Nobody spoke for a long moment.
“I’m not your enemy,” Khayrivven said with the exasperated tone of someone repeating himself for the hundredth time. “I don’t have a choice. There’s a difference.”
“And I assume you’re still not ready to tell us why you ought to play by Ulder’s rules?” It was Olive who challenged the captain, her tone full of hatred and her eyes flickering like a glint of embers in a dark void. “I don’t trust you. No matter what your lackeys say.” She jerked her chin at Anees and Hadrian. “Lenya has tried to sweet-talk us to get information, too, and we haven’t broken. You won’t fool us by acting like you care for a Flame-born.”
A rock settled in Lory’s stomach, so heavy it threatened to tear all the way through her body.
Lory merely shook her head. “You can trust him. I do.” It was an admission she hadn’t made aloud, but deep down, it was true. Despite the discrepancies about the matter of his heart, she trusted Khayrivven. “I’m not even going to ask if you are all right.”
None of them objected, at least to her second statement, but the distrust still glimmered in Olive’s eyes.
“Why are you dressed like a princess?” Olive asked instead of commenting. “Anywhere specific you’re going?”
Lory didn’t have it in her to tell them she was going to kill on the king’s orders, so she shook her head. “Captain Falcrest is taking me out for dinner.”
The lie tasted bitter on her tongue, but Khayrivven squeezed her shoulder, his thumb brushing over the bare skin at the top of her shoulder blade.
“I’d love to take you out for dinner,” he whispered.
At the other side of the room, Hadrian cleared his throat.
“Care to bring us some scraps from your pompous outing?” Olive snapped, and Lory felt anger rise in her chest, warmth flooding her veins as her fire prepared to strike at a danger that wasn’t there. But an emotion so much stronger kept her powers in check: pity.
“Any idea how much longer we are to rot in these dungeons before they’ll execute us?” Enya threw at Khayrivven, spitting at his feet, right next to where Lory’s skirts lay wrinkled around her knees.
“You won’t be executed.” Khayrivven took a step back, squatting in front of Enya’s cell. “Not if I have a say in it.”
“And do you have a say?” Once more, Olive’s hatred flared. “As far as I’ve seen, you’re nothing more than Lenya’s lapdog. I wouldn’t be surprised if you answered to the king himself.”
“As I’ve said,” repeated Khayrivven, “I have my reasons. None I will share with you.”
None he would share with anyone outside his circle of trust. Anees knew. Did Hadrian?
Khayrivven’s chin dipped in silent answer. It would take some getting used to the way her control slipped around him, even when she’d mastered preventing herself from accidentally projecting her thoughts to other people. She no longer walked the hallways of Ashthorn Ward in fear of being found out, but something about her connection with Khayrivven made it nearly impossible to keep her thoughts from seeping into his mind.
“You will be pleased to know that Lenya’s lapdog has plans for your escape, though.”
Lory held her breath as she watched Hadrick’s eyes go wide, Enya’s head shake in disbelief, and Olive’s mouth form a humorless laugh.
“Why didn’t you tell me about that?”she prompted into Khayrivven’s head, earning yet another slight shake of his head. She knew the answer: There was no place safe inside Ashthorn’s walls to discuss such matters. Except for the dungeons, as she’d just learned.“We’ll talk about this,”she warned him.“And don’t shake your head again, because youwilltell me what the fuck is going on. I’m tired of being left out. Tired of being careful.”
“Escape?” Olive’s mocking voice cut into her thoughts. “You’re the reason we’re here to begin with.”
“How many times do I need to tell you I’m sorry about that?” Lory wasn’t entirely sure Khayrivven was talking to Olive. It could as well have been meant for her. “I do have a plan, and Anees and Hadrian are here to help execute it.”
For the first time since they’d entered the dungeons, Olive bothered to sit up, curiosity and perhaps a hint of hope flaring along with that endless distrust. “Tonight?”
Khayrivven inclined his head. “While Miss Vednis and I are enjoying ourdinner.” The way he said the word gave the impression of something dirty, and Anees’s chuckle confirmed Lory hadn’t been the only one hearing it that way.
But reality was very different.“I wish it was dinner,”Lory said in her mind, and Khayrivven got to his feet, pulling her along by the arm. When they both stood, he nodded at the three prisoners once more. “You don’t need to forgive me for what I’ve done, but please believe me that I’ve been planning how to get you out from the moment we captured you in the mountains.”
“Save your words, Captain,” Olive snapped, leaning back against the wall and fiddling with the frayed hem of her sleeve. “I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you, and I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”
Khayrivven didn’t try to convince her again. He merely clapped Anees’s shoulder on the way from the dungeons and inclined his head at Hadrian. “You know what to do.”
Lory didn’t dare speaka word as he guided her through the dark underground tunnels leading from the pyramid, her hand tucked into his, and a flicker of fire in his free palmuntil they reached a hidden door. Dropping her hand, Khayrivven opened the door with the sort of magic working on all the other locks around the pyramid, and when it slid aside, moved by a phantom hand, the cloud-covered night sky greeted them.
A humid breeze, cooler than that of a normal Dunaii evening, swept into the open tunnel, kissing Lory’s face and blowing through her skirts.
