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A blade flies straight for me, but Legion pulls me out of the way so the blade clangs against the stone where I just stood. Maricha fumes and draws another knife.
This one she lifts to her lips and infuses it with whispered words that make the small hairs on my arms stand on end.
“Move,” Legion roars, shoving me toward the other side of the cell just as Maricha throws the second blade.
End over end, it veers toward us as if set on me like a missile to a beacon. It sings past my ear before clanging into the stone beside my head.
Legion snarls and grabs my hand, pulling me behind him as we both turn to face Maricha. But she doesn’t attack again. Instead, she utters some kind of incantation. The blades rattle then lift into the air and fly back into her hands.
“You will both regret crossing me.” She looks at Legion. “You have reached the end of your usefulness. What a fucking disappointment.”
She whirls, screaming for Uziah as she hurries back down the hall.
When she’s gone, we both get dressed again. I hurry to the cell doors and rattle them against the lock. “We need to get out of here,” I say. “She’s going to come back with something much worse than a knife.”
Legion steps up beside me. “Tell me to kill her,” he says.
“What?”
“Command me. It’ll ensure I find the strength to open this cage. We can escape.”
“No.”
His eyes flash with impatience. “I’m not afraid of being commanded. Not by you.”
“I don’t care. I won’t do that to you.”
“It’s the only way to beat them.”
“Then we find another way.”
He glares at me. “There is no other way.”
“There has to be.”
I step back, pacing in frustration as I try to think of another option.
“If she returns, she’ll bring more men than I can fight,” he says quietly.
I don’t respond, but he doesn’t let up.
“They’ll kill you first. Slowly. They’ll make me watch. It’ll break our bond by severing our souls. And when you’re gone, she’ll use her dark magic to save me from following behind you in death. I’ll be bound to her again, with no way to break free. Forever.”
By the time he’s done talking, his voice is rough. I hate that he’s right. That this is the only way.
“What if you hate me?” I ask.
“I could never hate you, little assassin. You are in my bones. Etched into every space of my heart. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”
I bite my lip, touched at his words but torn in my choice. I don’t want to hurt him. How can I love him if I impose the one cage he’s always feared?
Across the cavern, the dungeon door bangs open.
Multiple pairs of footsteps march toward our cell.
“I order you to kill Maricha Razginath.”
My words are no more than a whisper. Pained. Awful—because of how badly I want him to carry them out.
