Page 159 of Carousel

And I understand.

“What are they doing?”

Drake faces them both. Speaks clearly, chest puffed, as if about to deliver a speech.

No one can say the Queen didn’t train him well.

“We want you to let us pass, and then forget you saw us.”

I feel the warmth between our palms. Feel the white light surrounding us, which spikes my vision so sharply it makes me dizzy. I force my body to stay steady.

In synchronisation, the men step aside for us.

I let go of Drake’s hand and we walk down the stairs, right between them. They say nothing. As we descend the next staircase, we hear their voices again, and the thud of their boots. They’ve resumed their patrol and conversation.

We have been unseen.

I notice little beads of sweat on Drake’s forehead. He must have already used a lot of magic to visit me in my mind. Will he have enough left if we come across more soldiers?

Drake leads us into the deck. The temperature instantly rises several degrees. I can feel the steam before we even open the doors to the baths.

I’m surprised we’re so far down the ship. Only the Osimidite Chamber is lower than this.

“Are you sure the brig is somewhere here?”

“The Emperor has an identical layout to The Dragoness. Which would mean the brig is just through the baths.”

“But it’s so hot.”

“That would be the point. The intention is to make the prisoners uncomfortable.”

I let Drake lead me between the deep copper tubs. A lot of them are empty, presumably from being drained to put out the fire earlier.

The heat is getting to me. My face is sweating. I pull off my leather vest. Even consider, for a flicker of a second, taking off my whole dress.

I follow him right down to a door I hadn’t noticed when I came here. We go through it, entering a windowless, narrow passage – unlit apart from one narrow beam of light.

Right ahead – she must have been drawn to the noise of us entering the space – is another soldier. I can just about make out that she’s squinting at us through the dark. She barely even lifts her weapon, before Drake says simply, with a twitch of his fingers, “Sleep.”

Instantly, she drops onto the floor with a thud. Like we just murdered her.

I gape at Drake.

“Perfected that one, have you?” My eyes are wide, but my tone is cold.

He shrugs. “I’ve used it enough on Riss now.”

I stare at the woman on the tiled floor. Only sleeping, and yet –

“You shouldn’t be doing that to Riss. It’s not right.”

“Why not? She uses her talent all the time to listen in on every conversation we have.” He’s already striding along the passage like it was built for him personally.

We come up to a closed grate. A skinny, veiny-looking soldier stands on the other side. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was another regular osimidite user like Kira.

His voice is wheezy. “Mel? Is that you?”

Drake goes right up to the grate. Speaks through it, loudly.