, so I kept moving. My wrist burned, and the muscles in my forearm began to shake.
Come on, you mule-brained chunk of iron! I ranted internally.
The hinge plate pulled away another hair. Then another. If I could open the gap enough, the whole door might sag off the pins. Then one hard kick could set it free.
I shifted my grip, brought my other hand up for leverage, and pushed harder. The blade strained, metal whining.
And… it slipped.
My hand slammed into the hinge, and a snap of pain shot up my arm. The knife skidded off the plate and scraped along the metal with a sharp, traitorous squeal that echoed far too loudly in the cramped cell. It slipped from my fingers and fell just outside the cell.
“Shit,” I hissed, freezing in place.
I held my breath, listening.
My stomach knotted, and when the unmistakable sound of boots hitting stone moved in my direction, my mouth soured. I was going to get caught.
