There’s a saber hidden up her sleeve, and I don’t think anyone else has noticed.
“Euyn, no!” I say. “She—”
“Silence!” The queen’s voice echoes over the drums, bouncing off the high ceiling. The guard next to me moves a step closer, the threat clear. Then she turns to Euyn. “Well? Do you concede?”
“He hasn’t tried yet,” Aeri says.
The queen sighs, her shoulders lowering. She regains her composure. “Do be quick about this, brother. We’re at war, and I will need your head.”
Euyn takes a breath, then reaches his hand out, straightening his arm.
“Turn to gold,” he whispers.
And then he touches the ring to the egg.
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Tiyung
Idle Prison, Yusan
We’re caught. We’re at the exit of the prison, but we’re going to fail right here.
The captain of the prison guard opens his mouth to call out an alarm, but there’s no sound because Jimi grips him by the throat.
Everything happens quickly. Hana kisses the second guard. His eyes bulge in surprise and then pain. I freeze because I wasn’t told about any of this. Why is the palace guard attacking the captain of the prison guards? Why did Hana just murder a palace guard? What in the world am I supposed to be doing right now? I stand with my hands out, shifting from side to side.
Jimi wrestles the captain to the ground, straining to hold him and keep him quiet. Ral clutches his own throat and chest, collapsing onto the floor. Then Hana rushes over to Jimi. She leans down and locks her poisoned lips with the old man.
Within ten seconds, both men are dying.
Hana stands straight, eyeing her handiwork.
“Throw him in his office. It’ll look like a heart attack,” she says, adjusting her cloak.
I think she’s talking to me, but I honestly don’t know. She’s all business, like she didn’t just kill two people.
“Tiyung, I dare you to be more useless,” she mutters. She runs her thumb by her lips, adjusting her lipstick.
I snap out of it, pick up the captain, and drag him into the office. He’s lighter than I expected for someone so tall.
I get him through the door. His office is large with windows overlooking the pit. I don’t look down there. I consider leaving the captain on the floor, but there is a couch against the wall. I put him on the sofa and arrange him so it looks like he’s taking a nap. When the guards find him, they’ll hopefully think he had a heart attack in his sleep.
Once I’m done, I stand in the doorway. Hana opens the last set of bolts and then tosses me the keys.
“What are these for?” I ask, catching them.
She shakes her head. “I cannot deal with him.”
“For you to put back in the captain’s pocket,” Jimi answers.
I nod, shove them into the breast pocket of the dead captain, then leave the office and close the door. Hana stands waiting.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
“Slit that one’s throat,” she says, pointing to Ral. “And then we just need to take care of Jimi.”
I look from Hana to Jimi and back again, and I gulp. I don’t want to hurt a man who helped us, and I’m also not sure I can best a palace guard. Hana folds her arms, staring at me.
