Ronin shook his head, leaning forward and cradling the treasure in his hands. “Once we pass those mists, you’ll need to put your fangs and claws away. If the other prisoners see them, you’ll be challenged immediately. You show your strength in there bynotshowing it, you get me?”
“How do you know so much about the prison?” Cassandra asked.
Ronin raised a brow. “Nothing to do with the prison. Learned that lesson in the fighting rings of Kheimos. Those with the loudest bark rarely had the strongest bite.”
In truth, Roninhadbeen seeking information about Tartarus ever since Selene’s arrest.
Maybe even far, far longer than that, if he were being honest with himself.
The problem was he hadn’t been able to find a single former inmate anywhere. No one that could give him a sense of what awaited him nor help him imagine what Selene—and on his weaker nights, Mireille—might be going through within Tartarus proper.
“When do you think the Emperor will arrive to deliver our sentences?” Reena retracted her fangs and claws.
“Usually takes the Imperial Council about a week to deliberate.” Ronin settled back in his chair. “Which means they’ll be here any day now.”
Cassandra’s wings fell, her voice a panicked whisper. “So, we only havehoursto figure out what to do about these?” She gestured to her back.
Ronin shot her an enigmatic smile. “Told you I have a surprise.”
He lifted the vial he’d found nestled in that crumbling box in the yard, the clear liquid within glinting in the fire’s flames.
“What is—” Cassandra asked.
“Veiling potion,” Reena said reverently. “Where in Ethyrios did you get that?”
“Someone left it here for us.” Ronin couldn’t bring himself to say her name.
Cassandra extended him a kindness when she didn’t say it either. “How long has it been there? And how did she know we would need it?”
Ronin rubbed at his scar, an incessant throb taking hold behind his eye-patch. “I have no idea. But from how deeply it was buried, it’s been there for a very,verylong time. She…”
Should he tell Cassandra what he knew? About her and Mireille being related? About what Mireille’s father had told her in the Halfway? That Cassandra was Ethyrios’s only chance for survival, and that Mireille was destined to help her?
He hesitated. He didn’t want to add to Cassandra’s already intense mental burden. Plus, if theydidfind Mireille beyond the mists, perhaps this was a story she should tell Cass herself.
Half of him couldn’t wait to see those two together and the other half… He wasn’t sure his soul would survive it.
“None of that is important right now,” he said sharply. “We’ve got what we need to hide what you are during the sentencing. After that, we find my sister and we stay under the radar as we await our escape.”
Reena snorted. “Oh yeah? Which cavalry is coming to save us then?”
“The Teles Chrysos are very close to achieving their goal of taking back Delos. Once they do, we’llallbe getting out of here.”
“Lucky us,” Cassandra murmured. “So, what are we going to do as weawait our escape?”
“Survive,” Ronin answered.
He was surprised how easy it was, slipping back into command. A role he hadn’t played since those bloody days on the battlefields of Aethalia. And though his forces were much,muchsmaller now, he still felt the same overwhelming sense of responsibility. To push them. To protect them.
“What about Tristan?” Cassandra whispered, her eyes shining. “Do you know what happened to him?”
Ronin shook his head sadly. “I didn’t see. But the rebellion hinges upon Tristan’s claim to the Crystal Throne. The Teles Chrysos have got members everywhere, including within the highest ranks of the Empire. They’ll find him.”
Cassandra smiled softly, her shoulders loosening. She looked so relieved that Ronin didn’t dare tell her the news that could kill her hope. That Tristan’s former lover, Ione Saros, was a key leader of the movement—and had been particularly vocal about how much she wanted the Prince by her side again.
But Tristan’s complicated love life was none of Ronin’s fucking business. He had enough of his own shit to worry about.
He handed Cassandra the vial, then rose from his chair.
