Chapter 16
Vad
Dread weighed on me as the sharp scrape of metal against stone grew louder. This had to be Colm’s doing, using a brutal tradition from the past. He wanted the prisoners to hear the instrument of their execution coming. Let it scream down the hall like a promise. Feck.
Briar turned toward me with her shoulders squared and determination tightening the corners of her eyes. But beneath her calm exterior, her pulse thrummed wildly in the hollow of her throat. If they kill her, we have no chance of learning what she knows.
I bared my teeth. “Kaylen, swear—”
“Yes! I swear it!” Her voice cracked through the slits in the stone door, ragged and raw. “On my life and my name, I’ll help you burn them down. Just get me out!”
Her desperation wasn’t what convinced me. It was the sound of that blade dragging closer to us, grinding against the wall like bone against a whetstone.
My claws closed around the iron key still tucked in the torn edge of my surcoat. The scent of blood clung to it. Metal rasped as I shoved it into the lock.
Click.
The tumbler fell.
Footsteps neared the bend in the corridor—slow and deliberate, something dragging behind them.
Skkrrraaang.
Each scrape sent a jolt down my spine, and I couldn’t wait to get my revenge on Colm and everyone involved with him.
I threw the door wide. The hinges groaned, but the shriek of the approaching blade swallowed the sound whole.
Kaylen stumbled out, blinking in the dim torchlight. Her sky-blue gown hung in ragged strips, plastered with filth and sweat. Her hair hung limp and greasy, and her face was a mess of bruises, one eye nearly swollen shut.
Briar grabbed her wrist, hard enough to make her flinch. “Move,” Briar snapped.
Don’t put your back to her, I warned.
Briar huffed. Don’t worry, I won’t. I wouldn’t trust this woman as far as Elara could throw her.
The axe grated closer, echoing through the corridor like a death summons.
“Don’t slow us down,” I snarled, shoving the cell door shut.
My claws curled around Kaylen’s wrist, forcing her into place on my left before I caught Briar’s hand with my right.
Briar’s steady pulse thudded against my palm.
I glanced back at Kaylen and warned, “If I have to choose between you and Briar, you lose every time.”
Kaylen didn’t argue. That was the first smart thing she’d ever done. Well, second after she’d agreed to cooperate.
Skkrrraaang.
The executioner was almost upon us.
We ran.
The corridor tightened around us as if the dungeon itself wanted to keep us inside, and torches streaked past like dying stars. Sweat slicked the back of my neck as I choked on the putrid air.
The axe blade cried again.
The bare stone walls mocked us, the flames of the oil lamps flickering wildly as shadows stretched long and sharp. “Left,” I grunted at the end of the hall.
Skkrrraaang—closer still.
We veered hard left. We had one more bend and one more corridor. If we didn’t make it to the hidden passage, we were dead.
The scrape of the axe shrieked again with its sharp, rhythmic, merciless sound. Then it stopped, the pure silence deafening. A single breath passed.
“She’s gone!” a deep voice shouted.
“Prisoner escape!” another gravelly voice roared.
“You, check the other cells,” a male ordered. “You two, that way. Sound the alarm!” The heavy slamming of doors started as they searched, footsteps scuffing toward us.
I yanked Briar and Kaylen down the final corridor as chaos erupted behind us. My pulse thundered in my ears, too many voices too close to us in all directions. Briar cast a look back over her shoulder, her expression grim but fierce.
The alarm bell rang, low and heavy, vibrating the stone under our feet. Beside me, Briar kept pace, but something felt… off. Distant. Like she was present, but disconnected, her energy muted, like a tether stretched too thin.
We rounded the corner, and although we were less than four hundred feet away from our destination, the distance felt endless. I spotted the hidden pocket door in the wall, concealed by flickering shadows.
Another shout echoed. Then a thwip. The sharp whistle of a bolt hurtling toward us.
I lunged sideways, dragging Briar with me, just as the crossbow bolt slammed into the wall inches from my face. Stone exploded across my cheek in a sting of grit and heat.
"Down!" I shoved Briar and Kaylen against the wall, my body automatically moving to shield Briar.
At the corridor’s opposite mouth stood a soldier in worn leather armor, already sliding another bolt into his crossbow.
Behind him, another voice shouted, “They’re over here!”
Feck!
The hidden door was about seven feet away, between the dancing flames of the oil lamps, with an armed guard blocking our path. And the bastard was already lining up his next shot. He'd have to be an incompetent fool to miss. A second guard appeared behind him, crossbow at the ready.
I drew my blade, the familiar weight in my hand grounding me to the present. Briar, get Kaylen down into the passage. I’ll deal with the guards. Keep right once you’re in. It will lead you to an outpost for—
Briar shoved up, her own sword singing free. When will you get it through your head that I’m not leaving you?
My heart surged. By Fate, I loved this woman, but I also wanted to shove her through the wall to get her to safety.
Kaylen crouched and flattened against the stone wall, eyes wide with panic.
The first crossbowman growled. “One move, and I shoot the redhead between the eyes.”
Footsteps sounded behind us, then a third guard rounded the corner at the opposite end of the hall, sword drawn.
Fate must hate us.
Briar tensed, her blade ready and her jaw locked. Even with my wings spread wide to shield her, I knew she’d go down fighting at my side.
And that was about the only option we had left.
We were pinned in the middle of a hall with no cover and enemies in front of and behind us. There wasn’t anything to use for protection; not a crate, not a tapestry, not even a damn statue. And now two crossbows were aimed at our skulls. At this range, we wouldn’t survive the next shot.
Then an all too familiar voice sliced through the tension.
“Well, well. Of all the things I expected tonight, someone breaking out Kaylen wasn’t on the list.” Calla Lily stepped into view, her silk skirts whispering as she passed between the guards.
Her golden hair swayed around her shoulders, an onyx shadow-beast hairpin keeping her hair from falling in her face. She set her hands on her waist.
Her eyes widened, though, when she saw us. “Briar?” Her tone turned disbelieving. “You’re rescuing Kaylen? You hate her.”
A glint of the torchlight hit the onyx hairpin.
Rage twisted inside me, and my claws curled tighter around my sword. That hairpin belonged to Elara and had been passed down from our mother.
We couldn’t get captured. If they locked us in those cells, the keys wouldn’t help. The locks were inaccessible from the inside. I shifted subtly, angling my body toward Calla Lilly with my right shoulder pointed at the pocket door.
Briar’s glare fixed on Calla Lily. “Kaylen and I have our differences, but she doesn’t deserve to rot to death. None of these people do.”
Calla Lily sniffed. “And you don’t deserve to be queen.”
She then turned her smile on me, syrupy and cruel. “My darling will be most pleased to learn about the two of you. I didn’t expect this outcome, but that just makes it more entertaining. You’ll die, of course. Publicly. Perfect timing for our coronation.”
Briar growled, low and feral, and again, the bond between us wavered, like it was fading. For a moment, I couldn’t feel her emotions. I experienced only my own rage and tension.
“You’ve locked up children,” Briar spat. “Starved the innocent. If you think I’ll let that slide and not tear your throat out with my teeth, you’re more of a dumbass than I thought.”
“Not if you’re drawn and quartered first.” Calla Lilly‘s smile didn’t even twitch.
“Touch her,” I said flatly, “and I’ll raze this castle and everyone in it.” Then I linked with Briar. Angle toward the door. Take Kaylen and head in first to lead the way back to the others. I’ll be right behind you.
Briar didn’t answer me through the link, but she did take Kaylen’s hand and draw her to her feet. That disconnection wasn’t like her. Concern twisted my gut.
But she was moving like I wanted her to, so I focused on the plan. “You know he’s using you, right? You weren’t good enough to be my bride, and you aren’t good enough to be his. Even if Fate hadn’t chosen Briar, I would never have chosen you.”
Her eyes blazed, and she sucked in a breath. She pressed her lips into a thin line and pointed at me with a trembling hand. “You— You—”
I stepped forward and slightly to the side, wings flaring just enough to block her view of Briar’s subtle movements. “Careful, you’re shaking. Guilt, perhaps?”
“Halt!” The first guard motioned with his crossbow, glancing at Calla Lily for orders. The second guard mirrored the motion.
Smirking, I turned my head just enough to keep them guessing, then flicked my gaze back to Calla Lily.
The swordsman behind us hadn’t moved, still holding his position to block what they thought was our escape path.
“What’s the matter, Calla Lily? Did the shadow beast get your tongue, or is it guilt from stealing jewelry from my sister’s room? ”
Color drained from her face, and the torchlight caught the glitter of the numerous rings she wore. Half of them were from the royal quarters. The fury rising inside me iced over into something far colder.
“Sho—” she started.
Briar cut her off with a sharp, wild laugh. “That’s right. Go ahead and shoot us! I’d rather die here and now than see Colm’s ugly face again.” Her voice faintly brushed my mind again. Laugh and move.
Oh, clever woman. I forced a deep, mocking laugh, covering my face, and pretended to stagger sideways, moving closer to the pocket door.