I couldn’t keep my surprise hidden as I stared at the Sheriff of Nottingshire. I’d once considered him a friend, but that friendship ended years before I became the most wanted man in Tempest.
I had no idea what he was doing here or why he’d apparently slipped those keys into my food, but I trusted him as much as I’d trust a starving dragon not to eat me. Samael was more dangerous and unpredictable than that dragon.
“I did.” He unfolded himself from the wall. “Since it took you so long to get free, we have to move. Now.”
I scowled at him. “If you’re so concerned about time, you could have opened the door and helped us.”
“I did help you, Ryker. You have my keys. Plus, it took more time to get down here than I anticipated. Your father’s a demanding prick.”
“No shit.”
“We have to go.”
“Where? And what are you doing here?”
“All questions you’ll have the answers to while we’re moving. Unless, of course, you’d prefer to return to your cell. Since I have no desire to be imprisoned or killed, I’m leaving. You can join me or try to find your own way out of here. Since I know where they’ve stationed all the guards, you’ll have better luck with me, but it’s your life, so feel free to throw it away if you’d like.”
I sneered at him as I pondered his words. I didn’t want to put my life in Samael’s hands, but he had a point, and there was a reason he helped us escape.
It could all still be some game he’d planned with the duke, but they had to realize they’d be fools to give me this much freedom. Neither of them was a stupid man.
Yes, Veni loved fucking with my head, and he didn’t care how many of his soldiers died, but he had to realize he’d run the risk of me getting to him if I was free. He wouldn’t take that chance. I scared him, and we both knew it.
I glanced back at Tucker; behind him, Callan and Lawrence huddled in the shadows with the injured man between them. Tucker’s eyes burned with hatred as he studied Samael, but when they shifted to me, I saw the resignation in them.
Neither of us trusted Samael, but he’d given us those keys, and right now, we didn’t have many choices. Samael had to know that if he betrayed us, he’d be the first one I killed.
My jaw clenched, and I kept my lightning at the ready as I strode down the hall toward the Sheriff of Nottingshire. When the others followed me, Samael’s gaze went past me to them.
“We can’t make it out of here with him,” Samael said.
I didn’t have to look back to know he was talking about the crier. “We’re not leaving him behind. They’ll kill him.”
Samael’s expression said he didn’t care. “We have a lot of the palace to travel through, Ryker. Don’t be stupid about this.”
I stopped before the sheriff. Unlike the rest of us, who were covered in filth and blood and reeked of body odor and despair, he was spotless. He’d combed his dirty blond hair neatly away from his face and wore a tailored jacket bearing Nottingshire’s insignia.
At six feet, he was tall and broad through the shoulders, but he had to tip his head back to look up at me. The merciless glint in his eyes said he’d gladly leave the incapacitated man in the middle of the hall and walk away.
Part of me wanted to do the same, but I’d said we’d try to find a place to hide him, and we would. “There must be somewhere we can hide him.”
“You intend to return to this place?” Samael asked.
“I’m going to tear it down.”
Samael shook his head. “That’s not the plan, Ryker.”
When I stepped closer, he backed up a step. “Then what is the plan, Samael?”
“Getting you free to fight another day. There are too many soldiers throughout the palace for you to succeed against them now.”
“And what becomes of you after you free us from the palace?”
“We really need to walk and talk. Follow me or stay here and die, but I’m not sharing in that fate.”
With that, Samael turned on his heel and strode down the hall toward the closed door at the end. When I glanced back at the others, they met my gaze.
“Do you know how to get out of here without being spotted?” Tucker asked.
