“Into the furnace.” She jerked her chin toward the corner of the yard where torches on the wall faintly illuminated a grilled vent from which wisps of smoke drifted. “There are chimneys in each corner of the yard. If we can get into one and drop down, there will be open space below the cells where the furnace is. There needs to be a way in and out for those who work to fuel it.”
“We’ll be cooked alive.”
“It will be miserably hot, but it’s the smoke that will kill you, so you’ll have to hold your breath.” She frowned. “But we need a distraction so we can get into the chimney without them noticing.” Her eyes flicked to Carlo, who had gone still beneath James’s grip. His hair was sweaty beneath her hands, and though she was filthier than she’d ever been in her life, touching him made her stomach twist with disgust.
Moving so that her lips were close to James’s ear, she whispered her plan.
“You want to leave him alive?” The words sounded like they were coming from between his teeth.
“No, but do you have a better idea?”
“None of this is a good idea.” But James dragged Carlo upright. “Ready?”
No.“Yes.”
Pulling off Carlo’s coat, James covered the man’s head and then dragged him in the direction of the wall where torches were mounted on sconces. The second that they moved out of the shadows, shouts sounded from above.
“That’s right,” James roared. “I have your prince. If you want him to stay alive, you’ll open that gate.”
He tore the torch from the sconce and shoved Carlo toward the gate while Ahnna moved slowly in the shadows, evading the pool of light as she edged closer to the grate covering the furnace in the corner.
The prison was an uproar of noise, alarms ringing and boots pounding, and the gate at the end opened.
Hurry,Ahnna silently urged him.We’re running short on time.
As if hearing her, James said something to Carlo that she couldn’t make out, and then held the torch to the back of the Beast’s shirt.
Flames licked up Carlo’s back and he screamed, and when James shoved him, the Beast broke into a blind sprint forward, trying to outrun the pain.
James dropped his torch into one of the cells and was immediately lost to darkness, but Ahnna was already moving.
With all eyes on Carlo, whose shirt was entirely aflame as he ran toward salvation, she sprinted to the corner and caught hold of the grate. It was hot but not unbearably so, and she heaved with her unbroken arm, trying to drag it aside.
It wouldn’t budge.
“Shit,” she hissed, her heart racing chaotically in her chest, the stink of woodsmoke filling her nose with every inhalation.
Then James was there.
He caught hold of the grate and heaved, the heavy metal dragging sideways. “You sure about this?”
“We’ll never get another chance at freedom,” Ahnna answered, and sucking in a deep breath of air, she jumped.
Her shoulders and hips banged against the brickwork as she dropped into darkness, her eyes stinging with smoke, the heat intense.
Her heels hit rock with enough force that her knees gave out, and Ahnna fell sideways, rolling to her feet.
All around was thick woodsmoke, the space beneath the cells illuminated by an enormous glowing furnace. Flames flickered in its core, pumping out the endless heat that kept the cells so ungodly hot, but someone had to fuel those flames, which meant there was a way out.
James landed with a thump next to her. She caught hold of his hand and dragged him along the perimeter of the space.
Her eyes burned, tears running down her cheeks, but what scared her more was the need for air. It wouldn’t take many breaths of this smoke to knock them unconscious, and by the time the soldiers found them, they’d be dead.
Though it hurt to do so, she used her broken arm to feel along the walls, searching for a door. A hatch. Any form of escape from this hell she’d delivered them to.
James broke first, drawing in a breath that immediately set him into a fit of coughing, and if she’d had the air to do so, Ahnna would have screamed.
Another few seconds and they’d be done, be dead, and they’d only be the first to fall.
