I still have to try. And if Roiven believes me fighting could make a difference, then maybe me offering to surrender could, too.
Maybe.
Probably not, but maybe.
The same type of glowing stone I found in my room is inset against the walls. They didn’t seem to glow earlier, when the sun still shone through the holes in the ceiling. Now they do, throwing off a dim light far weaker than torches or a lantern. But it’s enoughto see by. I follow the glowing lights towards the nearest staircase and begin to descend.
Leaving in a rowboat is insanity. Iknowthat. But I’m too angry right now to care. I doubt I can convince any of Roiven’s coven to take me on their own dragons. And I’m sure as hell not riding with Roiven, even if he’d be willing to take me instead of keeping me trapped here.
At the bottom of a flight of stairs, I nearly ram into two witches. They’re both men, walking side by side up the stairs as they talk in hushed whispers. I grind to a halt and they look up at me in surprise.
The one on the right is tall, with brown hair, yellow-burning eyes, and a long beard. His expression turns into a scowl.
“So it wasn’t rumors, Javien,” he growls to the witch beside him.
His companion—Javien, I presume—is lankier, shorter but corded with tight muscle. His eyes burn with an eerie gray flame.
“By the gods,” he mutters.
“Let me through,” I tell them.
“Did you enchant him to make him do it?” The first man gestures at the bond marks on my left arm. He steps onto the stair directly below mine, and I step back to keep our bodies from touching. Even two steps above him, we’re the same height. I can smell liquor on his breath. “Our king, marrying a knight.”
“He would never,” Javien says. “She’s forced his will.”
So much for Roiven’s word buying me protection. These men are in as much disbelief about our marriage as I am.
“I’m not the one who Enchanted him,” I tell them coldly, and wrap my hand around my blade. “Step aside.”
Both men advance again instead. I curse under my breath and begin to walk backwards up the steps. They're too near in front of me for me to easily draw my sword, not without slicing them open.
I might still kill Roiven, if it comes down to it, but I’m not going to kill these two idiots unless I have to. My blood feels like it’sboiling as I let them force me up the stairs, but they have no idea what they’re getting into. Giving me more room to fight is not to their advantage.
“I’m not interested in a fight.”
“No?” Javien croons. “The knight’s outnumbered.”
“I think we’re scaring it,” the taller one says, a wicked grin on his face.
“I’ll kill if I need to,” I warn.
Javien barks a laugh.
“You’re without your ship, knight. Just what do you think you can do tous?”
We reach the next landing, where an open door leads into a small room. I back into it, my eyes taking inventory so I can fight without tripping. There’s a pair of potted plants beside the door, and a little table with two chairs to my right, but not much else.
I draw my sword. The men reach the landing and turn to look in at me.
“Keep walking,” I growl.
Javien draws his sword slowly, with a smirk. He walks through the doorway, his companion on his heels.
“I mean it. If you want to live, keep walking.”
There’s a burning smell. Smoke rises from the plant to the left of the door. Is one of them doing something?
Javien slices towards me. I block the blow and notice, belatedly, that the taller man has drawn a throwing knife. My sword clangs against the small blade as it whizzes towards my heart. I knock it off-center, but it glances off my shoulder as it falls, ripping the fabric and slicing a beaded line of blood.
