5. Kiera

Chapter 5

Kiera

My heart stopped.

Panic turned my world into cracked glass that felt like it would shatter at any moment. And me along with it.

But I couldn’t. He was guessing. Playing with me to see what I’d do.

“R-Renwell?” The stammer was unfeigned. “He’s the one who—who did this to me.” I gestured pathetically at my torn clothes and throbbing face.

“Convincing, very convincing,” Aiden murmured. “But why?”

Inwardly, I sneered. He thought he was getting the upper hand—forcing me to reveal my identity and my crime. But it would all be a lie. I just had to sell it.

I sagged against the wall, cradling my aching ribs. “I already told you I am— was —the princesses’ personal guard. I was rarely allowed free time, let alone friends. But...” I sniffed and wiped my nose on my sleeve. “But there was a boy, a young boy, named Julian.” A memory of the real Julian pierced my mind. His sweet smile and deep brown eyes coaxed real tears to my eyes. It was why I’d chosen this as my story. A lie was always stronger with threads of truth.

“He worked in the kitchen,” I continued. “He’d lived and worked in the palace his whole life, just as I had, and he always had a kind word for everyone. Even me, the ignored shadow in a world of light. But... but they caught him stealing.” I swallowed a sob, but more built up in my throat. “I had no idea he was so desperate, or I would’ve... I would’ve done something. Anything. But they arrested him. I pled for him. But they sentenced him to death. I attacked his executioner—no thought, no plan—but they killed him anyway and sent me here,” I finished in a dull voice.

I could still hear the thud of the axe, even though it was years ago. It would haunt me until the gods found my soul. I hated using Julian this way, using my real emotions to lie about what really happened to him.

But it was all I could think of to convince Aiden of my place in his cell. He was the true criminal here. But why ?

“Well, does that satisfy you?” I asked, impatience carving through my words.

“For now.”

For now. His words echoed my father’s. Both men reserving judgment on me, waiting for me to make a mistake.

My hands fisted in my lap, the key digging into my palm. “What about you? Why are you here? What makes you so special that you think I was beaten up and chained here to spy on you ?”

Another long silence. His shadow didn’t budge. His head was tipped back against the wall as if he were sleeping.

I fought the urge to speak again, but he was like a tricky lock. I had to find the right pressure at the right angle. If he was using silence as a tool, so could I.

But waiting was torture. Renwell would be back at dawn. The thought of witnessing another execution soured my stomach. How much time did I have left?

“They captured me impersonating a Shadow-Wolf here in their Den,” Aiden said.

I blinked, surprised he’d admitted it. Then I laughed. “You lie. No one would be stupid enough to break in here dressed like them. That’s... that’s?—”

“—what a madman or a fanatic would do?” Aiden finished for me.

“Holy Four,” I whispered, trying to keep the eagerness out of my voice. “Why?”

Aiden’s long fingers wrapped around his chains and choked them. “A sad story, not unlike your own.”

I frowned. What in the wandering hell did that mean? “Were you trying to save someone? Someone in here?” I remembered the other cells doors lining the passage.

He chuckled, warm and deep. Goosebumps prickled my skin. “I’m happy to hear I’ve gone from murderer to rescuer in your eyes. But no, nothing so noble.”

“Then what?”

He hesitated. “Gold.”

“ Gold? ” I sputtered.

“Yes, gold,” he said, dropping his chains. “I need a great deal. Quickly. As I’m not foolish enough to rob the palace vault, I thought perhaps our dear High Enforcer kept a stash of it in his Den.”

I rubbed the key in my palm with my thumb, back and forth, over and over. This was what Renwell had wanted to know. At least part of it. Except, why would Aiden risk so much on the frail hope he would find gold?

Unless he was lying.

“Did you find any?” I asked out of true curiosity.

“Not a single coin. Were you hoping to steal some on your way out?”

I narrowed my eyes at the mirth in his voice. “It’s not a terrible idea. I’ll have less than nothing if I escape.” I gnawed my lip. Perhaps I could push him one answer further. “Why are you so desperate for gold?”

His tone darkened. “Now that is one secret even you can’t pry out of me, Kiera.”

For now , I taunted him in my mind.

But I would steal it from him, eventually. Renwell assumed I would have to escape with him to uncover all his secrets, but how I convinced Aiden to ally with me was up to me.

Aiden said he needed gold, but for what? He could be funding an army of rebels for all I knew. Or sending support to my father’s enemies in other kingdoms. The barbaric Dags from the north were always raiding along our borders. Pirates from the Eloren Isles occasionally attacked our ships. Keldiket was the farthest away, on the other side of the treacherous Twaryn forest, but Renwell had told me it had the most skilled spies and assassins in Lancora.

Any of them would love to discover where Rellmira kept its wealth.

A flash of inspiration hit me. The perfect bait. A golden opportunity to learn Aiden’s secrets, to bind us together until I’d learned what Renwell—what I —needed to know.

Father might truly imprison you for this.

But His Majesty wasn’t here. This was my decision.

“Very well,” I said, as if his refusal were of no consequence. “But why did you come here? Why not the High Treasurer’s house?”

The musty air shifted between us as Aiden leaned forward. “Explain.”

“I went there once three years ago, with the prince and princesses. It was one of the only times they, as well as myself, were allowed out of the palace. Asher had just taken over as High Treasurer from his father and wanted to assure the royal family he was taking good care of their additional treasures and payrolls.” Showing off was more like it. The pompous man had waved his arms at the gleaming fortune like he’d been personally responsible for obtaining it.

I lowered my voice. “Chests of coins, piles of jewels, and even some handfuls of fireseeds and raw sunstone. It was the most treasure I’d ever seen, and it was just sitting there.”

Delysia had been dazzled by the glitter and glow of it all while Everett had simply nodded in his best impression of Father. My fingers had ached to snatch a few coins to spend on a game of Death and Four at a tavern with a pile of hot, buttered biscuits next to me.

Now, that trip might end up being the perfect enticement for the silent man in front of me. His head was bowed as if he were lost in his own thoughts and didn’t want me to witness them.

All I can do now —I slid the small key into the lock on one of my wrist cuffs— is turn the key. The lock clicked open, igniting a familiar thrill in my chest. Aiden’s head slowly lifted.

“But none of that matters,” I said as I worked the other cuff. “The best I can hope for is my life. I’ll either escape or die trying.” The second lock sprang apart.

Cool air kissed my raw skin, and a groan escaped my lips.

“Kiera.”

I turned my back to his alluring voice. There was a rustle of movement as if he were rising to his feet.

Merciful Mynastra, grant me luck . I tested the key in the lock that held the ends of my two chains. It gave way, and I scrambled to catch the chains before they clattered to the ground.

A smile touched my lips as I draped the chains over my shoulders like a mantle. They would make suitable weapons if needed.

“Kiera, please.”

My heart twisted at the quiet desperation in his voice. Gods damn it. I faced him, clutching the key.

He held out his shackled wrists, every muscle in his face taut.

“How can I trust you?” I whispered. Not to hurt me, not to kill me, not to abandon me to save yourself.

I had no doubt Renwell would keep to his word and kill Aiden if he didn’t give us the information we wanted. And he’d given me some, but only a tantalizing peek at his true purpose. My gut told me to escape with Aiden even if I didn’t trust him.

He’d protected me from the jailer, but I remembered something Renwell had said during a brutal fight session: “Every person has a monster caged inside, Kiera. All it takes is the right key to set it free.”

What kind of monster lurked inside Aiden?

He slowly shook his head. “Only you know the answer to that,” he murmured, startling me as if he’d answered my thought instead of my spoken question. “But is it worth wasting your one chance to live?”

He didn’t know it was his life I held in my hand. That even if I freed him, if we became allies, he would still be my enemy.

Because I was meant to be his destruction. I only hoped he wouldn’t be mine.

I stepped closer to him. He didn’t move a muscle. His shadowed eyes tracked me as his bare chest rose and fell with deep breaths. I found myself trying to match them.

He let me come to him until I was fully within his grasp. But he did nothing. Just waited, towering over me like a statue devoid of emotions.

I lifted my chin until our gazes met. And, Holy Four, was I wrong. An inferno of emotions lived in his eyes. They consumed me, consumed what little air existed between us. Something sparked to life in my veins, burning from my heart to my toes. The most dangerous thing of all.

Tearing my gaze away, I fumbled the key into one lock then the other, being careful not to brush hands with him. The chains fell away. I retreated immediately, but there was nowhere to go now. Nowhere he couldn’t reach me.

He flexed his hands, then held one out to me. “May I have the key?”

I clenched it tighter for a moment, reluctant to give it up even though it was essentially useless now.

“For the wall lock,” he added. He gestured to the chains around my shoulders. “They make decent weapons, as you already know.”

“So long as you don’t use them on me,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant, but my voice trembled. To cover it up, I dropped the key into his palm.

His fingers curled around it. “Why would I do that to the woman who set me free?” Without waiting for an answer, he turned and unleashed his chains from the wall, then slipped the key into the pocket of his black pants. My eyes lingered on his narrow hips and chiseled stomach.

I swallowed hard and wrenched my gaze away. I would fight him if I had to. He was clearly still suspicious of me and my intentions. Ingratiating myself with him was going to be like tiptoeing on the ledge of the bridge, barefoot, in a hurricane.

My palms grew clammy at the thought.

Aiden wrapped the chains around his forearms and his knuckles, a sort of armor on top of the gauntlets of muscle he already had.

We faced each other in our dim cage.

My heart fluttered wildly. The silence felt more unbearable than ever. How long would we have to wait? What would we do until then? Would he?—

“Tell me your favorite food,” he said, leaning against the wall as if we were in a cozy tavern settling on something to eat.

I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Biscuits.” My cheeks heated. But it was almost a relief to say something truthful.

He smiled. “Sweet or savory?”

I twisted my mouth to one side, thinking hard. My stomach rumbled loudly as if I’d woken it up by thinking about food. “Right now? Both. But a freshly baked biscuit, slathered in butter with a touch of garlic and rosemary is my absolute favorite.”

His smile deepened, and the flutter in my chest moved to my stomach. “I prefer sweet, myself, with a dash of cinnamon and warm honey.”

“That’s your favorite food?”

“Merely my favorite biscuit. Favorite food?” He hummed to himself. “Have you ever tasted a moonblood fruit?”

I frowned and shook my head.

“Ah,” he said with a soft sigh. “They grow on the banks of the Twaryn River in the heart of the forest. They have a silvery-white peel on the outside with a crimson flesh inside. Legend says they were Viridana’s favorite and taste the best picked on a full moon, but I would eat one any time. The sweetest, most refreshing treat.”

I smiled. “Sounds perfect. Maybe I’ll have the chance to try one someday.”

“I truly hope you do.”

I bit my lip. “Why did you ask me about food?”

“Perhaps I just wanted to pass the time.”

“Or?”

He grunted. “Or I wanted to save myself the barrage of questions and accusations I could sense brewing in your head. You looked ready for war.”

I scoffed, trying to surreptitiously release my fierce grip on my chains. “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’m thinking or feeling.”

“Maybe not. But now I know your favorite food,” he said with a smirk.

“And I know yours. And that you’ve been to Twaryn. Which is more significant, so I believe I’ve won this little game.”

He straightened and stalked toward me. I scrambled backward, my back meeting the wall the moment his hands pressed against the rock on either side of my shoulders. Yet, he still didn’t touch me.

“You don’t want to play games with me, Kiera,” he whispered.

My breath froze in my lungs. “Because you hate to lose?”

His eyes traveled over my upturned face. “Because I would do anything to win.”

I scowled, pulling myself to my full height, our noses nearly colliding. His breathing sharpened. My fingers floated toward his pants pocket while I allowed my gaze to flicker over his face, as if evaluating it.

I didn’t falter once as I pinched the key between my fingertips, slipped it out of his pocket, and held it up between us. “As would I.”

His eyes flared, and he pulled away from me. I grinned and clenched the key in my fist. He opened his mouth to say something, but a heavy fist beat on our door.

My heart leapt into my throat. The jailer. But why would he knock?

“Aiden?” a man’s deep voice came from the other side.

Aiden heaved a sigh and strode closer to the door. “It’s about time, Maz.”

“Then how about I play the gods-damned lunatic next time and you be the rescuer,” the man named Maz grumbled, keys rattling. “Thought you were nothing but dog scraps by now when you didn’t answer?—”

“You tried other cells?” Aiden asked.

“You didn’t hear me?”

I felt more than I saw Aiden’s quick glance over his shoulder at me.

“No,” he answered quietly.

The door swung open, framing a huge man. He was tall and broad, bigger than Aiden. Torchlight glimmered on short golden hair. And he was soaked. A short wooden pole and a small axe were tucked into his belt.

“Fucking Four, what did they do to you?” he growled, gesturing at Aiden with the ring full of keys I’d last seen on the jailer. “Where are your clothes and why are you unchained?”

Aiden moved to the side and nodded his head at me. “Because of Kiera.”

Maz peered into the gloom. A smile warmed his handsome, bearded face. He looked to be the same age as Aiden, perhaps a few years older than me. “Ah, I see. I’m surprised at you, Aiden, but I understand. That still doesn’t explain how you freed yourself.”

My mouth dropped open at the insinuation, but Aiden merely rolled his eyes. “Enough, Maz. She’s coming with us.”

Maz nodded. I nearly melted with relief. This was it. I was truly escaping with Aiden—who, apparently, had a plan all along.

“We don’t have much time,” Maz said, his tone taking on the snap of a soldier. “The guards will wake soon. Ruru has a boat just outside the cave.”

My eyebrows lifted. The same sea cave Renwell had told me about? The one no one was supposed to know of?

Aiden grunted. “Good.” His gaze pierced me. “Leave your tunic here.”

I balked. “Why?” My shirt would cover me well enough, but I disliked the order.

“Do you want everyone to know you’re from the palace?” Aiden demanded.

Maz’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “The palace? Who the?—”

“Later,” Aiden cut him off, craning his neck to look both ways down the passage. “Kiera, it’s now or never.”

I gritted my teeth and threw off my chains to tug the ripped tunic over my head. I tossed it on the ground, the torchlight sparkling in the golden thread of the half sun. Hopefully, Renwell would see it and know I’d escaped, that I’d succeeded.

I’d never worn a uniform like that before, but it was strange, leaving it behind. As if I were severing the last connection between me and the palace.

I threw the chains back around my neck and faced Aiden and Maz with a mask of confidence. “Let’s go.”

I followed Aiden out of our cell and eased the door shut behind me.