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CHAPTERELEVEN
I’d heard of drowning. Someone submerging their head in water and breathing it in until they died. Why would anyone do that? The very idea baffled, and yet it was about to happen to me since I couldn’t find the surface.
Blame the King! He’d tossed me into the deep basin and now held on to me, dragging me even farther down.
I tried to pull free, but his strength outmatched me. I had no air, and my lungs ached something fierce. My struggles lessened, and I floated, heading for darkness when a hard surface jolted.
Compressions on my back put pressure on my chest. Water exploded from me, a vomiting of my lungs that had me face down in a puddle of ick. I shoved away from it, pushing myself to my haunches, hands braced on my thighs. My head hung, my hair a curtain in front of me as I coughed and retched some more.
But I was alive. The King failed to drown me. On the contrary, he saved me.
I narrowed my gaze on him. “You tried to kill me.”
“More like I saved you. Someone threw a dagger at us.”
“At you.” A blunt remark as I noticed the line of red running down his hand and dripping on the stone.
“Does it matter who they wanted to kill? Even if you’d managed to not get struck, what do you think the guards would have said if they found me dead and you alive?”
“I could have explained.”
“Before or after they severely hurt you?”
I grimaced. “I am not thanking you for almost drowning me.”
“Sorry, next time I’ll leave you behind when I’m escaping.”
I pursed my lips. “Don’t you get sarcastic with me.”
“I’ll do whatever I like. Spy. Or did you think I’d forget?”
“Spying is so harsh. Think of it more as a curiosity for answers. Big deal. At least I didn’t want to kill you.”
“So you claim. How do I know that isn’t part of your plan still?”
“Because dead people aren’t worth anything. Not to mention murdering a king would come with a set of headaches I’m not in the mood to deal with.”
“Good to know. But just in case, rest assured if you make any attempt to harm me, I won’t hesitate to have you executed.”
“If they found your body.” A foolish thing to say that came out of annoyance he’d seen through my tricks.
“You think you can kill me?” He snorted. “You could try, and by the way, if by some strange chance you succeeded, good luck finding your way out of here.”
“Where are we?” I finally asked, glancing around. We appeared to be in a tunnel. Half of the floor filled with water. The other half, a ledge tall enough to be walked on.
“Aqueduct system inside the mountain.”
“Will the assassin follow?”
“Unlikely. Most desert-born can’t swim.”
“You can.”
“I’m not most people.”
Understatement. My drug hadn’t worked on him. He’d merely pretended to be cooperative. Pretended to flirt with me. That deflated me more than it should have.
“Who’s trying to kill you?” I asked, rather than dwell on the fact he’d not meant a word he said to me.
