Again, Osana hesitated, eyes lifted to the gatehouse and the ramparts. “Guard, can you please call off your archers? We are not a threat.”
The man waved up at the gatehouse and the archers immediately withdrew their bows. Osana stowed the sword and dismounted. But the moment her feet touched the ground, she realized she’d made a grave error. The archers had withdrawn, but on the ground, a contingent of soldiers emerged from the thick juniper stands that lined the road.
In a moment, she and Urtzi were surrounded by dozens of men and women with swords.
Osana held up her hands. “The princess will be very disappointed when she sees how you have treated us.”
From behind, one of the soldiers sliced straight through the leather straps of her scabbard with the tip of his sword. King Sendoa’s famed weapon fell to the ground behind her in a clanging heap, and was whisked away.
“I think not,” the leader said. “The princess was murdered by Pyrenee.”
“No,” Urtzi insisted, frustration raising the volume of his voice, his eyebrows wild. “We were there! She was not.”
The soldier arched a brow. “You were there?”
“No,” Osana answered, but Urtzi was already shouting, “Yes!” over her as four heavily armed men moved in to tie his hands. Two more went after Osana. Their horses were led away.
“Yes?” the man asked Urtzi, side-eyeing Osana as she scanned the ground.
“Yes. Unhand me and I will tell you all about it. The kidnapping, the wedding, Renard, Taillefer, Luca, all of it.”
The leader spoke soberly. “No, you will tell us anyway. King Ferdinand and Queen Mother Geneva will want to know what happened to the princess. And whom to blame for her death.”
“Who in the dragon’s piss are those people?” Urtzi glanced to Osana for help, but the girl’s olive skin had blanched, eyes gone glassy and distant. He began to struggle, his voice growing louder. “We last saw Amarandealive! If she’s dead, we had nothing to do with it. You are not hearing me.”
“We have heard you loud and clear. And for that, you are now under our care as prisoners of the Kingdom of Ardenia.”
“No! You don’t understand,” Urtzi insisted, as eight soldiers surrounded him, tying his hands. They divested him of his weapons and prodded him through the just-lifted gate. “Osana! Tell them! What’s wrong with you?”
Osana walked ahead, not fighting. Not saying anything at all.
CHAPTER28
THEpirate and the thief were ushered not to the throne room, nor to the red hall, where supper was just being set. No, they were taken down five flights of stairs, straight to the dungeons that lined the bowels of the Itspi, deeper than the level of Ardenia’s famed diamond mines, and locked into matching cells.
Osana sank straight to the straw-packed dirt, curling into a ball, forehead pressed to her knees. In the cell across from hers, Urtzi examined the steel bars, set so narrowly that he couldn’t even snake his arm through past the wrist. “Told you they wouldn’t smile and lead us to the princess. I hope they’re wrong about her being dead.”
Osana didn’t answer. This confused Urtzi, as she’d always been very talkative, but it was no secret that women tended to confuse him no matter what. Always the follower, he decided he might try to take the lead here, and leave Osana to whatever journey of the mind she was making.
From what he could see by craning his neck at the edges of his cell, they were the dungeon’s only inhabitants. He listened, and could hear nothing other than the flicker and pop of torches set in sconces along the dimly lit corridor, and the scratching of rats scuttling along the walls.
“Perhaps the fact that we’re alone is a good thing. Maybe this is just an in-and-out detention. They’ll ask us some questions, we’ll tell them what we know, and they’ll send us on our way.” Urtzi figured this was a pretty optimistic view—perhaps all that time with Luca had rubbed off on him as much as Ula had rubbed off on Osana.
Still, Osana said nothing.
He blinked at her. “Or they’ll just kill everyone.”
No reaction.
“And they’ll serve us up for dinner. Heads on a plate, swimming in olive gravy, pine needles sticking out our noses.”
Nothing.
“Osana. Hellooooo, Osana. What’s gotten into you? If we’re going to get out of here, we’re going to have to work together.”
“We’re not getting out of here.”
Her voice was so small, he almost wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “What—why?”
