He pounded his fist against the top of her cage, rattling the bars. “I said stop!”
She paused long enough to say, “Don’t like my voice?”
“Get her, Veek,” said a voice behind her.
“Yeah, teach her a lesson,” said another.
Veek reached between the bars, clawing for her.
“No!” Mistel shrank back and gave her very best performance. “Don’t hurt me!”
His fingers caught her hair and yanked her forward until her face struck the bars. Pain shot through her cheekbone, but Mistel gritted her teeth and reached for his belt. Her hand found his keys, and with a flick of her wrist, she slipped them off his belt, holding them tightly to keep them from clinking. She drew them into her cage and tucked them beneath the folds of her skirt.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll be quiet.”
Veek released her. “You’d better. Where you’re going, if you pull stunts like that, you’ll get worse than I just gave you.”
As he stalked away, Mistel slumped back into the straw, her heart racing. She wondered again who had purchased her and where she was headed.
It didn’t matter. The keys were hers now. As soon as she found the right moment, she was getting out of here.
She glanced around the warehouse again. The guards. The exits. The stacks of crates and cages. She didn’t know the layout of this place or how many obstacles stood between her and freedom, but she knew one thing. She wouldn’t leave here as someone else’s property.
Not tonight. Not ever.
Chapter 39
Cole
What am I looking for again? the king bloodvoiced.
Cole stood alone in the empty seating area of the Black Boar tavern. The king had bloodvoiced him, as Kurtz had requested, and Cole had done his best to explain the situation. “We think there’s a secret passage to an underground chamber,” he said.
“I know that.” Nash exited the kitchen, wiping his hands on his trousers. “Not so much as a loose stone in the kitchen.”
“Sorry,” Cole said, lowering his voice. “I wasn’t talking to you. The king’s here. He’s…helping.”
Nash froze mid-motion. “The king of Er’Rets? Here?”
“In the Veil,” Cole said, as if that explained everything.
Nash’s brows shot up. “The Veil? That’s sheer madness.”
Tell him I said all things are possible with Arman, Achan voiced, his tone light.
Cole relayed the message, and Nash squinted at Cole as if he had sprouted a second head. “Really? I’m supposed to believe the king is talking to me?”
Tell him I like his doublet. It looks formal but not uncomfortable.
Cole passed along the compliment, then thought, Could you focus on the task, please, Your Highness?
As long as you stop calling me ‘Your Highness’ when there’s no one to overhear. You’re making me itch.
Cole sighed and forged ahead. We think it’s under the office—or close to it.
Can you carry some lights in there? And the passageway too? I’ll need to see.
Certainly, Cole thought, then said to Nash, “We need to light the office and the passage between it and the kitchen.”
