A guard appeared before me on the stairs.We both froze in surprise, but unfortunately for him, I gathered my wits first andplunged my sword into him before he could sound a warning and he collapsed on the steps at my feet.My vision blurred briefly as I stepped over the dying man and continued down the narrow stone stairs.
To my disbelief, there were no other guards at the main door.My pulse quickened.Was I about to walk into a trap?I cautiously opened the unlocked door.
A lone, tall figure stood in the middle of the room, among empty chairs and an abandoned board game.He looked different, dressed in simple leathers and without a crown encircling his head.
‘Ah, you must be the Cursed One?’King Hared asked calmly, wiping what looked like blood from his hands with a torn cloth.Armed with a sword at his hip and several knives strapped to his leather vest, the general king was prepared for battle.
‘If you say so.’I shrugged, faking a calmness I didn’t feel.Why was he in the dungeon alone?
‘I saw what you did to my son, so yes, I say so.’His tone was indifferent, apparently unfazed by Goodwin’s death.‘You tricked me, Lady Caris.Or is it just Caris?’He dropped the bloodstained cloth he had been using to clean his hands.
I eyed him warily as he took a step towards me.
‘I’ve been told the gate has been breached.’His eyes narrowed.‘Who is helping you?’
I stayed silent.I wasn’t about to tell him about Atlas or General Toro.
‘Who?’he demanded, taking a threatening step towards me.
The Darkness pressed firmly against the door in my mind, causing my fingers to tingle with warmth, and the shadows to gather close around us.
The sharp edge of a knife flew dangerously close to my face before plunging into the solid wooden door behind me.
‘Don’t use your Curse on me,’ King Hared snarled, dropping the hand that had thrown the knife with deadly speed.‘The next one won’t miss.’
‘Why not kill me now?’
‘The Order will want to do it in a way that will ensure you won’t come back.’He cocked his head.‘And I don’t have an appetite for killing beautiful women.It always seems like a waste to me.’
Bile hit the back of my throat as his narrowed eyes raked slowly over my body.
‘Who are you here for?The captain or the blacksmith?’
‘If you’ve hurt them …’ I snarled, fear tearing at my insides.
‘It’s not me you should worry about.’King Hared turned his head slightly towards the dark doorway behind him.‘She’s here!’he shouted.
With a menacing smirk, he swept an arm to the narrow passageway lined with cell doors.
‘One day, I will come for you,’ I hissed at him, thinking of Queen Yaris, Lord Warwick, Meg and Webber, who all died because of him.Now orphaned, Ania and Wolfe would live in fear, constantly worried that their uncle would try to eliminate them too.
‘I look forward to it.’He smiled arrogantly.
The king strolled from the room with a smug smile.I waited for the sound of his boots on the stairs before stepping into the narrow passageway.
It was gloomy, but I could see that each cell door was open.I peered into the first cell and recoiled at the horror awaiting me.
The body of a young woman with long, dark hair hung from a rope in the middle of the cell.Her face was blue, and her tongue protruded out of her swollen and bruised mouth.My eyes squeezed shut in dread.The door was unlocked so I would see this, and there were a dozen more along the passageway.
I left the young woman’s cell, hoping it wouldn’t be Torgrin or Cillian in the next one.
Every cell I entered had someone in it: all women, all with ropes around their broken necks.One was only a child.
I leaned my forehead against the stone, squeezing my eyes tight, trying to fight the tears that threatened to choke me – ten dead.
There were two cells left, and I prayed to the gods – who had clearly left us long ago, if they ever existed at all – that I was not about to see something that would destroy me for good.
I gripped my sword and forced myself to move to the next doorway.A man’s body was hanging in the middle of the room, and, unlike the others, he was slowly turning as if the hangman had only just left the room.I held my breath, waiting to see his face as the man’s body rotated in a slow circle, the rope creaking under his dead weight.
