Chapter 24 Basten #2
Behind me, Folke and Rian are taking the four sentinels in the kitchen. The other dishwasher is gone—probably ran out to get more reinforcements, which means the clock is ticking. We can take five men, maybe. But not a dozen.
“Folke, stop the fucking dishwasher, he’s getting away!” I shout.
Folke slams his elbow into a sentinel’s face, then disappears into the alley, the door swinging behind him.
“Brother, catch,” Rian calls, and I look up in time to see a rolling pin hurtling my way.
I grab it and immediately bring it down on the back of Gaez’s head.
He gags and slumps forward, stunned, but only for a second.
“Don’t call me that,” I snap at Rian, pushing to my feet and raising the pin again. Gaez pushes groggily to his knees, and I slam it down on his head again. “I’m not your fucking brother.”
Rian, a knife between his shackled fists, swipes it down toward one of the sentinels as he scoffs, “I’ve called you that for years.”
Gaez still struggles to get back to his knees, and I slam my boot on his back, knocking him prone on the kitchen floor, pinning him there with my weight while I toss the rolling pin aside and reach for a sword from his weapons cache.
I swing it in an arc as one of the sentinels rushes me, slicing him across the chest.
“Yeah, a brother you’d muzzle, right?” I say to Rian. “Chain like a hunting dog?”
Rian knees a sentinel in the gut, and when he straightens, gives me a quizzical look. “What the fuck are you on about?”
“That’s what you said to Captain Tatarin,” I spit, and bring down the blunt end of my sword on another sentinel’s head, all the while Gaez struggling to get free under my boot. I shove him down harder, shaking with fury—but I realize it isn’t for him.
It’s for Rian.
“She warned me about you. Captain Tatarin. How you planned vengeance on the man you considered a brother. You said you’d muzzle me, wasn’t that the word? Chain me? Break me like a dog?”
The truth slams into me.
This is why I’ve been so furious.
For what Rian did to Sabine, yes. But for what he did to me, too. The gut-punch that Rian had already stopped seeing me as his brother long before all this. That maybe he never had.
“Captain Tatarin…?” Rian stares at me in confusion, but it doesn’t last long. A sentinel hurls a tankard at his head, and he ducks just in time, then grabs a bucket handle and swings the wooden bucket into the man’s ear.
“You fucking idiot,” he cries, eyes widening in realization. “I wasn’t talking about you!”
The air halts in my lungs, and I have to forcefully drag in a breath. Gaez gets a hand free and slams a fist into my boot, but I bring down the sword next to his neck.
I can’t kill him—we need him for the fae to pardon—but I’m getting tired of this dragged-out bullshit.
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter to Gaez, “You want a choke collar out of bruises? Stop moving. I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
He garbles curses at me, spit flying out of his mouth, but I ignore him and face Rian.
“What are you talking about?” I sputter.
“Kendan!” Rian explodes. “I was telling Captain Tatarin how much I wanted to throttle Kendan.”
“Kendan is your brother.”
Rian pinches the bridge of his nose, muttering a curse under his own breath.
“He isn’t my brother, that’s the whole point.
I’m not a Valvere. I was angry—I wanted Kendan’s damn iron sash ripped off him.
I had a plan to frame him with a few whores, humiliate him.
” He looks up, a waver of hurt in his eyes.
“You thought I was telling Tatarin that I was going to muzzle you? Why would I do that? You’re the only damn person from hell and back who hasn’t betrayed me. ”
My heart thumps hard, so hard I can’t speak for a minute.
“I had sex with your bride.”
He groans, exasperated with me, as he twists the knife deeper in the sentinel’s neck. “Please. I told you, I got over that in a week.”
He’s lying. Of course he is. Sabine has a hold on every man, woman, and horse she crosses paths with, and Rian is no exception.
And yet, I know the sound of Rian’s pulse when he lies, and I’m not sure he’s lying. Not entirely.
For a heartbeat, I just stare at him.
Because if he’s not lying…
If he truly let Sabine go when he gave her to me…
“Rian—” I start.
But I’m cut off by Folke, who crashes back into the kitchen with blood pouring down one shoulder, his cloak nowhere to be found.
“Gentleman,” he says. “Time to go—now.”
Rian and I exchange a look—something has changed here, between us, but I don’t even begin to know how to put a fucking name to it.
A sentinel groans as he rolls over, trying to stand, but Rian clutches the knife between his bound hands and slams it into the man’s chest, making clean work of it.
Then he and Folke climb over the other dead bodies and help me haul Gaez to his feet.
I focus on binding Gaez’s hands behind his back to keep me from thinking too hard about this misunderstanding with Rian. I tug hard, so hard he curses.
For weeks, I’ve been seething at Rian. Stewing in it. Thinking he wanted to muzzle me like a dog, that I meant nothing to him. And now…fuck, I don’t know how to feel.
More shouts sound from outside, and we hustle into the alley, dragging Gaez with us.
We shove Gaez into an empty wheelbarrow and push it forward into the shadows.
While Folke leads off any rogue sentinels that might be following us, Rian and I cart Gaez straight to the city dungeon, run again by the royal army since our forces retook the city.
The sentinels used the dungeon to house prisoners of war, and did a poor job of it; it still reeks of stale piss and dried blood. Our men have cleaned it out and laid straw, but it’ll take a while to get it back into shape.
Not that I mind when it comes to Gaez.
He can rot down here, for all I care. As long as there’s enough life in him by the Fae Games for Vale to make a big show of sparing his neck. Life in prison. Yeah…sure. We’ll throw him back down here and let the rats do the rest—he won’t survive long.
The dungeon tower, a square monolith with “JUSTICE” carved above the door, sits to the north of Valor Circle.
Now, Lady Suri paces in front of it, guards flanking her, her Castlekeep keyring jangling with every tight step, as she huddles beneath a heavy velvet cloak.
“Lady Suri. Thank you for coming.” I nod, tugging down my mask. “You look about as out of place here as a rat on the dinner table.”
Rian slaps me and chimes in, “Forgive him. He doesn’t know how to speak to a lady. You’d be the most delectable rodent ever to be served on my table.”
She gives him an exasperated look, though there’s the slightest rush of pink to her cheeks.
“Believe me,” she says, “It isn’t my choice to be here. But the dungeon cells we have keys for are already full, so I have to unlock the secondary unit.” She huffs in the cold, skirting her satin shoes around a muddy puddle. “I’m not about to let my keys be separated from me.”
She slides the main gate key in the lock, and steps back for the soldiers to open the gate. We drag Gaez down the stairs, and she trails behind us, hunting for the keys that correspond with each cell.
“The previous Castlekeep didn’t label anything,” she explains. “One hundred keys on here, and for each door, I have to try them all.”
My boots splash in puddles in the hallway. The first unit of cells are full; Folke’s men have been doing a good job rounding up the remaining dissenters. A man cat calls as Suri passes, and Rian shoves his foot through the bars to kick over the man’s piss bucket.
“Hey!” the man snaps.
“She’s a fucking lady.”
Suri rolls her eyes, but there’s a slight tug at the corner of her mouth. “Here, I think this long iron key corresponds to the second unit…” She tests out two keys, and the third one opens the lock. She sighs with relief, stepping back as she tightens her shawl.
“I’ll leave this key with the dungeon master until a new one can be forged. Now, my bed is calling, if you gentlemen don’t mind—”
What happens next is so fast I can barely track it.
The dungeon guards are helping drag Gaez in, when suddenly, he shoots to his feet, fresh as sunrise, and shoves the two guards into the newly unlocked cell.
They slam into me, unintentionally pushing me back with them.
Gaez slams the cell shut and twists the key. He jerks it out of the lock a second before I reach it, then wraps his chained hands around Suri’s neck, dragging her back to the wall.
She shrieks, clawing at his hands.
His beady eyes throw sparks as he spits, “Try anything and I choke her out.”
I slam my hand against the bars, rattling them. My mind races. The two dungeon guards and I are locked in a cell. The only other guard is a floor above, unaware.
And fucking Rian is the only one free.
Suri keeps struggling to get free, but he has a hundred pounds on her. The more she struggles, the harder he pulls the chain against her neck.
“Rian Valvere.” Gaez spits on the floor.
“Here’s your chance to escape. Consider it a final gift from your general.
Don’t say I never did anything for my short-reining king.
” He jerks his head toward the exit. “We separate, use the sewers to get out of the city. Meet up in the village where you lost that game of Hazard to the executioner.”
He chuckles, thinking he’s won.
And maybe he has.
My stomach falls to my feet. Rian could really fucking do it. Escape. Without me and Folke babysitting him, he could slip into the night. Hell, he knows every safe house in the city. Plenty of blacksmiths could be bribed to remove his shackles.
He could be on the road to Duren by the morning.
Fuck.
I grip the bars, squeezing so tight my knuckles blanch. “Don’t you fucking do it, Rian.”
Rian glances behind him at the hallway as though weighing the distance. His tongue darts out between his lips like a snake sampling the air.
How many times have I seen that cunning in his eyes, across the Basel table?
Rian slides a calculating look back at Gaez. He jerks his chin toward Suri. “What about her?”
Gaez sneers. “What the fuck do you care? She a good tumble between the sheets?”
Suri squeaks and kicks at him, but her little feet do as much damage as a kitten’s paws.
Rian’s face darkens. “That’s a lady you’re talking about.”
Gaez guffaws, a fleck of spittle flying out to land on Suri’s cheek. “Like that ever stopped the Lord of Liars.”
An unreadable look comes over Rian’s face, and for a second, I think he’s going to throw himself at Gaez. But then, he breaks into a devilish grin. “Remember where I hid when I stole my money back from the executioner? The little cottage with that well-endowed washerwoman…”
Gaez barks a laugh, but it turns into a cough. “Right. I’ll meet you there.”
Rian laughs, rich and conspiratory. Then, his eyes light up as though an idea has just struck him. “Her keyring—toss it to me. I’ll set the other prisoners lose behind you. The guards will be so busy trying to catch them, it’ll buy us time.”
Rian steps forward, holding out his hand for the keys. He slips so seamlessly into his commander’s voice that Gaez obeys on instinct, fumbling in Suri’s pocket for her keyring. She clasps harder at the chain around her neck, her eyes wide and spitting fire at Rian.
“Here.”
Gaez tosses the keyring to Rian, but Rian misses, and it clatters on the floor.
Rian curses and stoops down for it—
And grabs Suri by the ankles, jerking her in one swift tug out from Gaez’s grasp. She shrieks as she’s ripped from the man’s hands, his chain clattering as he swipes for her, but Rian already has her on the ground.
He drags her, kicking and screaming, by the feet down the hall.
“You bastard!” she screams. “Let me go!”
“I’m saving your damn life, Suri!”
Rian shoves her into a safe corner, then launches himself at Gaez. He feigns moving in for a bear-hug around Gaez’s middle, but at the last second, pivots to the side, sliding on a skid of mud around Gaez’s back.
Before Gaez can turn, Rian has his own shackles around the man’s neck.
“Not a bad trick, thanks for the idea,” he spits. He kicks the keyring toward Suri as he strangles Gaez. “Quick. Unlock the cell.”
Suri blinks, one hand still clutching her throat, eyes still wide and wild.
“It’s okay, Suri,” I say, holding out my hand. “The keys.”
Suri crawls on her hands and knees to the keyring, her hand shaking, her throat rubbed raw.
She passes me the key with a shaking hand.
In seconds, I have the cell gate open. I tear out to where Rian has Gaez with his shackles around the man’s throat. I don’t hesitate for a second before slamming my fist into Gaez’s gut.
The air rushes from his lungs.
I grab him by the shoulders. Rian lifts the shackles from his neck, and I throw him into the cell I’ve recently vacated. One of the dungeon guards takes over with the keys, locking him in, while the other runs to sound the alarm.
It’s…done.
Suri breaths hard, still on hands and knees, her pretty dress soaked through with mud.
I whirl on Rian, who’s slumped back against the wall, catching his breath.
“You could have escaped,” I bluster, not understanding why he wouldn’t. “You realize I’m going to just drag you back to the Coffin, right?”
“Oh, I know.” He smiles between pants. “But then I’d miss having this beautiful woman owe me her life.” He tilts his head toward Suri. “At the very least, a kiss.”
Suri scoffs, one hand pressed protectively to her throat, staring at him—half appalled, half…not.
Rian smirks. “What? Gratitude comes in many forms.”
Suri swallows hard. “I’ll believe you’re on our side,” she says warily, “when you risk something that costs more than a few bruises.”
Rian’s teasing fades. His eyes sharpen, turning grave in a way that makes the hairs on my arms lift.
He points to Gaez, unconscious in the cell.
“You really should kill him. Sabine’s plan?
To have the fae pardon him? It won’t work.
She still believes people rise to hope. That’s not a fae instinct—that’s a human fantasy she’s clinging to.
The public doesn’t crave forgiveness. They crave spectacle.
Peace won’t buy the fae a single fan that vengeance wouldn’t win tenfold. ”
I stare at him, heartbeat loud in my ears, almost swayed by his conviction.
But then I grab him by the collar and drag him toward the stairs, where I’ll lock him back in the Coffin despite the fact he just saved Suri’s life.
“You act like you still call the shots,” I say. “Sooner or later, you’re going to have to learn your place.”