My words hadn’t fooled him in the slightest.
CHAPTER 22
Kadin
ALL THIS TIME, I’Dbeen mocking a princess. I couldn’t decide whether I should even worry about it, considering our present circumstances. Daichi was easily spooked and Arie might be acting tough, but I heard the tremble in her voice. They didn’t need to know I was terrified too.
I’d never been caught before. We’d gotten lazy. How long would it take Naveed to realize something had gone wrong? Any amount of time was too long.
Staring aimlessly into the blackness of my small cell, I scratched at the dirt underneath me with my fingernails, thinking.
My eyes slowly adjusted to the deep darkness; there must be a torch lit somewhere down the hall out of sight, but everything in my cell was in shadows.
One difficult situation at a time, I told myself, letting go of the dirt and dusting off my hands. Arie and I could have a very specific conversation once we escaped. Preferably before the king found my men waiting in the wagon just outside of the city walls with three bags full of treasure.
“If I’d packed some of Illium’s powder, I could’ve knocked those guards out when I was discovered,” Daichi was saying.
“Don’t worry about it,” I reassured him. “We’ll do better next time.”
Standing, I checked the cell door again, though I’d already checked it twice. Still locked.
“I wish I’d taken my tools,” I muttered. Of course, that was foolish. Even if I had, the guards would’ve removed them from my person as fast as they’d taken the dagger and my own small blade.
As I paced the room, I tried to get comfortable with the space. Two steps, turn, two steps, turn. They fell silent, listening. I paused by Daichi’s shadow in the cell next to mine. “Any chance anything in your pockets might help?”
I could just barely make out his head as he shook it, posture slumping, even more dejected now. “They confiscated everything.”
I sighed, returning to pacing. Maybe we could adapt ‘Three Tickets to the Theater’ to somehow trick the guards into letting one of us out? Not likely. Even in the streets that one only worked half the time. Then again, we had nothing to lose...
“What if we did ‘Pigeon Down?’” Daichi said, he scrambled up onto his feet to come closer to me and whispered, “We might not be able to get the girl out, but it could work for you and me.”
“We’re not leaving her behind.” I hoped she hadn’t heard. “And ‘Pigeon Down’ would only help one of us anyway.”
“Oh... even if we played dead one at a time?”
“I think they’d catch on.” I rubbed my temples, trying not to snap.
